Back in January Mr. Right and I had a serious talk about how much money we were wasting on cable. Like, our bill stupid high and we really didn’t even watch much TV.

The first time we talked about it, I was pretty against it. I have a beautiful big screen TV purchased pre-marriage and the thought of leaving it blank, with no TV news, no live events, no Bachelor Mondays was just too much for me.

And then Mr. Right dangled the “with all the money we save we could get a cleaning lady” card. And I was hooked.

Cable, my friend… I don’t miss you at all.

We figured out that we could save about by getting rid of cable and movie rentals and leaving just internet. For that same amount we could afford a cleaning lady twice a month.

And what a gift that has been for us. I’ve got a demanding job and that requires me to work a lot of nights and weekends. Mr. Right juggles a job as a minister, working a full day on Sundays, with a full load as a graduate student. Together we teach ESL and volunteer quite a bit at church. Plus I’m launching a small business. Time is precious for us, and it has been such a blessing to have one thing crossed off my list completely. I realize it’s a total luxury and in the future we may not always be able to swing it, but in this season of life, it has been so very thankful.

So how do we watch TV? We actually think we have a cooler set-up now than we did before.

1. We got a digital antenna so we can watch high-def local channels live. There’s no DVR, no fast-forwarding through commercials… but after the initial investment (less than $100) our TV is free. We like free. Free makes the commercials worth it.

2. We got a blue-ray player that hooks up to our wifi. Through that player we can stream Netflix (movies and entire seasons of TV shows) and Hulu Plus. Hulu allows us to watch current shows as if they were on DVR – I can literally watch any show, the entire season – without ever setting my DVR. Cost of the blue ray player was less than $100. This is especially handy during these summer months filled with re-runs… I’ve been discovering new shows I’ve never seen before and watching those straight through.

3. The blue-ray player also allows us to play Pandora over our TV, which is a fun new toy we never expected. Think, dance parties in the living room. It also has an Amazon app where we can rent movies much cheaper than we ever could rent through AT&T’s payperview.

4. We also use our laptops to watch tv/movies in other rooms. This is what I do while I’m in my sewing studio.

And guess what? I think we’re better off now than we were before. Not to mention my floors are now a lot cleaner.

And that, my friends, is how I got a cleaning lady without spending any extra money, and in the process got a much better tv-viewing experience and regained a tiny bit of my sanity.