But I cancelled my NetFlix subscription today. The truth is, I've been a little alarmed about the increase in costs of... well, just about everything. Comcast just increased my monthly internet bill by almost $5.00, this morning's paper announced a big cut to the senior discount on the school portion of our property tax bills, and everybody knows what food prices are these days. The small increase we received in Social Security is pretty much wiped out and then some. I don't know about you, but this kind of news leaves me feeling a little unsettled now that I'm on a fixed retirement income.
There are a lot of ways to cut back, even when you're already being frugal. I do think it is important to make sure I have left room in the budget for entertainment and things I enjoy. Looking at my budget recently, though, I realized I was paying for much more entertainment than I actually use, and that there are sources of good-quality programming that I rarely or never take advantage of.
Looking at that list of underutilized sources, I cannot feel deprived at no longer having NetFlix. They certainly have an enormous offering, but really... it's mostly not very edifying. I'm probably doing myself (and my brain and emotional well-being) a favor by spending more of my viewing time elsewhere. Recently, for example, I got caught up in watching Scandal on NetFlix, but as time went on I found the show disturbing, and so stopped watching it. I realized that, for me, a lot of current TV programming is disturbing. Most of us seniors grew up watching Andy Griffith, Leave it to Beaver, the guys out on the Ponderosa, and shows like that. The most disturbing things I remember were Bambi and Twilight Zone.
So... what are my current video options, minus NetFlix?
Well, I have an Amazon Prime subscription, and even though it's gone up to $99 per year, I still think it's a good value, for me anyway. They make a huge amount of free streaming video - TV shows and movies - available to Prime members. They don't have everything I might want, but there is enough to keep me busy for years. And Amazon gives quite a bit more with Prime. Because I don't have a car, I probably buy more things online than most, much of it from Amazon. With Prime I get free 2-day shipping, which also allows me to better schedule my orders so that shipments will arrive on a day when I'm home. I've never had a delivery disappear from my front steps, but I have been told it happens. Amazon also gives me a free, quality e-book each month (their First program) and the ability to borrow a second book (their Lending Library program). And I've really been enjoying the well-curated free Prime music playlists... I listen to one nearly every morning. Today I chose a mellow jazz one, yesterday it was classical, and last week I listened to some 1960's era rock. They also now give Prime members a large amount of free cloud storage, too. Not bad... all that for $8.25 a month.
I also have the most "basic" cable TV subscription from Comcast, along with my internet. I know... but I feel like I need it for when the grandkids are over. It includes the main broadcast channels, a couple of public broadcasting stations, several Spanish language stations, and (my favorite) Book TV on CSPAN-2. Now, because of my vision, I prefer to watch video on my tablet... I can see the details better than on the TV and the ergonomics are better than on the computer. I've discovered that I can watch a lot of my basic cable programming, on demand, using websites and apps on my Kindle or Chromebook. ABC, for example, has an excellent Kindle app, and so does PBS. Comcast and Univision also have Kindle apps, and though they're a little clunky, both seem to be functional these days. Book TV has a website that allows access to some video and audio from their programming, and it works well on my tablet. I should add that, except for PBS and Book TV, you have to verify your cable provider and subscription level to watch programming online these days.
And then there is Hulu. You can watch many recent TV programs on your computer on Hulu, without a Hulu Plus subscription. There's a lot of video available there for non-subscribers, and although they don't allow non-subscription streaming to tablets or phones, their player works very well on computers.
In addition, at my library I can check out (although sometimes you have to get on a waiting list or request an interlibrary loan) all kinds of movies, TV series, and music on DVDs. My library subscribes to Overdrive, a source of electronic books and audiobooks, and I noticed recently that they have added some streaming movies. All free for library card holders.
Finally, there's YouTube. I have been surprised to discover how much quality media can be found there these days! It's not just cute cat and dog videos any more. I'm not quite done with the Inspector Morse series on NetFlix, but I discovered that it's all available on YouTube. Along with all sorts of (usually older) movies and TV series. So I can finish up the final Morse season on YouTube instead of NetFlix.
I feel better having whacked off a little bit from my monthly expenses. Even though the $7.99 monthly charge isn't huge, it adds up to $95.88 a year. What might I like to spend that on? Maybe some new pillows for my sofa? Taking a friend to a nice lunch a time or two? All those regular little expenses are like slow leaks. I can do better things with that $7.99 a month.
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