How We're Saving Almost $1,000 a Year

Over the past several months, the hubster and I have been asked lotsa questions about how and why-the-heck we decided to dump our satellite TV package and go old-skool with an over-the-air (OTA) antenna.

Although everyone’s reasons are different, we decided to make this move because:

A. After we put the tot to bed, we can stay awake for approximately 3-and-a-half minutes to watch “live” television.
B. Therefore, we were basically paying $80 a month to watch Dora the Explorer, Umi Zoomi and 1/16 of the local news.
C. We needed more money to feed our ceaseless Chipotle burrito habit.

About a year after I quit my job, we started discussing options. Could we live without the Food Network, Nick Jr. and, as huge Pens hockey fans, our local ROOT Sports channel?

Could we survive without a DVR? How will we ever watch anything ever again? After all, if one can’t Keep Up with the Kardashians, what else is there in life?

So, I utilized my super-nerd research skills and began to investigate options. First, we tried a generic Radio Shack OTA antenna. We picked up one channel. Sigh. Back to the Shack. (Side note: Why is it that I have piles of receipts on my desk, but when I need ONE SPECIFIC RECEIPT to return an item to a store, I can never find it? Is there a receipt troll that lives in our house?)

More research…coupled with more griping about the satellite TV bill. We called our provider, who was incredibly helpful and offered to lower our price wayyyyyy down – but with all of the taxes, fees and other codswallop, our bill was still hovering around $55, or, in Chipotle dollars, approximately 7.85 burritos a month.

Then, by chance while reading a post on a cord-cutting forum, I discovered the amazingly awesome Mohu Leaf . You see, the Mohu Leaf is an HD antenna that, according to their website, is the “most reliable and innovative antenna on the market today.” They tell no lies.

We bought. We hooked it up. We had CHANNELS! Lots and lots of channels! For freeeeeeeeee! Crystal-clear! In high def!

Upstairs, in our bedroom, we could pull in our local CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX and PBS stations, as well as a bunch of other stations I had never heard of before, including QUBO, a kid’s station that has super-cute shows on it (as well as commercials for weird products like the Teddy Tank, but that’s a story for another post).

Total channels upstairs: Around 20. This includes subchannels (for instance, our local PBS station pulls in 13.1, 13.2, 13.3 and 13.4, each with different programming).

Downstairs, in our basement gameroom, we pull in CBS, ABC, a fuzzy NBC, FOX, PBS, as well as several of those other aforementioned channels. Total channels: Around 14.

Now, we did invest in an Apple TV so that we could have access to streaming content. We subscribe to Hulu and Netflix, and share a friend’s HBOGO code (yes, Mom, it’s perfectly legal). No DVR? No problem. Hulu lets you stream network shows on your own time.

Although we lost access to live hockey, we’ve looked into ways to stream it via the computer, which we can mirror on our iPads. We will likely buy a pass to NHL GameCenter through our Apple TV, which is STILL cheaper than monthly cable bills.

You’re going to ask me to do math, aren’t you? Ok, here it goes:

Our previous cost: We were paying around $80/month for satellite TV. So…

$80 x 12 = $960/year x 10 years (how long we’ve been married) = $9,600 <gulp>.

Our initial cord-cutting hardware investment:
$99 for Apple TV (Christmas gift to ourselves) + $100 for Mohu Leafs (Leaves?) = $199

Our monthly subscription costs:
Netflix (streaming only) $7.99/month + Hulu Plus for $7.99/month = $15.98 (We may decide to dump Hulu in 2015; we find that we rarely use it.)

So, after our initial investment, we’re saving around $64 a month, or $768 a year!

And the Apple TV just keeps getting better, and each month brings more updates. The Apple TV features a PBS Kids Channel that features some of my daughter’s favorite shows (Peg + Cat! Daniel Tiger!) and ABC News just became the first major news network to provide live and on-demand content to viewers. HBO also announced that they’ll begin offering a standalone streaming service in 2015. Others will surely follow.

Now, of course, you DO periodically have to put up with interference from terrible weather, and every once in a while (a bird? a plane?) the signal will zip and zag like it’s 1975. AND, you still have to pay for some type of Internet access to make this work (we have Comcast), but even so, you’re still saving a ton of money.

Now excuse me, I have to run. I hear a chicken-fajita burrito calling my name.

UPDATE: In August 2014, after doing even more nerdly research, we upgraded our signal by purchasing a refurbished roof-mounted Mohu Sky We’re now getting even MORE channels in crystal-clear HD — for free!

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