Running a Money-Smart Household: Reducing Television and Cable Expenses

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Getting rid of cable television can save substantially on your yearly household expenses. If you figure that your cable costs you $25 per month on the low end, you're paying a bare minimum of $300 per year, and if you add premium channels, you can spend more than $80 per month.

If cable television is absolutely essential to your life, the best way to save money is to stick with the bare-bones basic package. This package usually includes the major networks, public broadcasting, assorted educational channels, and a handful of others. It usually doesn't include many of the children's cartoon channels, however. Basic analog cable seems to run $10 to $15 per month throughout the United States, compared to more than $50 per month for expanded cable. You save at least a couple hundred dollars per year. With a fraction of that amount, you can rent all the movies you really want to see " or, better yet, borrow them from your library.

This article was authored by Ted Benna, Stephen R. Bucci, James P. Caher, John M. Caher, N. Brian Caverly, Peter Economy, Jack Hungelmann, John E. Lucas, Sarah Glendon Lyons, Margaret A. Munro, Brenda Watson Newmann, Mary Reed, Jordan S. Simon, Kathleen Sindell, Deborah Taylor-Hough, John Ventura.