apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I'd cut the TV first and keep the Netflix. Netflix is cheaper... and Hulu is free. Anything that you can only watch on TV can be watched almost anywhere... a friend's house, a bar, the gym, etc.
I don't even bother with a landline, since I have a cellphone... and I don't really talk much on the phone.

Definitely phone, and I'd probably cut down on my cell phone minutes.

I cut my landline years ago, so I'd probably cut my cable, at least the super deluxe package and downgrade to basic. But I'd keep Netflix.

Not "our" girlfriend?

Me: I only have electricity, internet, power, and gas in my home. Who needs anything else? If I had to cut something, probably my cell phone and just use Skype/email.

I'm with sparkle. We got rid of TV about a year and a half ago, but have conintued our Netflix subscription. Between the DVDs and the Instant Watch feature, we are completely covered. And no more ads to suffer through!

And I mean "we"--the hubby and I. " D

I have a digital antenna, no home phone, and internet. I figure anything I really want to watch I can download and I get quite a few digital channels over my antenna.

:)

Cut the cable. With digital tv you can get something like 9 pbs stations in the LA area. Its fantastic!

We never had cable/satellite TV at our house- Netflix gives us so much entertainment and hulu gives us the rest. No phone here either, cause email is our primary source of communication... But yah, I would probably never give up Netflix!

Wow. Dropping Satellite, Netflix, and a landline doesn't sound as much like economizing as rationalizing. Truly unnecessary things.

I don't have a landline (I've only ever used my cell) or cable and only use my television to watch movies. I'd cut out Netflix if I had to, but I have the cheapest plan and it's not a big expense at all. I don't understand people who think cable or satellite TV is a basic utility.

Cable TV, definitely. Most television I want to watch, I can catch online. Following that? Scale back the cell phone extras. I don't currently have a landline, anyway. I'd get rid of the internet if I had to (I can access from school and work, so checking email, etc, wouldn't be a problem).

uch- again with the TV bashing and superiority comments. Talk about Truly unnecessary things.

I don't have a landline. I'd cut cable. Now that I think of it, when I moved in last july I only got cable because I wanted to watch the election coverage, lol Maybe I should cut it, anyway, because I only watch about an hour or so per week.

Netflix and the internet are a bargain.

I'm another one with no tv/cable. What's the point? I can watch at my leisure online and if I want to watch something in a larger format than the laptop I hook the secondary screen.

But I have to say that a large downside to watching tv online is that it opens up a whole new opportunity to procrastinate - you can watch every episode of every season of far too many shows.

And unless you're on the phone more than you're not, and can't figure out skype, then why would you pay for a landline regardless of your income?

If you have to cancel your internt access as well convince a friend to host a viewing party every week - make it a potluck and hang out instead of twittering about the show to your friends watching the same thing five blocks down... *I mock only because I've been guilty of this in the past*

Teeze - agreed!

We recently got rid of our cable. We only use netflix and our Internet. We do have a housephone though, and no cellphones. We haven't used a cell in over 2 years... I just can't stand 'Em

I don't see any TV "bashing", people are giving pretty good reasons for it and even saying they watch shows via internet? It's pertinent to a discussion of what one could cut back on.

I too use my PC as a "customizable television", so to speak. If there's a series or a movie I want to watch, and that friends have confirmed is good, I'll buy it on DVD. For my favorites it works out to be quite economical since I'll usually watch them several times, plus it's when I want, and no advertisement breaks.

Haven't had a landline for twelve years now. One thing I have done is to use the lowest-priced, most basic mobile phone service I can still survive on. Currently that means a 10-euro/month subscription for 20 free minutes and unlimited SMS. No free data traffic, but that's where the 30/month ADSL connection comes in. (I'm in France.) I can get by on 20 minutes/month with my mobile because the ADSL connection comes with unlimited free VoIP calls to anywhere in the world -- in the US, if you have broadband internet, perhaps you could use Skype for similar.

We don't have cable tv or a landline. Our TV is basically the "Xbox monitor". I'm not big on tv/movies anyway, but I do like anime. We get movies, tv shows, etc. from iTunes, and I watch anime for free online. We mainly just have water, power, cell phones, a data plan for my iPhone, and a cheap internet connection. I've thought about dropping the home internet service (we did go without home internet for over a year once), but I can't do it at the moment because we both take online classes. Off topic, but why cut utilities/technology services only? I think the first thing people should cut are magazine/newspaper subscriptions. Not only are they a waste of paper, but the same information can easily be found online.

I would say TV would be the first cost to go. But only because we have AppleTV and it's awesome. I think we could get by with that. We might downgrade our internet speed, but I don't think we'd get rid of it. Also, stopping the shopping helps save money, too. :)

Is anyone else concerned about not having a landline if things go awry like on 9/11 here in New York when cellphones worked only spottily if at all but I had a landline at home (and at the time I only had dial-up internet, so by redialing after busy signals I managed to get word to everyone that I was ok). Or am I just being paranoid? Does everyone else do their phone over cable now anyway? Please advise.

The only service I have these days is internet. I watch my TV online, so I don't need cable, much less a TV itself. When I had a cell phone I usually used less than 15 minutes a month, so it was a waste of money. My friends all have cell phones, so if I'm out and need to make a call (most of my calls are 45 seconds or less), I borrow one of theirs. At home I use skype for making calls - it's free! Even if I'm traveling, I have found that about 90% of people will allow you to borrow their cell phone for a minute or two if you ask nicely.

In my opinion, people have become too dependent on technologies that were not pervasive 10-15 years ago. We lived without them before, so I don't understand why people seem to think we can't live without them now. I lived in Korea for a year and I had no AC, no cell phone, no TV, no landline, no washer or dryer, and a shower that only gave about 5 minutes of hot water. Sure, one or more of those things was annoying at times, but it wasn't the end of the world.

poor or not... less tv more books is always a good thing i reckon. and yes new books are rip-offs, but there's always super cheap secondhand books especially online... libraries.. and your friends' collections to swap.

and for the odd tv show or three ;) watch online.. no commercials so it kind of "saves" you time...! there's many ways to watch downloaded shows on the big screen as well (i have a USB port on my dvd player).

I keep a landline, for now. Why? My mom is getting older, and I want her to be able to reach me on a phone I know is going to work. Although we both have cell phones, in NYC you have to be prepared for the power to go out. A landline phone will still work if the power goes out provided it's not running off a cable modem.

I'm already planning to scale back on my cell phone plan. Next might be cable. Doesn't mean I think TV is inferior, just that it is not *that* important to me to have so many channels.

I don't think we can get internet by cable without paying for cable tv here. It's a package. Same with DSL--have to pay for phone service? Do you all use dial-up?

Cable was definitely the first to go. But since I still vividly remember the long December power outage in Seattle a couple of years ago, we won't give up the land line. Cell phones aren't much good if the power is out long enough for your charge to run down, and Skype doesn't work when there's no power. We did switch our cell phones from monthly billing to a pre-paid plan, and now I wonder why we didn't do that sooner.

I haven't had cable for years but I still watch TV. With a newer TV or a digital converter box and bunny ears you can get beautiful FREE over the air digital TV. And because I have an HD TV, the signal is HD when stations broadcast in HD. I think a lot of people have had cable for so long they don't know they can do this. I figure if there is something I can only watch on cable, I just watch it online or at the gym.

TV! It's so easy to follow your favourite shows online or at the end of the season on DVD. It's an easy thing to lose.

kelleyk: I have cable internet through the same company that would provide me with cable TV. It's not necessary to have both. You do get a slightly lower rate when you have multiple services bundled. But you don't need one to have the other.

My husband works in TV and we just use an antenna with a digital converter box. Granted, not every place can get reception, but with an internet connection who actually needs TV anymore. Netflix is a pretty affordable luxury too, but in my opinion a luxury (though an awesome way to rent TV series if you ditch the cable and don't get reception.) I could get rid of my landline too, if needed, but cell phone service is still laughably bad no matter which provider you have. "What did you say?" "Are you still there?" It's amazing we put up with it...

I'd say cut the video game subscription first and cable/satellite next...

In response to Matt M's comment about why anyone would still have landlines... My parents and I live out away from the city and many times it's hard for me to get decent cell phone service when I'm at home. Also, my parents don't own cell phones and landlines are their source of communication.

I guess I've been living pretty frugally as I haven't had a tv in the last few years. I cut my landline years ago when I got a cell phone. I did consider netfix at one point, but what I have recently discovered since being unemployed is that my local library has a ton of great movies and they're all FREE. I can go online and order them up and have them delivered to my closest branch. Sometimes there are long waits for popular releases, but I am patient. I have also found that I've seen a lot of interesting genres that I might not normally have taken the time to rent (ie: a lot of foreign films) and it has opened my world view up tremendously.

I cut my landline, my internet, cable & cut the texting plan on my cell phone. I kept Netflix though. At the $15.00 a month for 2 films it really is cheaper than going to rent them at the stores. Redbox hasn't really set up this area as of yet (there's only 2 & they 20 minutes away from where I am currently staying.) so a $1 DVD option is pretty limited for me & also the film selection is WAY better on Netflix than at the local places.

If you don't use your cell phone lots, and even if you do, you should check into getting a prepaid line. Currently I use t-mobile pay as you go, and spend about 11 dollars a month. The thing with prepaid plans is that there is no taxes or hidden charges, so you just pay the 10 cents a minute.

kelleyk: I have DSL from AT&T and yes, you do have to have a working phone line from them for it to work (I only use it for internet), but I get the cheapest one and it's about $8 per month.

As for the superiority comment: I don't feel superior to people who watch TV regularly; it's just not on my radar. If I want to see something, I just rent series I like from Netflix or watch them on Hulu. I didn't have cable growing up and thought I was really missing out until I actually had it for a little while. There is some quality programming, but the majority is awful, mindless, time-wasting dreck. Cable is not that good of a deal if you only watch one or two shows and are not into sports.

So my entertainment is had mostly through other people, the internet, Netflix and reading (though I'm letting my magazine subscriptions lapse).

Like most people here we cut the land line. Internet seems indispensable and would be the absolute last thing I would do without.
To those worried about relying on cell phones because of power outages that go for more than a day... how about a solar phone charger; there are several available now.
We never had cable and now with the change to digital I suppose we don't have any television at all but we haven't turned it on in several months so i can't imagine it will bother us much. There are programs, on occasion, that I enjoy watching but as everyone has pointed out that is what hulu, netfix, et cetera are for.
I have a data plan on my cel and netflix. Neither are necessary but both are enjoyable it would be a tough choice between the two for me. I suppose I'd give up the data plan, then netflix, and then the cell all together. Luckily, I dont think it will come to that.

Yet you seem to think $850 for a TOILET SEAT is "reasonable".

You really are a worthless piece of work.

Do us all a favor and resign, Greg, you clueless morom

http://www.unplggd.com/unplggd/crosspost/the-brondell-swash-800-in-the-test-lab-087178

I have no cellphone and no TV.

I have a landline and an internet connection, and am not intending to cut them.

I have the basic netflix subscrition. It's very cheap.

I've been TV-free and cellphone-free for the last eight years. When I lived in the Bay Area I was also car-free, but unfortunately it is not a possibility here.

I cut cable TV a few months ago. I just re-added it because I found myself spending more money going out for entertainment because I didn't have TV. I was going to baseball games, movies, plays, and out to the local pubs more. Now that I've added back my cable, I'm actually saving money. Go buy an inexpensive wine and settle in front of the TV with friends to watch a terrible TV movie. And we talk more because of the commercials. I don't have a landline, so I can't cut that.

I'd cut the cellphone. I barely use it anyway. Oh, scratch that, now that you asked, I'm windering why I keep it. Internet is vital to my sanity, and here (France) it comes with free phone calls to all landlines in the country, and TV. Although we frankly don't ever use the TV.

I only pay for cell phone and internet.

cell - text messaging is a must for me...

internet - can't live w/o it. plus i watch movies/tv, webcam and make long distance calls using it.

my condo building had cable hooked up (which is probably part of the maintenance fee) but i wouldn't get it if i had to order it myself.

Cable. I realized I barely watched TV, and I have a very small TV (go to Bestbuy and ask for the smallest flatscreen they make -- that's my TV), so it wasn't much better than my computer. I do sometimes miss it... but not that much. For news, I listen to BBC online news and read CNN. When I move, I'll probably set up basic cable and internet together because the combo packages are way cheap compared to JUST internet.

I need a cell phone for work and internet access for when I work at home.
I need a land line because I still have an old skool fax, more than one person in the house uses it, it's still relatively inexpensive and I like the redundancy for safety purposes.

Cable - yeah there are some shows I can view online (without commercials - cool) but, what is a SPORTS FAN suppose to do? Watching a game 2 weeks after it has been played is not an option (typed facetiously.) Ooooo, as I'm typing, I'm watching the 24 hrs of Le Mans, live.

What I have given up is going out every once in a while to keep the cable. A year without hockey... forget that! Skipping a few dinners out and a few movies is way worth the sacrifice.

Well cable makes our internet cheaper since we use broadband. So I think I would go without a house phone first since the fiance and I both have cell phones and could be reached that way. The house phone is just out of convenience and my mother's constant nagging that everyone should have one - LOL.

from the looks of the poll look like no one can live without internet service...lol

You cut your landline before you cut your satellite tv and your internet? What?

"Do us all a favor and resign, Greg, you clueless morom"


does anyone else find this post to be ironic?

MichaelF: "I only have electricity, internet, power, and gas in my home. Who needs anything else?" I'm guessing you overlooked running water, right?

With regard to the original question about what goes first, we don't have a video game subscription. No Netflix (we order DVDs online from the library and just pick up/drop off with the books).
The digital conversion actually pushed us into basic cable. (We bought a converter box and new antenna, only to discover we could not get digital signal from 2 major networks.)
Landline will never be cut off for reasons mentioned by Elizabeth II, swbird, and others. If you live or travel anywhere near a coastline, cell phone service is marginal. And when power is interrupted, a landline (not just a cordless phone) is mandatory.

I would cut the landline since my cell phone service has practically been flawless. The only people who ever call our landline are my mother and telemarketers - everyone hits up us up on our cell phones or just emails us. Landlines are just becoming less of a necessity.

In the past month, ATT had more than half the phones down in Indiana several days - my cell phone kept working and my mother had to keep begging someone to let her use their cell so she could contact me. Landlines do go down too. Plus we live about 5 mins from each other (by car), so if phones were down, one or the other could just drive there.

With all that in mind, I would downgrade the cable to basic since we currently have digital and I find most of it pointless (the fiance likes it and he foots the bill, so whatever). But I'd much rather have cable, the netflix subscription, and internet over the landline. Most companies prefer you go to their website any more (especially utilities), so the internet is definitely a keeper.

there aren't any utilities my fiance and i could really cut. we only pay electric and our cell phones (which are pre-paid).

we are blessed enough to have water, trash service, cable, and internet included in our rent. we've never had a landline, and we shut off the AC during the day to save power and money. we kept the basic subscription to netflix, but got rid of our gym memberships and negotiated the best deals for our car insurances to help.

it never bothered us that we didn't have a landline, we have friends and relatives in walking or short driving distance who have one if need be. and of course, calling cards and pay phones are always an option if its that important.

it is mandatory in the US to be able to call 9-1-1 from any landline, whether its hooked up or not. if you have a jack in your house and a phone to plug it into, you're still safe in emergencies if the cell phones don't work.

Water ang garbage are included in the rent I pay each month but do have to pay the electricity, any cable, phone etc so on that end, I don't have cable, had it for a brief while and mostly I watched was HGTV and when unemployment and temping were my means for making a living, I ditched teh cable but kept the land line and DSL and my cell.

I find that while I don't use my cell much, having the ability to text every so often is handy and if you end up driving older cars or all over the place, having a cell can be very handy when it breaks down - especially at late at night when finding a phone can be iffy, even in the city when pay phones becoming hard to find and many places close by 2AM, if that late so finding a place open in the wee hours of the morning get difficult so cell phones do come in handy in those instances.

And to be honest, when am on the phone, sometimes having a larger phone is much preferable to hold onto than a small cell phone unless using earbuds or bluetooth headseat.

Does anyone have any suggestions on getting HGTV shows over the 'net since they don't stream them on their website?

Right now, I get my TV over the air via rabbit ears in glorious high def where broadcast on the big TV in the living room and a digital set top box on my older color TV in the bedroom and mostly watch PBS or the Create channel and even there, no more than a couple of hours in any given day, if that much.

But for internet, gotta have me some broadband, makes viewing images, video clips etc much more pleasant than off of dialup, as that's what my Mom still uses for she's not on it enough to justify getting anything faster and I endure it when down at her place for the weekend and her PC is fast enough to take the edge off of the slow connection.

I should say that before digital, getting a decent analog signal was testuous at best even though I lived not too far from the TV towers of the major stations - and that is by line of sight due to the vagaries of Seattle's topography and all the buildings in the area.

With digital, I can get pretty much all of the major stations I watch anyway so that's been the biggest thing allowing me to NOT have pay TV.

greg, that's cause you're a mr.mom mormon moron.

and this post is full of bigotry, my friend! what about for people like me?

cable/satellite/netflix = never had. ever. in fact, the only time I ever had cable was when I was in the dorms my first year in college. tv? movies? I've got millions of torrent seeders to leech from. :X

cell phone service = work loves me to pieces. free new phone(s), free minutes, free data. but then again, it's an electronic leash that my masters can tug on at will.

internet connection = I could cut this if needed, seeing how free google wifi is literally right outside my window. however, I need the bandwidth. I abuse the intardnets way too much for everything, including educational material like porn.

home phone line = unfortunately, I need to have this for my DSL, but I pay a lofty $7.28 taxes/fees = MAYBE $10/month. but if the DSL were to go, I wouldn't need this either.

video game subscription = video games? what are those? ironically, considering the kind of work I do, you would expect me to own consoles and have all sorts of online subscriptions. I've never owned a video game console, nor have I bought a video game (subscribed to online games) to play on my computer.

so the only thing I can think of to cut my expenses at this point, is to stop showering and going to the bathroom at home, and use the showers and bathrooms at work.

oh...I guess I could also water the plants by recycling the water that flows through my glorious body.

per kpaige13, "it is mandatory in the US to be able to call 9-1-1 from any landline, whether its hooked up or not. if you have a jack in your house and a phone to plug it into, you're still safe in emergencies if the cell phones don't work."

This is news to me. Can you reference a website for more info? (It's just hard to believe a person could call 9-1-1 from a phone with no dial tone. I'm not saying you're wrong; I'd just like to know how this works.)

I have: cel, cable, internet, and a landline (via cable). The only thing I'd cut is the cable because the others I use on a regular basis. It would be nice to be able to watch TV online but most websites like Hulu don't operate outside the US.

My cel is prepaid and I'm able to keep expenses down fairly well. I would never sign up for a cel plan as Canadian rate plans, not to mention cancellation fees, are horrendous: for Telus Mobility, cancellation fees are the greater of $20/month x the number of months remaining in the contract, or $100. I'd be selling my kidneys to get out of a cel contract should something happen before my time was up.

Kpaige -- I'm coming up with mixed results for your claim - here are two honest looking websites I have found:

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattle911/archives/159497.asp

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2009/05/update-about-911-and-disconnected-landlines.html


Now I do know that you can call 911 on a cell phone that is disconnected or out of service - found some websites to back this up.

http://millelacscountytimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1793&Itemid=33

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/wireless911srvc.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/16/technology/old-cell-phones-can-still-call-911.html

Plus it says it in the manual.

MaeEast -- I read up on Kpaige's claim - links above. First of all it depends on the state. Then it depends on whether or not your phone was completely disonnected or just disconnected from the service.

ChrisGal -- thanks for doing the research and following up with those links. I'll be in the Florida Keys during part of hurricane season. From the Consumer Reports link you provided, it looks like Florida might be a state with "soft-tone" requirements.
I'll do some more homework to figure out exactly what the current situation is in Florida. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

I'd love to get rid of my cable but I need it for sports. A lot of the games I watch are only on ESPN on TNT. Any recommendations for that? I don't think the basic cable package includes those channels.

MaeEast - just hoping you aren't being sarcastic. To be honest, looked most of it up for my own knowledge though I already knew about that out of service cell phone part. Never hurts to find out a little extra info, you know?

ChrisGal -- Not being sarcastic at all. I did not know it was possible to make a 9-1-1 call from an inactive landline (or whatever the correct term is). I apologize if I said anything rude or wrong. I do appreciate your help, and I believe in personal responsibility and being prepared (as much as possible.)

You didn't offend me - just wasn't sure how to take it.

Where I live, there is no soft-tone phone - either the phone is connected or not -- you can see that from the fact Indiana is not on the list. So I'll keep my cell over my landline any day.