So what the heck is a TiVo?

Since learning that COX has charged us $2,600 for DVR boxes over the past 4 years I've been on a mission to get rid of our DVR box.  After looking into the various options I've decided to try out a TiVo.  The TiVo box replaces the Cable/DVR box we are renting, but not only is it cheaper than our current COX DVR box, it also has a ton more features.  And if you're like me and have a personal gripe against COX then it's definitely worth the switch.

Here's a matrix I found on the TiVo website that compares the features of TiVo to your standard cable DVR box, Google TV, and Apple TV.

There were a couple different TiVo options, but we settled on the $99 factory-renewed TiVo with the $12.99 monthly service.  Click here for details.  All I had to do was call 877-289-8486 and I talked to a very nice english-speaking salesperson who walked me through the process, answered all my questions, and within 10 minutes I had a TiVo box on its way (free shipping too!).  Of course, before I pulled the trigger I put together a quick spreadsheet comparing all the costs.  This assumes that we will pay for the TiVo monthly service for the first year and then buy the lifetime subscription for $399 in the second year (you can't get the clearanced TiVo box and do the lifetime subscription at the same time -dang).  The TiVo will save us almost $300 in the first 5 years and more than $1,000 over 10 years.  Not a ton of money, but when you consider the extra perks of TiVo and the possibility of getting rid of cable altogether, I think it's definitely worth it.

One of the big perks I just discovered about TiVo is that it works great for receiving free HDTV signals over the air.  Just like TV in the "old days" where you could certain channels were free, you can now watch these channels in high definition for free.  Who doesn't love free?  I'm going to give it a try so I ordered this digital antenna off amazon.com for $25.48.  You plug the antenna into your TiVo box and then you can record all those free HD channels to your hearts content.  A lot of the shows we currently watch we should be able to get over the air broadcast... American Idol, Lie to Me, The Office, etc.  The crazy thing is that the quality is actually supposed to be better than cable. (Click here for a more complete sampling of shows available for free and click here for step by step instructions on how a TiVo and digital antenna work together. 

And you know how I mentioned the sports problem?  Get this, just a few days ago Apple signed a deal where you can subscribe to all the live basketball games and baseball games for $100 each. Read the article here.  I see an iTV in our future :)

Between an iTV, Tivo, Netflix, and a digital antenna, I'm hoping to "cut the cord" and ditch cable entirely.  I'll keep you guys posted.

Bills, Bills, Bills

I worked so hard to avoid student loans during my undergraduate degree.  I filled out a ton of scholarship applications, saved my a lot of my measly $7.00 an hour high school salary, and went to an in-state college.  I was even on an $40 a week budget most of the way through college.  Yes, $40 per week for all my food, entertainment, clothes, gas, etc, etc...  needless to say it was a thrifty few years but I finally made it through scott free.

Then came my Master's degree.  I filled out my FAFSA and to my surprise the United States government gifted me $8,000 worth of subsidized student loans, no interest loans..... yes please :)  Soon enough the checks started coming.  Best of all the money didn't have to be spent exclusively on school.  Sure, most of it went towards paying for the pricey classes at Creighton ($2,000 per class), but I had a few other expenses come up in 2010...wedding, honeymoon, and a condo for Kevin and I.  Before I knew it my balance had grown to a hefty $13,000!  yikes.

But, after a nice tax refund and bonus, the balance is finally paid in full.  Victory. 

We're working hard to try to accomplish number six on our pre-baby bucket list (paying off student loans, our car, and saving up money).  I took a look at our budget the other day and Kevin and I have saved enough money to pay for the rest of our MBA programs, and if all goes well hopefully we'll make double payments on his car and get it paid off this year. 

Speaking of budgeting.  When I was putting our new budget together I took a close look at all of our bills for the first time in almost a year.  I have a habit of setting everything on auto-bill pay and not paying attention...  bad habit, I know.  Apparently Sprint had been charging us for $10 a month for some type of service that we accidentally signed up for (and that we don't need).  Then I took a look at our cable bill.  Almost $200 a month.  So we started going through all the charges.  Do you know how much Cox Cable charges per month for a DVR box?  $17.99 per month!  And best of all you never pay off the DVR box... you keep paying rent on it forever.  I have two DVR boxes at Kevin and I's rental house and one at our condo, so that means over the last four years we've paid over $2,600 for DVR boxes.  $2,600 dollars! 

I did a little research online and you can buy a really nice DVR box with no monthly subscriptions for $349.  Or there are a bunch of different Tivo options ($299 for the box and then $12 a month, or you can get a lifetime subscription to their service for $399) - in two years you'll have broken even on your investment.  AND Tivo has some features that your standard box doesn't have - it interacts with Netflix and Amazon's Unbox, and there's even an iPad app that allows you to use your iPad as an interactive remote. 

Pretty cool huh?  I'm still looking into all the options, but I tired of getting price gouged by Cox so I'm going to try to find out something this weekend.  If it were totally up to me I'd probably get rid of cable entirely and just keep our Netflix account to watch movies.  My husband promptly vetoed that idea since he wouldn't have live access to his sports channels.  Does anyone have any recommendations on a DVR box?  Or any ways you've saved money recently?