Making the Most: Why We Stream TV

My husband and I love watching TV together; we are huge sci-fi buffs and we really get into various "fandoms" (i.e. the discussions, the merchandise, all of it!). It's our thing - but the cost of cable was starting to grind on my last nerve. You see, we had tried local programming with antennas and converters, etc. Unfortunately the mountains here in The Valley make it difficult for any receiver, even the high end ones to work as advertised. Even though we watch a lot of cable, we were paying for more channels than we watched. It just wasn't working.

Back then Hulu had just launched and I realized watching all my shows on demand (without a subscription!) was the end of cable in our home.

Fast-forward to today - we almost exclusively stream minus a few DVDs we pick up from time to time. We do it all on the Amazon Fire Stick. I know many of you use the Roku, PS3, Apple TV, Google ChromeCast.... there are so many options and we have played with most of them, lol. However it was the quality and price of the Amazon Fire Stick that really sold me. It's easy to use, you can mirror your devices, has a remote and is compatible with many other streaming services like Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant Video.

You know what the best part is? It's cheaper than Starbucks! LOL. Take that cable! We don't use Netfilx or Hulu Plus right now (although we do get free trials now and then), we mirror Hulu which you can do through the stick or connect your computer to your TV with an HDMI cord and we get Amazon Instant Video free with our Amazon Student account.

Amazon Student let's us get free shipping on most items from Amazon.com and let me tell you, we save a ton.  It's $49/year, but to qualify you'll need to sign up with a .edu email address or get a prime account for $99/year. Both come with free Instant Video. If you get the Amazon Student account for video alone, you're still getting a deal and paying about half the price of Netflix or Hulu. Plus, you can score a 6 month free trial of Amazon Student here!

So let's beak it down

Steaming 
Amazon Fire Stick: $39 (look for this on sale, I got ours for $19!)
HDMI Cord: $5 (if you need one - this is the one we use) 
NetFlix: $8/month
Hulu Plus $8/month
Amazon Prime: $49/year - $99/year
Total = $335/year (at most. This price will go down because you won't purchase equipment every year)

OR

Cable
Basic $75/month
Total = $900/year