Selling the telly..............

daphne_descends

That's it guys, slag off people who do watch TV to make yourselves feel better :rolleyes: it is possible to have your sofa facing the TV without it being the centre of your life, you know.

For the record I loved it when I didn't have a TV but reading and newspapers are a lot harder to manage with a small child, reading a paper from cover to cover would be a luxury right now.

I love Friends, and yes, I do know it isn't real :rolleyes: I also love Radio 4, but don't tell me The Archers isn't real

sweetmoneysaver

My MIL has no TV and we go to visit there it is absolute bliss! It means that we all sit and talk and enjoy a good meal and the odd glass of wine. We also have time for reading, listening to the radio and spending time outdoors when the weather is good.
In the evenings my MIL may watch a film on a portable DVD player or the PC. Don't forget that there is BBC iPlayer and 4OD (which I don't think you need a licence for as they are recordings - but someone correct me if I am wrong!) if there is anything in particular that you are missing on those channels. The comments about the TV licence made in another post is very true. My MIL has had several visits to check that she is not using a TV to watch programmes on but after a while they realised that she didn't have a TV. It seems that they think you are weird for not wanting a TV. Far from it! My DS loves going to his Grandma's and never complains about not having a TV to watch. There are far more fun things to do. I only wish that we could be so brave at home.
Well done for making a positive move .... I hope that you enjoy all the time that it frees up and of course enjoy the money that you save.

geekgirl

We spent around 12 years without a TV with no problems, there are never enough hours in the day as it is. Then we got a camcorder so wanted a TV to watch our 'little darlings'. We no longer have a TV and non of us are bothered in the slightest. I use my laptop to occasionally watch a film.
My fire is the focus point in my living room and it is very homely.

Our lives changed in that we talk a lot more in our house, we have always had big family dinners around the table but now there isn't one or other of the kids rushing off to watch something on the TV.

Me and OH read a lot, we have a laptop each, I like to make things and use my sewing machine a lot, we have our (adult) children round with their OH's and our grandson, we chat a lot, we play games, we feed lots of wood into our woodburner, we play lots of music and listen to the radio, we visit friends, friends visit us. Our youngest son does lots of video editing and making music using his laptop and also he plays bass guitar and piano, he is out quite a lot going to lots of music events and doing gigs. Probably lots that I forgot to add as well.

We have found that we have saved money on electricity even though we use our computers quite a lot. And we have obviously saved money from the license fee as well.

We had a guy come and visit us to check we were not using a telly he came into the kitchen, looked around and disappeared, we could have had one in the living room but he didn't check.

Janepig

cazziebo wrote: »

I've gone through long periods with no telly. We only have one now because my uncle insisted it was cruelty to children not to have one and gave me his old one!

It was great. So much free time. Reading and listening to the radio are actually more enjoyable.

Two downsides I found

1. Not being able to participate in conversations about programmes - Friends and Ally McBeal completely passed me by. although catching up with friends now because it seems always to be on!

2. The licensing people will not believe you don't have a telly and will harrass you!

good luck!

I know people this has happened to and the harrassment they've had was relentless.

Jxx

Errata

Why not use the off switch ? Having a telly doesn't mean it has to be on and people have to watch whatever's on or else they'll break out in truquoise lumps.

Errata

Why not use the off switch ? Having a telly doesn't mean it has to be on and people have to watch whatever's on or else they'll break out in truquoise lumps and their toes will stick together.

Dill

Wish you well with your venture into tv-free living

This year OH and I gave up telly for Lent and we found we didn't (and don't) miss it at all. We keep saying that when the big switchover happens, we'll ditch the tv and just have radio, which we much prefer to tv!

Re.the licencing people, I thought if you have any equipment which is capable of receiving tv, even if you just have a pc, you have to have a tv licence? (Regardless of whether or not you watch it)
A few years back when we didn't have a telly we found we kept getting letters from tv licencing, asking us to confirm again and again that we had no tv, and threatening us with visits, etc.

Guapa1

No TV here. When I lived alone while renting, I hardly watched TV and read a lot went out etc... Then I moved into a flatshare and seem to waste days in front of the TV.
Now I've bought my own place I had to decide what I could do without and the TV was it. I love it, some of my friends that come round feel weird at first but then get used to it.

Maz

Thanks peeps for all your replies!

I'm not knocking anyone who watches telly btw, just saying that for me and my extremely limited usage, it makes sense for me to sell it and save the cash for other things!

*Louise*

Ha - if I got rid of the tv, the male element of the household would kill me!:eek:

Everyone I know thinks we're either weird or poor cos we don't have sky lol -we only got freeview last year. OH keeps going on about all the great films we could be watching on Sky (Whereas I know that he really want's it because he could watch Star Trek every night!);)

I have decided to have Saturday as a tv-free day. Will have many more of them in the summer.