I love watching movies, I mean LOVE it! If I am given a day off I can sit in front of the tv all day. I can watch my favorite movies and shows without getting sick of them. Nowadays watching movies is even easier with subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+. With a few clicks of the remote I can move onto a new show or movie. I don’t even have to move off the couch to put in a different DVD. However with this convenience also comes consequences and downsides.
I can sit there all day watching show after show without really knowing what time it is. I can even gain some weight from eating snacks constantly while watching movie after movie. I lose valuable time I could have spent doing things I needed to do. Instead I wasted away on the couch hour after hour until it is time for bed. Lastly it takes money out of my bank account every month that I really would have prefered to put towards my debt.
It may not seem like very much money when you first sign up for a video streaming subscription but over time it builds up. Lets see exactly how much it builds… $12.99 a month for Disney+ with hulu and ESPN+ is $155.88 per year. That is $155.88 that is still on your student loan account building interest every month. It is $191.88 a year for Netflix. That is almost $200 that could have been spent on paying off your credit card. Not to mention cable television that costs on average $60 a month which is $720 a year. That could have been put aside in an emergency savings bank account. Instead it was used as fun money for something you wanted that wastes your time, in some cases causes you to gain weight, and ruins the opportunity for you to be debt free sooner. It is not a very smart choice.
I know we all need to have our things to relax at home after a long day. I totally get it and I am just as guilty of using the tv as a comfort measure after work. What if we were to change our thinking though. What if we got up off the couch and stuck a DVD in the bluray player instead of having a streaming app. It would force us to keep track of the time and be mindful of when we are wasting too much time. It lets us save some money on monthly subscriptions that aren’t needed. It prevents us from feeling like a couch potato because we are less likely to sit and watch 10 movies in a row that we have already seen.
I’m not saying you should completely wipe out your TV time but think about temporarily getting rid of those extras. The extras that are wanted but you don’t really need to survive. The cable, Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, CrunchyRoll, and all those fun time waster subscriptions that just aren’t good for you in the long run. You may even find your relationships with your family improve because you have more time with them. It is like an extra bonus that comes from this process. Now go cancel all of them for your own good.
I cancelled mine in 2019 so I know it is possible to get by in life without seeing the latest episode of that tv show everyone is talking about. My time is spent more wisely now with my husband. Even during this COVID-19 pandemic I am finding plenty to do at home without watching Disney+. It is good for you. Trust me, you’ll thank me years later when you get out of debt that much faster and have stronger relationships with your family and friends.
