Comments on: Cutting out TV Entirely http://www.thefinancecastle.com/2008/10/22/cutting-out-tv-entirely/ A Personal Finance Blog About Investing, Saving, Making Money, And Retiring Early Tue, 14 Dec 2010 18:09:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Ridge Runner http://www.thefinancecastle.com/2008/10/22/cutting-out-tv-entirely/comment-page-1/#comment-352 Ridge Runner Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:43:11 +0000 http://www.thefinancecastle.com/2008/10/22/cutting-out-tv-entirely/#comment-352 Far more than a money-saver, ditching the TV is a huge time saver. We swore off TV when we got married. I was just beginning graduate school, wife was working to fund our household (my Teaching Assistantship paid about $5000 per year), and we had both regretted time blown on TV while in college. It's a decision we've never had cause to regret, and it had unexpected side benefits (e.g., our kids were non-watchers until they reached the age where we could let them wander around the neighborhood and watch at friend's houses, so they had no idea what the pretty colored boxes on the shelves in the grocery contained, and weren't perpetually begging for stuff like we saw the other kids doing). You have 168 hr per week to accomplish whatever you plan to accomplish, and passive TV consumption is about as poor an investment from that utterly inflexible time budget as you can get. Until you can acccumulate enough working capital to benefit from the expontential growth effect on your savings (rather than being financially blood-sucked by your debt load via the same exponential effect working against you) your income is constrained by how much of your time you can trade for cash, and the hourly rate your customers are willing to pay for the service or good you deliver to them. "Self-employment" is really "direct employment by customers with no go-between manager and organization to cushion your mistakes and laziness (or to harvest your diligent efforts with a big haircut from the customer's payments for those efforts)". If you view the TV as just another competitor for your productive time, giving it up will be easier. The side benefits will become manifest over time. Far more than a money-saver, ditching the TV is a huge time saver. We swore off TV when we got married. I was just beginning graduate school, wife was working to fund our household (my Teaching Assistantship paid about $5000 per year), and we had both regretted time blown on TV while in college.

It’s a decision we’ve never had cause to regret, and it had unexpected side benefits (e.g., our kids were non-watchers until they reached the age where we could let them wander around the neighborhood and watch at friend’s houses, so they had no idea what the pretty colored boxes on the shelves in the grocery contained, and weren’t perpetually begging for stuff like we saw the other kids doing).

You have 168 hr per week to accomplish whatever you plan to accomplish, and passive TV consumption is about as poor an investment from that utterly inflexible time budget as you can get. Until you can acccumulate enough working capital to benefit from the expontential growth effect on your savings (rather than being financially blood-sucked by your debt load via the same exponential effect working against you) your income is constrained by how much of your time you can trade for cash, and the hourly rate your customers are willing to pay for the service or good you deliver to them. “Self-employment” is really “direct employment by customers with no go-between manager and organization to cushion your mistakes and laziness (or to harvest your diligent efforts with a big haircut from the customer’s payments for those efforts)”.

If you view the TV as just another competitor for your productive time, giving it up will be easier. The side benefits will become manifest over time.

]]> By: CJ http://www.thefinancecastle.com/2008/10/22/cutting-out-tv-entirely/comment-page-1/#comment-350 CJ Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:14:24 +0000 http://www.thefinancecastle.com/2008/10/22/cutting-out-tv-entirely/#comment-350 If it werent for my kids I would have got rid of TV years ago. I also keep it because it keeps the cost of my internet connection down. Totally agree that netflix and similar services is the way to go and will be the norm. If it werent for my kids I would have got rid of TV years ago. I also keep it because it keeps the cost of my internet connection down. Totally agree that netflix and similar services is the way to go and will be the norm.

]]> By: Xias http://www.thefinancecastle.com/2008/10/22/cutting-out-tv-entirely/comment-page-1/#comment-333 Xias Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:08:36 +0000 http://www.thefinancecastle.com/2008/10/22/cutting-out-tv-entirely/#comment-333 Mjsw, Obviously we'd still have our free TV as well. After some negotiation with the fiance I got us down to basic cable. I agree it's easy to let monthly bills roll in, as they're automatically deducted, without giving them much thought. Definitely worth looking into! Mjsw,

Obviously we’d still have our free TV as well. After some negotiation with the fiance I got us down to basic cable. I agree it’s easy to let monthly bills roll in, as they’re automatically deducted, without giving them much thought. Definitely worth looking into!

]]> By: mjsw http://www.thefinancecastle.com/2008/10/22/cutting-out-tv-entirely/comment-page-1/#comment-332 mjsw Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:40:10 +0000 http://www.thefinancecastle.com/2008/10/22/cutting-out-tv-entirely/#comment-332 oops. sorry for the typo ..... economics oops. sorry for the typo ….. economics

]]> By: mjsw http://www.thefinancecastle.com/2008/10/22/cutting-out-tv-entirely/comment-page-1/#comment-331 mjsw Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:38:31 +0000 http://www.thefinancecastle.com/2008/10/22/cutting-out-tv-entirely/#comment-331 Here is an interesting concept. Free TV. (well free except for the initial expense of an antenna). Oh, and don't worry, I don't live in a glass house either. I have cable. Haven't run off an antenna solely for some time. Will probably go back to an antenna by adding a digital converter just as soon as I can talk hubby into it. Due to the ecomomics today, we really don't have a choice. We have all become so used to having "things" in our lives, we really don't even recognize them anymore. It is just a bill we pay each month. Here is an interesting concept. Free TV. (well free except for the initial expense of an antenna).

Oh, and don’t worry, I don’t live in a glass house either. I have cable. Haven’t run off an antenna solely for some time.

Will probably go back to an antenna by adding a digital converter just as soon as I can talk hubby into it. Due to the ecomomics today, we really don’t have a choice.

We have all become so used to having “things” in our lives, we really don’t even recognize them anymore. It is just a bill we pay each month.

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