Paying More Money Cutting Cable? Here's How to Save Up to $1,000 Per Year

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Less Cable is the Answer

After realizing that I’m not rich yet again, I finally decided that paying Comcast Xfinity $156/month is insane for their triple-package “deal”.

Last week I realized that most of my viewership goes to Youtube.

The content creators are more informative than The Learning Channel (TLC). The historical breakdowns are way more relevant to the topic vs pawnshops and ice road trucking. Even Myths and Mythologies have no mention to Ancient Aliens.

It’s just quality products if you subscribe to the right sources. Don’t believe me check out Rob who explains all things comic book or life, Linsay Ellis who has inciteful mini nerd rants about movies and entertainment, Tedtalks, See U in History and Mythology, the Money Guy show, Real Men Style, FlavCity with Bobby Parrish, Emergency Awesome, Teachingmensfashion, Clay Trader, etc.

So it’s about high time that I cut cable. After waiting almost an hour on the phone, I found out that Comcast and I didn’t even have a contract. I was merely paying them month-to-month. And like a bad relationship, I was getting abused with random price hikes and didn’t complain enough to fix it.

A Good Bundled Value. Wait that’s Not Cable?

The cost of my bundle which includes TV, Internet, and Phone was $149.99 plus tax for a grand total of $156.15. The main reason that I had his jumbled mess was too accommodate ADT (for $35/month) since they need a phone jack.

Yep, I’m cutting ADT for a $420 per year savings. The reduced amount for Comcast XFinity down to internet will be about $110 with tax and my new military discount of 10%, a savings of about $40/month or $480 per year. That’s a significant annual saving of about $1,000 per year. That’s easily two international trips per year. Not to mention that I cut Amazon Prime earlier this year saving $99 and all random impulse purchases of around $500.

For about $1k, I’m cutting my ADT serivce. My safety, It’s above me know.

“It’s all-out war in the world of premium video. In the mad “cut the cord” dash of consumers away from pricey cable TV bundles that cost just over $100 monthly on average in the U.S., the subscription video on demand (SVOD) land grab is on. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu – those are our top 3 SVOD choices. However, Disney+, Apple TV+, and AT&T’s HBO are all coming to the party.” Peter Csathy, Consumer Tech

How many subscriptions are consumers willing to buy to get their monthly video “fix”?

Subscription Costs

NETFLIX for $13/month

You already know the big cheese, Netflix. It offers three streaming plans:

Basic. The Basic streaming plan costs $8.99 per month and has the most limited features.

Standard. The Standard streaming plan costs $12.99 per month and allows you two watch on two screens at a time in high definition (HD).

Premium. The Premium streaming plan costs $15.99 per month. For that, you can watch on four screens at once (ideal for a large family), and you can video programming in HD or 4K Ultra HD, if available. Likely the one that’s bundled in other products such as T-Mobile’s military family plan.

Disney+ for $7/month

Disney Plus streaming service likely be the next must-have competitor to video streaming services such as Netflix, HBO Now, and Apple TV Plus. It’s another paid subscription with no advertising. Disney+ will launch in November of 2019 with a basic offer for $7/month or the triple-service bundle offer for $13/month.

The bundle lumps in Hulu and ESPN Plus. All of this and it even lets you stream to two different devices simultaneously in HD. No more battles for family night. The kids can no consume all the Disney shows they like while the adults binge-watch new Star Wars and Marvel shows. It’s going to be nuts.

Amazon Prime for $9/month or $99/year with Free 2-day Shipping

Amazon Prime has long offered an annual Prime Membership for $99, which includes free two-day shipping and full access to music, movies, and TV offerings. Under the new plan, customers will have access to the video service for $8.99 a month (or $10.99 a month for all the Prime services). Amazon prime is the one kid in the class that is laying low with sleeper hits such as The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Man in the High Castle, The Boys (it’s really good), Bosch, Downtown Abbey, Good Omens and whatever people that watch Amazon prime get into. Let’s be real, it’s the only subscription that can disappear and no one would care well never mind Hulu is not even mentioned.

YouTube Red? for $12/month

Damn those random ads. Essentially an ad blocker for YouTube, YouTube Red service costs $12/month and gives you access to a ton of stuff. Back in 2015, YouTube Red launched as a way for people to get an even better YouTube experience than what was offered in the free version. For $10/month, YouTube Red gave you access to ad-free videos, all-new original shows, and much more. Personally, I watch way too much content on YouTube but I’m too cheap to splurge $150 per year for an ad blocker and Cobra Kai.

The other guys… another $12/month at least

Apple TV+, HBO Max, CBS All Access, NBC Universal’s upcoming Service Video on Demand (SVOD), and all the others.

Everyone wants a piece of the billion-dollar pie. Apple TV+ reportedly will cost $59.99 monthly, and HBO Max will likely cost $16.

Google Stadia is another price suck coming to a TV near you at $9.99/month.

Stadia is a cloud gaming service operated by Google, said to be capable of streaming video games up to 4K resolution at 60 frames per second with support for high-dynamic-range, to players via the company’s numerous data centers across the globe, provided they are using a sufficiently high-speed Internet connection.

Sling TV is tremendously popular and has channels like A&E and TNT and many others. You get a choice of Sling Orange vs Sling Blue channel bundles costing $25/month, or $40/month together.

So What’s My New Anticipated Monthly Total Cost?

Here’s what’s staying: Comcast Xfinity Internet for $110/month. I’m getting Netflix through my T-Mobile military family cell phone plan for a total cost of around $35/month for me.

I’m adding Google Stadia for sure at $10/month and likely Disney+ since they have all the licenses that I care for at about another $10/month. The new monthly cost falls squarely at $130/month.

Saving $60/month or $720 per year. Saving $60/month or $720 per year.

Conclusion

Cord-cutting can be great. However, if you end up paying just as much or more for all these subscriptions, you are likely doing yourself a disservice. Additionally, how much time do you have in a day to even consume all this product.

Most cord cutters eventually dish-out upward to $225/month for all these subscriptions (a la carte). Not paying attention is the real issue since you are adding a little here and there. It ends up being the same price as the stuff you end up leaving.

The best strategy is to prioritize what you like, ignore the noise, and quite frankly spend less time watching a screen. Go out and demand creativity from yourself, your friends, your family, and your community.

As of November 14, 2019, Marketwatch’s Katie Marriner created an interactive lifetime spending tracker that shows how much subscription streaming would cost over a lifetime. For me that number is $5,920 not bad, however, invested, it would have been $27,000.

For a family of four, basic cable with Internet is fine plus Disney+ bundle and you are in the money. With a free Netflix through your phone service provider, that’s a total of $250-$300/month which reduces $75 movie trips which still providing plenty of quality entertainment for the entire family to enjoy. Tune into The Money Guy Show on cord-cutting to get their thoughts: