Word of Mom: Bravo

Living with a painting contractor I have always been concerned with budgeting with only one income in mind. But, with having two adults and a child in one home sharing one bank account this has not been easy. Now that I am 100% in control of where my money is spent I am working on a realistic budget. To get to where I want to be financially I had to start with some very serious purging. I have been selling things at consignment stores, donating to Goodwill for the end of year tax write off, being better at conserving energy, and cutting back on needless luxuries.

The first (and most obvious) was my cable bill.

Did I really need a DVR in my bedroom? Nope. That was an easy one. Someday maybe I will learn to live without a TV in my bedroom (don't hold your breath). It has been a bit of an adjustment to not be able to rewind something I might have missed on the Today show while getting ready for work and Little 'Ny is learning that if she wants to watch something we need to put on a DVD instead of watching yesterday's Dora episode while curled up in my "warm spot" drinking her milk. But, we are adjusting. After all, we still have the DVR downstairs.

Next to get the axe was my premium cable channels. I don't go to the movies. I don't belong to Blockbuster or Netflix. Therefore, HBO, Showtime, and Starzwere our form of entertainment. But, I don't need to watch the same movies over and over. The show I really want to watch (The Tudors) is on for a limited time and I can always watch it at my parents house, rent the collection or turn Showtime back on and have a marathon week then turn it off. So, I asked the customer service rep to turn the channels off *wimper* after a weekend of DVR'ing a bunch of movies (my way of sticking it to the man).

Thanks to those two changes I had knocked $70 bucks off of my monthly bill! But, what the hell am I supposed to watch now when my favorite shows are not on?

My solution ... the Bravo channel!

I already am hooked on Shear Genius and had always wanted to watch Project Runway. During my girls weekend in AZ my friends were raving about The Rachel Zoe Project, so on Tuesday I saw Bravo was running all of the episodes back to back. I turned it on. Fashion, celebrities, over the top drama ... I was hooked. I set the DVR to record all of them so I could watch them at my leisure. Then last night I watched the last episode of Project Runway until 1am! Again, hooked. I will be watching the reruns for sure. Then to top it off the Real Housewives of Atlanta. Somebody save me!

Now I don't have anyone loading up the DVR with Cops and Metal Mania. I am master of my own remote control (when Little 'Ny is asleep). I can enjoy my silly shows with no one teasing me. So, I saved Bravo to my favorites and set my DVR (and I think you should too)!