Why we are saying goodbye to our Sky TV Subscription & Other Options on a budget.
Updated: Feb 19, 2020
Nearly everyone we know has Sky TV. Here In the UK it’s a huge household name and I guess it’s considered Normal to have it. I remember people in school would bully those who didn’t have it because that obviously meant they were “poor”… Or maybe there parents had sense. It has never been smooth all the years we have had Sky Tv and we know it will be difficult at first to get used to not having it but honestly we don’t need it.
We are currently working out our travel plans for 2020 and looking at ways to save extra cash for more special days. We don’t need to strip the spending back, but we would rather spend our money on the things that we will enjoy, such as travelling. What really struck us was our Sky TV Subscription was costing us pretty much £100 every month. With added £15 here and there for any movies we bought through them.
We have actually sat and gone through the planner, looking at what we have in the planner and what is scheduled to record, the things we have on series link and were was so angry that we hadn’t done it sooner!
Turns out we have been paying nearly £100 every month to watch the wrestling twice a week and to record stuff on the free channels! (and a landline we barely use) How dumb is that? This was the deciding factor in our decision. Keep paying nearly £100 every month for a TV show that in all honesty, we were all getting super annoyed at because of the repetitiveness or put that £100 into the savings. We know which one we would rather do.
Once the kids go to bed, I am either online working or I am binging on Netflix or Amazon. We don’t even use Sky TV. We are not the type of family that watches TV all day every day and, when the weather lets us, we would rather be outside. Even in the rain and snow we are outside doing something.
Other Options
Netflix ~ I am a self confessed Binger. I binge on lots of Netflix shows and I love it! You can have a subscription to Netflix on different packages such as : Basic – £5.99 per month. Watch on 1 screen in SD quality Standard – £7.99 per month. Watch on 2 screens at a time with HD available Premium – £9.99 per month. Watch on 4 screens at a time with HD and Ultra HD available
Amazon Prime ~ I actually found Amazon really boring at first and all they ever had was old rubbish that no one would want to sit and watch. But I actually love Amazon now, they have some pretty good TV shows and some awesome movies available. In fact they have a better more up to date movie database than Netflix. And it works out at £7.99 per month but this includes Prime delivery service so its perfect if you shop online.
Now TV ~ Now TV is pretty good. It is basically Sky TV but ridiculously cheaper. It doesn’t have as many of the channels Sky TV has, but it has Sky one which is the main channel we do watch on Sky TV. You can also pay for a movies package which is the same movie channels as Sky TV but again it is so much cheaper. You can also get Catch up apps on Now Tv too. You are better off looking up special offers for the prices because they vary massively and a quick tip is it sometimes works out cheaper to buy the passes from certain stores that stock them such as Currys.
Wrestling Options ~ I have always been a huge Wrestling fan ever since I saw a PPV with my Grandad. We just can not justify £100 every month to watch it twice a week. So we have WWE Network which works out at £9.99 per month. And we watch other wrestling shows through streaming or ITV. So honestly we don’t need Sky TV.
Various catch up apps. We have various consoles in the house and we actually have an Xbox One in the living room. We use this for not only gaming but for the various free apps you can get such as Channel4, Channel5, ITV, BBC.
So I guess my main reason for this post is to those looking to save any money, maybe you are already on a tight budget. Look at what you are actually paying for if you have SKY TV do you need it? Can you watch your shows on other platforms?
The answer for us was to say goodbye to our Sky Tv but that also meant we can save an extra £100 every month. For the convenience of Sky Tv, we would rather save that £ and do something special with the boys. £100 x 12 months -= £1200 some months it will have been more than the £100 because we lazily used to buy dvds through Sky Tv (Buy them from other places like Tesco or your local Co Op they are at least £5 cheaper) We already have the other options so the £100 per month is what we are saving. If we had done this 5 years ago can you imagine the money! That’s roughly 6k we have wasted in 5 years!. CRAZY.
What are you saving for?