My Story: Giving Up TV for Good

contributed by Clare

From time to time, I would hear someone say that they did not own a TV or only watched certain programs and I'd think, "Why? TV is my life! I couldn't live without it!"My house had seven rooms and four TVs. Often, all four of the TVs would be on at the same time. Hey, I was one of the privileged generation who remembers round TV screens, TV repairmen (they came to your house to fix the TV), and the advent of color TV. To me, TV was magic and indispensable.

Then last year, my son pointed out that our cable TV bill was $75 a month, which was not astronomical, but certainly a luxury. He also pointed out that I'd been bothered that I "couldn't" give more to charity, so here was my chance to put my money where my mouth was. And I did.

We discussed going to basic cable and getting an old-fashioned antenna. Finally, I decided that I needed to give up TV the way I gave up smoking. I needed to quit, not cut back.

My son was the one to call and cancel cable. He told me that one day I would come home and it would be gone, and that's just how it went. I was a bit panicky. I could get weather, news, etc. from the computer, but what about entertainment?

Well, six months later, I don't miss TV, and I am glad that I don't have it anymore. If anyone told me I'd feel this way, I would have said that they were crazy.

When I want entertainment, I rent movies at my library for free. I've discovered that I love the old black and white movies, and there are so many from which to choose. Plus, I can even get them on interlibrary loan, so my choices are many. In the last few weeks, I went berry picking with friends, swimming at a place I hadn't been to in years, went to a free concert, and saw a rare movie for free at our local college. I also got around to doing a bunch of jobs around the house that I "never had time for" when I had TV.

But the real change is that I can no longer stand to watch commercials. If I am at someone else's house and the TV is on (and it usually is), I find the commercials so irritating. They are loud, insistent, and hard to ignore. I wonder how many products I spent money on over 45 years of TV viewing just because of commercials?

And now I feel great every month when I write a check to my favorite charity rather than the cable TV company.

"My Story" is a regular feature of The Dollar Stretcher. If you have a story that could help save time or money, please send it by mailto:MyStory@stretcher.com

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