Good-bye Cable. Hello Media Streaming!

As a kid, I remember never having cable. One of the perks of spending the night at a friend's was getting to watch Behind the Music or Say What Karaoke. I always thought I would have cable when I grew up - and I did for a few years, but we've been cable free now for almost three years now. We actually don't even get the basic network channels.

We weren't against cable at first. We had gone without it during our first few years of marriage, during which Hubs and I took turns balancing on one foot, sticking out our tongues, and scratching our head while holding the rabbit ears so we could get a slightly less fuzzy version of whoever's TV show was currently on.

Then we moved, and weren't able to pick up anything with the rabbit ears, so we sprung for cable. Not only did we get hundreds of channels, but we even had a DVR.

A few years later, we moved again and decided to go without cable to save money.

Now in the twenty-first century, I bet a lot of you are wondering how can we survive without TV.

Well, instead of paying $100+ a month for cable, we pay $7.99 for Netflix instant streaming and $7.99 for Hulu Plus. So, that is a savings of $84 per month. That's like a date night, or two jumbo boxes of diapers (depending on what's higher on the priority list this month).

We also have Amazon Prime (which is $79 a year), which we use mostly for the shipping upgrade because of all the diapers, baby/toddler gear, and everything else we purchase there - but I've recently discovered their great "Watch Instantly" video library.

I don't have time for TV, and I certainly don't have time for TV on its schedule, so these alternative options are perfect for me.

So here's what we are currently watching:

Hulu Plus

I have quite a few guilty pleasure shows that I watch here. I'm currently hooked on:

Revenge: I love mystery and suspense and enjoy trying to stay one step ahead of the plot. Each time I think it's close to the end, they throw in another twist. This show is in season three and I'm still enjoying it. It is an interesting plot of a daughter avenging her father's death, but the story line isn't designed to be a long series at least in my opinion. I'm sure by the end of this season the show will be on life support and the episodes will be too far fetched. When that happens, I will quit watching it because free time is currency in a house with children and you have to spend it wisely!

Nashville: Can I just have Connie Britton's hair please?! She was great in Friday Night Lights and I have enjoyed watching her in this role too.

The Good Wife: This show satisfies the side of me that once dreamed about going to law school. I know it's a TV show, and I know legal drama is far from the truth of a real courtroom, but I enjoy it. I enjoy seeing the internal conflict some of these lawyers manage when representing guilty clients or big bad corporations.

The Hubs has his shows as well. He enjoys watching Community which I can get on board with every once and a while. The episode "Basic Intergluteal Numismatics" episode  absolutely killed me! It's an issue some people...ahem..around our house struggle with. He also watches Key & Peele, but that's not really my thing.

Some of the shows that we share are The Daily Show, The Colbert Report (See, you can still get your news without CNN and FOX. I used to say that sarcastically, but I have actually come to believe that their reporting is if not as good, possibly better than cable news channels.), the occasional SNL, and of course Parks & Recreation - our Friday evening tradition.

Netflix

What do you do when your three year old wakes you up at 5:30 AM and your sleep deprived self is not ready to function? You catch a cartoon or two on Netflix, so your toddler is happily occupied and you can ease into the morning. Needless to say, Phinn, our energetic, early riser has enjoyed some Netflix lately. Some of his current favorites are Curious George, Justin Time, The Magic School Bus, and Phineas & Ferb.

Netflix also has some great full length children's movies if you're looking for something for family movie night. We have watched The Lorax and The Polar Express (more times than I can count!) and I'm thinking about showing some of the older Disney movies such as The Sword and The Stone and The Great Mouse Detective.

Hubs and I have been watching Freaks & Geeks - with a young James Franco, Seth Rogen, and Jason Segel, which is an underrated one season sitcom from 1999. Some of the movies on our list to watch include Say Anything, which is an 80's cult classics starring John Cusack and has the infamous scene of him in his girlfriend's front yard holding a boombox playing "In Your Eyes," and Broken Flowers, a Bill Murray movie from 2005 which he claimed to be his best role yet.

Most of all, we're eagerly awaiting the return of House of Cards! If you have not checked out this Netflix series starring Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright, I cannot recommend it enough, especially if you enjoy political dramas. I will say, at times it made me disgusted. I wonder how accurately it depicts the political arena and the DC world  in general. It's all food for thought and can make for great debates (or politician slamming).

Amazon Prime

We've been slow at integrating Amazon into our media streaming, but lately we have been perusing their movie selection to save ourselves $1.26 by skipping Redbox (Okay, I'll be honest - it's usually upwards of $3, because I tend to fall asleep and need another night or two to finish the movie!) Some of the movies on our watch list include: The Truman Show, Waking Ned Devine, Sleepers, and The Painted Veil.

I used Amazon Prime to watch Dowtown Abbey for free. The only downside is that I can't watch it until the season is over unless I want to pay $2.99 / episode.

I will say, the one downside to not having cable is not having a sports package. Not that we usually have time to sit down and watch a whole game, but I know Hubs would love to watch more Hokie football and I could do with more STL Cardinals baseball - and we both could use some March Madness. We did look into getting a sports package, but it wasn't worth the cost. Maybe in a few years when the boys are more interested in games and there is a more reasonable option available.

So, if you're interested in saying "good riddance!" to overly priced cable that comes with all those channels that never have anything on, or if you've already broken up with cable and our looking for some media streaming options, definitely check these out.

If you are already hip to this, let me know some of your favorites. I'm always looking for new options to add to my queue!