TV & Telephone: Two Things You Won’t Find in My Home
Did you know? The typical American home has more Televisions (2.7) than people (2.5).
When I tell people that there’s no television or phone in my apartment, they sometimes wonder if I’m part of some strange religious cult. No, I’m just a wacky minimalist doing what we love to do: get rid of stuff. Although the decision to cut my land line and go TV-less didn’t come overnight.
Three years ago I had a certified roommate from Hell. She owed me a lot of money and when I banished her to whence she came, she absconded with her TV rather than allow me to apply it towards her debt. I was left with a feeling of profound relief and an empty TV stand.
My new wonderful roommate, appropriately named Joy, wasn’t really all that interested in replacing it. I had just lost about $600 so neither was I. We didn’t have cable before and so I rarely watched anything other than Blind Date. So we went without a television. It’s a great way to improve productivity.
As Joy began to clean out the old roommate’s detritus, I started to clean out mine and our mutual love affair with simple living sprang into being. Boxes, bags, CDs, Furniture’¦ all carried to the dumpster or donated. And we never missed the TV. We spent nights discussing Jung, drinking wine (well I drank, Joy watched) and analyzing our dreams.
One of the things we noticed in our prolonged detox from television was the absence of advertising in our lives. We bought less stuff. I don’t consider myself easily swayed but the absence of influencing factors really made us aware of the messages that were being put out in advertisements when we did see them. Plus, countless studies have show that (excessive) TV decreases creativity, increases aggression and contributes obesity.
The telephone went many years later. We had been paring it down (opting for an antiquated answering machine over voice mail) when I moved to a new place on my own. One thing that always amazed me about our bare minimum $17 phone service was that it cost $30 after taxes, fees and assorted charges.
I was unable to get DSL at my new place. The phone didn’t work when it was hooked up. ATT said they may have to charge for inside wiring work. I told them forget it. I had a cel phone, albeit on a prepaid plan from Virgin Mobile and I was determined to make do sharing my neighbors internet via wireless connection.
Interestingly, a cel phone includes caller ID, free long distance and voice mail which would have run me another $20 with the phone company. The only problem was that I paid 18 cents a minute for my calls… Well a year later it turns out that it wasn’t such a problem after all.
I’m not a big phone person– my years of working in a call center only served to cement my hatred of talking on them. When I was with ATT, I was paying over 18 cents a minute if you counted all the minutes I used every month!! Switching to a cel phone saved me around $160 last year. Of course I’m lucky that I communicate mostly through the Internet and I live alone. Joy’s near-daily marathon 3-hour discussions with her friend would have killed my savings dead.
So that’s why I don’t have a television or a telephone (or a stereo come to think of it). Both items were a monthly expense that I’m no longer burdened with. Having no TV eliminates a potential time sink so I spend my time blogging or reading. And while cutting the land-line isn’t that unusual these days, having a prepaid replacement is– but Virgin Mobile charges my card whenever I go over so it’s really pay as I go telephone service.
What supposedly necessary expenses have you gotten rid of?
I, too, am living the TV-free life.
I canned the car, and bike or use public transport.
And we use fans instead of air conditioning whenever possible.
These are all $$ and environment-saving measures.
Whenever people ask me how I got two novels written (and published)
while working full-time, I say, “Kill your t.v.”
It isn’t much but I got rid of my extensive cable package and my DVR. I originally had 0 cable after my old roommate moved out (it was in her name) but the “new” tv (reused gift) that replaced my totally-broken tv didn’t get any channels without cable and I had cable-internet anyway so $20 more for a working television with Comedy Central seemed okay.
I did nix Netflix though, opting to “rent” from the library.
Same thing with books – I used to have a giant bookcase. Upon moving to NYC, I donated most of my books to a used bookstore and have used the library almost exclusively for the past 5 years.
Mike: Like Jesse, we nixed Netflix too. I haven’t convinced Jeanine to go cold-turkey with cable… after all, The L Word is still worth paying the premium.
We’ve also tried canceling the cleaning service at times to save money… but that expense always comes back after a few weekends of DIY.
Once L word is over, I hope to reduce the cable bill down to something that is manageable… however, with my partner home 24×7 that is hard to talk her into.
My roommate and I recently experienced a boost in cable rates. We’re thinking of reducing our subscription too.
Here at QC it seems to be purely a decision related to being frugal or economy. I wonder if the writer’s strike is getting some to cut back on cable fees too?
Who has time to watch television anymore? Netflix is our savior for dead head time on the weekends. I have wireless broadband on all laptops and while camping/beaching we have access to email and info.
Saved well over $100/month in cable/phone/internet costs – saving that for over 3 years and have a nice savings account balance.
Well, if you have a cell phone, you don’t really have no phone, do you? I am the opposite. I have an old fashioned land line (not even cordless — it’s one of those big heavy black phones) but no cell phone. I like life with no cell phone.