I recently moved to a neighboring city with some friends that I happen to know from college. One of them is doing quite well and is paying for our cable bill without any questions asked. He thought it would be a good idea to get digital cable, high-definition channels, premium movie channels, a DVR and the like. He’s probably paying over $150 month for his fancy cable package, and it rare if ever gets used. All three of us work all day, and usually by the time 5:00 PM rolls around, the last thing we want to do is stare at another monitor, even if it is a 57” HDTV.

I have a hunch that many other people who pay for cable are in a very similar situation. They shell out nearly $100 a month for cable and internet, and then end up not making good use out of it because they’re so busy with life. Most of us in this situation still pay for cable because it’s nice to know that we can sit down on the couch, veg out, and watch TV should we choose to. Fortunately, there’s a device that you can buy for just about $10 which will provide you a happy medium of having television shows to watch, and not being forced into paying an expensive cable or satellite bill each month. It’s called an Antenna.

Think about it, long before the days of cable, everyone had rooftop antennas to get their favorite shows from far off towers. There’s no reason that we can’t do this today with our high-definition televisions. This allows us to get between 5 and 10 channels (or more) depending on where you live for no monthly fee. It’ll allow you to be able to watch television at your leisure, but not get stuck into a bill that’ll cost you $1000 a year.

Our cable market is relatively small compared to some of the very urban areas such as LA and Manhattan, but even with just about 200,000 people being broadcasted to, we still have 6 local channels that we can pull over the air for free. The big three networks are even broadcast in high-definition. In larger networks, you can easily get 10-20 channels for literally nothing other than the cost of a small antenna, HDTV or otherwise.

Let’s be real with ourselves. We don’t need cable and we certainly could go without paying the bill. Buy an antenna and watch what’s available, it’ll save you a lot of wasted time in front of the TV and a lot of money in the process.

 Related Content:

• our family has an opportunity for startling change - and links
• Save Time, Money and Space in Over 80 Ways
• How to Fix an Energy-Inefficient House
• Cutting the Cable TV
• The Rise of Voice Over IP For Home Phone Service