So my whole life is different thanks to Apple TV. Okay that's clearly an exaggeration, but it has definitely revamped my whole television-watching experience.
Lewis and I have decided that 2013 is the year that we need to really crack down on finances. We have plenty and it's not really an issue with that, it's more an issue with having lots of student debt & wanting to pay that off ASAP. So we looked for big ways to cut costs. We have been paying $100 a month for Directv. We had the plan with all the regular cable channels and the Encore movie channels. We did not have HBO or Showtime or anything like that. We had 2 HD-DVR boxes. We also paid $20 a month for a Blockbuster online account where we could have 3 DVDs at a time.
We heard about Apple TV from my friend Emily. Basically you buy the Apple TV box and pay for Hulu Plus and Netflix streaming, which is a total of $16 a month. At first I wasn't crazy about this idea, but when you take into consideration the difference of $80 a month, it'd have to be pretty awful for me to not want to do it. I looked into it and with Hulu Plus, I will be able to watch all my favorite shows with the exception of the shows I watch on Bravo, like Million Dollar Decorators or Million Dollar Listing. I also won't be able to watch White Collar when it comes on, but the DVDs are on Netflix once the season is over. I can deal with that.
I did notice that Netflix streaming doesn't have the new movies that comes out on DVD. For that, we decided to keep our $20 a month for Blockbuster. The reason why I prefer Blockbuster online over just paying extra for Netflix through the mail is because we have unlimited in-store exchanges at a Blockbuster store and we live close to one of the best Blockbuster stores - that is actually still operating & doing well!
Overall, we are saving $80 a month. We bought 2 Apple TV boxes with Christmas money, one for each TV, and are now paying monthly for our Hulu Plus, Netflix and Blockbuster online subscriptions. I'm working on a list of Netflix movies and Hulu Plus tv shows that I want to watch! I'm excited about this!
