Miss Moneypennypincher | REALLY Cheap TV, Contract Free

I hate cable.  I hate how much they charge.  I hate how arbitrary the prices seem.  It really burns me when you sign up for a promo price and then the promo period ends and the price goes up, but I'm pretty sure the cable company made money either way.  I know I am a cheapskate, but I just really hate cable.  And I really hate cable contracts, because there is nothing worse than being FORCED to pay someone with the threat of a cancellation fee.

So, I cancelled cable.  For a couple days my family was in shock, but here's the thing:  I use the library.  We have free DVDs. My kid can watch all the Thomas the Tank Engine I want her to, and my husband and I can rent Skyfall for our weekend movie, free.  Plus we all read (shocker!!!).  So, we made it awhile with no cable.  Then How I Met Your Mother and Modern Family started up in the fall, and football season began, and I knew I had to figure out how to get TV cheap, without contracts.

This is what I did:

Courtesy of blurokr.deviantart.com

I kept the internet service in my home. (It was $19.99 per month)

I bought a digital antenna (it was about $36). +
I bought a Roku, a device to stream internet onto my TV.  ($94.99, even cheaper if you have a warehouse membership) +
I signed up for Netflix app on the Roku (no contract) $7.99/month +
I signed up for Hulu app on the Roku (no contract) $9.99/ month +
I got a Playon subscription for $39 per year (it was on sale, no contract required. This is a great way to watch HIMYM, since CBS is not available on Hulu.) = 

If we did this for only a year, calculating the price of the Roku device, and the Playon, we would pay $31.22 per month for TV.  No contracts required.

For any show that we absolutely MUST have (like Mad Men), we can buy them per episode ($1.99) on the Amazon App on the Roku.  We don't have to have a cable contract for the whole year just to watch one show.  Plus when our shows are not on, we can cancel Hulu, cutting an additional $7.99 out of our budget.  We can still catch TV, through the digital antenna.  Netflix is also optional, since the library carries most movies and television shows, either at the library or through Link+.
To put this in perspective, it is predicted that in 2015, the average cable bill will be $123 per month.  Not internet, just TV.  With that price, someone can save approximately $92 per month by streaming TV and using the library for free DVDs.  You can get $1104 back in your pocket every year just by changing the way you watch your TV.

 Knock Knock
---Who's there?
Will
---Will, Who?
Will you take me with you on your family vacation that you got to go on because you just saved $1104???  You will?  YAY!!!!  I can't wait!