It's been about one week since we shut down the satellite, and we're all still alive. Amazing, right? I mean, who would have thought you could live without TV. Well, you can.

Seriously though, I wanted to just share a quick update following our decision to disconect the satellite and search out other options. If you missed the initial blog post, GOODBYE SATELLITE TV, you can check it out here. But just to give you a summary, we decided to turn of the satellite for a couple of reasons. 1. We didn't like the majority of the programming being offered. 2. What we did watch wa not enough to validate paying for 200+ channels. And 3. We didn't want to pay for all the channels we had blocked, or never watched.

So away it went.

What are we doing now?

Well, we went and ordered a digital antenna from Amazon, plugged it in, ran the setup and channel search, and poof, 19, FREE, digital channels. And quality and signal is great. We are now getting all our local channels, and a few extras, and we're not paying a dime for them.

The antenna, $35. And super easy to connect. I will put a link to the actual device we bought below.

It's actually amazing how good of a signal we really do get. Amy said to me just recently, "I can't believe we've been paying for TV all this time." But no more!

So what's next?

Well, we still want to order an Apple TV box. This device will allow us to stream programs and movies via NETFLIX. All total, after our initial investment (the antenna and the Apple TV) we will only pay about $10 a month for TV. That's great.

But the best part...

We, as parents are now in better control of what's coming into the house. And if we choose to have a family game night instead of watching TV, we can without the nagging feeling that we're paying for something we're not using.

And that's awesome.

- jay

PS - Was this post helpful, insightful, encouraging, or thought provoking? Do you agre or disagree? Great! I'd love to hear from you! Share your reactions, thoughts, and/or comments in the comment section! And thanks for reading and supporting the blog!

The internet is great. You can find just about anything, and just about anyone. Put them together and you'll someone talking or writing about something. Self proclaimed experts in whatever it is they're talking or writing about that day. But every once and a while you come by someone who has something good to say. Today, I want to share one of those people with you.

Let me introduce you to Abbey. Abbey writes a great blog over at, www.justagirlandherblog.com. Now the amazing thing is, I worked with Abbey's dad, while I served as the youth pastor at a church in Somerset, PA. I have met Abbey briefly, but do not know well enough to call her a friend. But none of this gets me to my point. My point is, Abbey shared a great blog post yesterday and I wanted to share a link to it for you.

Abbey shares 5 great tips for saving money and living on one income. Check out a snippet from your post, then be sure to click over and read the rest at her blog. And while your there, check out some of the other great tips, thoughts, and resources she has.

From Abbey...

Our Top 5 Tips for Living on One Income
Ever since I shared my budget binder printables waaaaaay back in January, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about how we manage our money and what we do to be able to live on just one income while I stay home with the Cs. Today I thought I’d lay it all out there and share the top five things we do as a family to save more money and spend less. I know talking about money can be a little awkward; the goal of my post today is not to suggest that our way is the only way or to imply that we “have it all together” in every aspect of our life.
READ MORE

- jay