How the Roku Changed Our Television Habits

In August of 2009 my husband and I made a decision to cancel our satellite tv subscription. This decision did not result in us replacing it with cable, we decided to *gasp* go without tv.  That's right, we didn't have tv at all for a month or two.  No cable, no premium channels, and no local channels.  We figured that with the amount of DVDs we had and the kids had, it would be no problem to go without.

We didn't have tv for months and still survived to tell the tale.  I am a complete reality tv junkie and was able to watch almost all of my shows online.  Sure I didn't get to watch them the night they aired, but I was recording most of my shows with the DVR and watching them later anyway so it wasn't that big of a change for me. 
I then looked into subscribing to Netflix so we could get DVDs and watch some items instantly online.  We did this for about a month until I found out about the Roku player.  With this tiny device we would be able to watch all of the instant programming from Netflix on our tv!  How exciting.  I have loved watching Law & Order since law school and now I had so many seasons of SVU and Criminal Intent I didn't know what to do with myself.  It was like having A&E again when they were running a Law & Order marathon.

Not only was I enjoying the programs, my husband was able to add South Park, Sherlock Holmes shows, and his new favorite the IT Crowd.  The boys love watching Thomas, Blue's Clues, Spongebob, and tons of kids movies.  Liam especially loves watching Wall-e, iCarly and Mythbusters. 

The system is so simple to use that Liam (our 5 year old) can easily use the remote and find the programs he wants to watch.  He dominates the Roku in the family room that we have decided to buy a new one for the family room and give him the old one for the bedroom he shares with his brother Evan. 

We used to have one Netflix account for $14.99 a month.  We decided to add another account and downgrade the original account to the $8.99 a month accounts.  This will allow us to have one Roku linked to the family room tv where we will have all of the grown up shows and a few for the kids in the instant queue.  The second account will be linked to the boys Roku and we can put all of the kid shows they love in the instant queue.  We have total control over their queue and can make sure they are only watching shows we approve for them. 

This means we now spend $17.98 a month for entertainment when we used to spend over $100 a month on satellite.  Getting rid of our satellite subscription also allowed us to cancel our home phone which we were spending at least $40 a month on.  We kept the high speed internet because we both use it for work and now as our primary source of entertainment, news, etc.

I love that we no longer see commercials.  The boys don't watch regular tv so they are asking for items advertised during their shows less.  They still watch regular tv at the babysitters or when visiting family.  They aren't in a bubble so they do know what new toys are out there, but it isn't a constant saturation like we had before. 

Roku and Netflix are offering a special deal, you can get $20 and FREE shipping with the purchase of a Roku player and set up of a Netflix account.  If you already have Netflix, you will still qualify for FREE shipping.  If you use the provided link, you can help me earn rewards for the referral.  Click HERE to order now!

Feel free to send me an email (CouponGirlSaves@gmail.com) or leave a comment with questions and I will be happy to answer them as best as I can.