How To Cut The Cable Cord And Lower Your Tv Bill (In 3 Easy Steps).

An increasing number of people are wondering how to lower their t.v. cable bill or even how to cut the cable cord altogether. It’s no mystery why. The average American family with cable t.v. is paying over $900 a year for the service.

What would you do with an extra $900 in your pocket this year?

Aside from saving money, you may find you have more free time as well. Cable television feeds the viewer a constant stream of programming. This leads many to plan their lives around when their favorite shows are on, and spend the remainder of their time channel surfing in the hopes of finding something to fill the void.

Cutting the cord changes your life. It does so because alternative providers don’t provide content in the same way – they provide it more like a menu of available shows. Not quite a la carte, but closer than cable. It’s a bit of a mind shift, but it puts you in control of your life again.

Since cutting the cord, my wife and I find we watch tv when we want, and when there is a show we’re interested in. The rest of the time we used to spend channel surfing we now spend talking, reading or just plain living.

I know many others who report a similar phenomenon. I hope that you can experience it too.

Now, without further ado, here’s how to cut the cord on cable t.v., save hundreds of dollars doing it and learn to live again.

Step 1. Determine your “must see” t.v. shows.

Every cable television customer I’ve ever spoken with admits they only watch a handful of channels or shows, yet pay for a tiered package of hundreds of channels encompassing thousands of shows. Most of their television watching time amounts to simple channel surfing and complaining that “there’s nothing on”.

Alternative television options don’t work like that. Aside from the Dish Network, or DirecTV, you don’t get a one-stop provider that will give you everything you get with cable t.v.. Of course, going with one of those other content providers won’t free you from large monthly bills either.

Since the point of this operation is to replace your existing cable with alternative providers but at a lower price, we need a list of shows you consistently watch. Mark the “must see” shows in your list, and start with those.

Step 2. Find out where you can watch your shows online.

Once you have your list of shows, it’s time to figure out where you can watch them. Netflix and Hulu are 2 wildly popular streaming content providers. Amazon is another. The trouble is, none of them has all the shows available. Many shows are only available on one or the other – not all.

You may be lucky and find that everything you watch is available through Netflix, or you may be like my wife and I and realize that most of what you watch is on Netflix, but one or two of your “must see”s are only on Hulu.

For a more in depth look at various providers, read: Where to watch online content streamed to you television.

Step 3. Determine how to stream online content to your t.v..

Once you have your list of shows and verified they are available from alternative sources, you’re ready to proceed.

In this 3rd and final step, you need to determine what kinds of hardware, if any, you will need to make the magic happen.

Unfortunately there’s really quite a bit of information to impart for this step, and I don’t want this post to go on forever.

To that end, I have shared that information here: How to stream online content to your t.v..

Good luck and happy cord cutting!

A word of caution

I feel I should offer a few words of caution as an addendum to this post, to help you avoid being burned one last time by your cable provider. This has happened to some cord cutters – don’t let it happen to you.

Some cable providers charge less if you bundle your cable and internet services together and will charge a higher rate for just internet, so be sure of your provider’s policies before you drop the cable t.v. service.

If you are unlucky enough to have such a cable provider, you can find other high speed internet providers in your area. As a rule of thumb, you want at least 5mbps download speeds, but higher is better.

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Alternatives To Pet Insurance (Tips For Doing Without Pet Insurance).

As discussed in previous posts, the availability of pet insurance provides pet owners with options that were previously reserved for only humans, but such options can come at significant cost.

If you’re like me, and think a pet is a wonderful thing but you prefer to not live a life of debt for him, here are some tips for limiting the vet bill while skipping the insurance.

Seek out low-cost vet clinics for routine shots. Many vets offer them once or twice per year. You can also call your local chapter of the The Humane Society of the United States. You may even get information from your local animal control department.

Get a second opinion for non-emergency conditions. You might even want to check out the Merck Veterinary Manual online for detail about your pet’s condition and treatment possibilities.

When it comes to medication, shop around and ask for samples. Many vets have small, sample size packs of medication that may suit your pet’s need, or at least cut down on the total bill. Also check around on the Internet at sites like Discount Pet Medicines.

Don’t ignore long-term factors either. Cutting costs today on cheap pet food can mean big bills down the road. I had a cat when I was younger who went into full blown kidney failure on a Friday. It being a weekend, our regular vet was closed which meant going to an animal hospital. (read “big money!”)

Anyway, it turns out that the cheap food we had been giving him for years was loaded with “fillers”, like clay. Over the years this led to kidney and urinary tract problems. All told, my parents spent close to 4 figures on that incident and the cat lived for another 8 years or so but we all could have saved a lot of time and money had we known to skip the cheap food.

Also, research breeds and pets before you decide. Dogs make twice as many trips to the vet as cats, and there are a host of chronic problems and hereditary diseases that plague specific breeds. At the very least, you should know what you’re getting into.

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Five Common Debt Solutions.

Debt is an ongoing problem that plagues consumers around the world. Heavy debt is caused by various factors. Loss of job, divorce, and over extending one’s financial abilities are just a few ways debt sneaks up on hard-working people. If you are having a problem with debt, you are most likely wondering how to get out of it. Here are five common solutions.

1.   Bankruptcy

Many people get scared and naturally want to solve debt by filing for bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is a legal status that clearly defines one’s inability to pay creditors. Depending on the chapter the debtor files, he or she may be excused from making any payments.

The downside to choosing bankruptcy as an option is the resulting credit status. A bankruptcy will remain on the consumer’s credit report for a period of seven to ten years. This status will make it difficult for that person to obtain any credit during that time. Bankruptcy should be used as a last resort when no other options seem feasible.

2.   Debt Consolidation

Debt consolidation is another common method to solving the problem of overwhelming creditor bills. The process involves merging all open accounts into one account. A consolidation can be done in several ways. One way is for the debtor to apply for a consolidation loan. The lender will write out a check big enough to cover all of the debtor’s open accounts. The debtor will then make payment to this single creditor.

A debtor could also perform a self-initiated consolidation by applying for a high limit credit card that would cover payment for all existing accounts. This is also a great method because some high limit credit cards offer excellent APRs. The down side is availability. If the debtor has already experienced several negative notations on his or her credit report, lenders may be reluctant to help. In addition, if that individual’s income is not enough to cover the debt payments, a consolidation will not be very beneficial.

(Read more about Debt Consolidation and Your Credit Score.)

3.   Credit Counseling Services

Credit counseling services can provide consumers with advice on how to manage their bills. They offer a wide range of solutions from financial planning, to payment tips, to writing letters to creditors. Credit counseling services are not a bad idea. However, they are not free. So, the customer risks paying for something that may not work.

(Read more: 10 tips to help you talk to your credit counselor.)

4.   Debt Management Company

A debt management company is a company that also offers a wide range of services to consumers in need of assistance. One thing they can do is negotiate with the lenders. They will attempt to convince lenders to lower interest rates and finance charges on the debtor’s behalf. Another service that these companies offer is a third party debt consolidation. In this situation, the debtor makes a lump sum payment to the debt management company and they pay of his or her creditors. DMC companies can possibly help to lower an individual’s debt. However, the bill can get costly and not every DMC is trustworthy.

5.   Nada

Some people actually opt to do nothing to fix credit. They let the debt rack up in hopes that the seven-year period will pass before legal action wipes them clean. This is definitely not an intelligent idea. A smart debtor needs to be proactive for effective debt repair. With the right attitude and the will to make the situation better, a debtor can get from under the heavy weight.

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How to Find the Best Place To Put Your Savings.

The Federal Reserve has recently announced that it will be keeping interest rates that banks pay to borrow money at 0 – 0.25% for the foreseeable future. This is done in the hopes of encouraging borrowers and spenders, but punishes savers. This makes it harder than ever to find the best place to let your emergency fund grow. But just because it’s difficult to find a place to make your money work harder for you doesn’t mean you should let it sit idle in a low yield bank account!

While it’s easy to find places to stash your cash that pay more than the average bank savings account (currently 0.08%!), high yield isn’t the most important thing when looking for a home for your emergency fund.

The two most important factors to determining where to keep your emergency cash are:

1. Safety
2. Liquidity

“Safety” is a measure of short term risk. Putting your emergency fund in the stock market is foolish because stocks can lose money on any given day, and you need to be able to count on your money being there when you need it.

Certificates of deposit are safe. They are FDIC insured, so you cannot lose principal. But this is where liquidity comes into play. CD’s are safe, but you don’t want your emergency fund tied up in a 5-year CD when you need that money now.

Because of these two factors, the most common places to store your emergency fund money is in a high yield savings account and sometimes a short term certificate of deposit (CD). You could put some of your savings in a savings account, and the bulk of it in a CD. This way you have immediate access to what’s in the savings account, but the bulk of your fund would be in a CD earning higher interest.

Ideally, you’d put the money you would need for repair bills on the house or car in the savings account, and you’d use the CD for that part of your savings you would tap only in the event of a loss of income or some larger emergency.

In the current economic environment however, it makes sense to use only the high yield savings account and skip CDs. Here’s why…

High yield savings account vs. a 1 year CD.

A quick look at yields on 1 year CDs shows that the highest yielding CD (currently offered by Sallie Mae) only offers a tenth of a percent more that the highest yielding savings account, but you wouldn’t have access to your money for an entire year (without penalties). That’s simply not worth tying up your money like that.

So, on to high yield savings accounts…

How to Find The Best High Yield Savings Accounts.

First, head over to BankRate.com and check out their list of high yield savings accounts. Sort by APY (the yield you can expect if you leave your money in the account for a full 365 days), and work down the list. Be sure to read the details of the terms and look for a star rating of 4 or 5.

That star rating is Bankrate’s rating system which rates a financial institutions solvency and safety, not customer service or satisfaction. It’s meant to give an indication of the likelihood of the bank being closed by the FDIC.

For the record, neither of my banks is on the list (ING direct or HSBC)*, so it’s not the only resource you can use but it is a good place to start. If there’s a bank or credit union you’re interested in, you can search Bankrate’s safety ratings.

They also offer a checking account search.

* I’ve been a happy customer of both HSBC and ING Direct for over five years now. I’ve kept the bulk of my savings at HSBC direct, but they have recently decreased their rate. It’s still much higher than the average though. ING direct has been very good to me, and they still sport one of the highest rates and easiest to use website in online banking. They’ve recently been acquired by Capital One though, and a lot of people are not happy about that. I haven’t seen any changes yet though, so I’m taking a wait-and-see approach. Plus there’s the ever popular $25 ING Referral codes that give you an extra $25 free when you open an account with $250 . (that’s an immediate 10% return on your money, for those of you playing along at home)

Look for special deals.

It’s also a good idea to check out online forums, like the FatWallet finance forum and see what people are saying about various banks and account offerings. You can also search for discussions on high yield savings accounts and learn about the most recent perks for signing up with various banks. Sometimes they offer introductory rates that are higher than normal, or cash back when you open an account. Public forums like FatWallet’s are a great source for getting the experience of real customers, instead of marketing execs.

Please share any tips, tricks or experience you may have in the comment section below.

Happy Saving!

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