There is someone in my backyard . . .

. . . and she is COLD.  She's told me that.  She doesn't really mind the snow.  That isn't a problem.  The continual Arctic blasts of cold air make her shiver to her sticks and carrot.  

My baby made us a snowlady outside of our bedroom window. 

Just sayin'. Even the snowlady is having issues.

We pulled the trigger and ditched cable.

I should start this off by saying that we've never been huge TV people.  I mean, sure-- we watch it.  We've just never required the awesome sum of channels that some others have.

We've had "antenna" cable for probably 11 years.  We didn't really want cable, but my in-law's kind of built it into our Christmas gift when K was born and that was kind of them.  They knew that we wouldn't have it otherwise.  Though they've offered to upgrade, we just wanted to stick with cable enough to get some reception and that was it.

Here's the thing.  Cable has gone up.  And up.  And up.  What used to be $10 was now $25.  It isn't like more services were being provided.  Over the last year, it seems like every two months or so, TWC would take another channel or two away.

We couldn't take it anymore.

At the turn of the new year, I told M that it was his job to make cable go away.  I like to watch the morning or evening news.  Other than that, shows could be watched on the internet.

He checked out several antenna and converter boxes.

He checked out Apple TV.

He checked out Fire TV.

What did we land on?  We now have Amazon Fire TV with an Amazon Prime subscription.  He also bought a Homeworx converter box/antenna set.  With the converter box/antenna alone, we have MORE channels than we had with cable.  I might also add that the reception is crystal clear where with TWC, it was some sort of snowy reception all of the time.

How much did this project set us back?

Well, we bought the prime subscription when it went on sale in January for $72.  We bought the Fire TV the next day when they happen to have that on sale for $84.  Both of these items purchased on sale, with free ship (because of the prime subscription) together cost $25.00 out of pocket.  We were able to use our Cashback bonus with our Discover Card which made it so very affordable.  The antenna and converter box cost $42.  To toss cable ended up costing us $67.

We'll take it.

I will say that if you are TV addicted, this is NOT the solution for you.  We get local channels, but don't pull in Fox.  That's fine.  There are some shows that we'll have to watch on the internet but I'm quite okay to NOT have Fox News.  We pull in shows, but some rotate and are available at some times, but not others.  (Netflix does the same thing is what I've heard.)

It works for us.