I've been thinking about this, and I think I could go without a tv or cable. I only watch a handful of shows, and as long as I had an internet connection I'd be fine. I think after bills (which I don't have yet) and food, my top priorities are books internet and cell phone. What are your priorities like in terms of budget?

Message edited by its author, Nov 20, 2009, 3:24pm.

Life priorities come in the short term and long term planning. Everyone have a different set of priorities
especially in the daily priorities tasks which we will not be abled to avoid them. Take for an example, a student or a undergraduate top priority in life is to pass the final examinations at the different levels of his/her education path. I think an average person e.g .
a working adult will be as follows:

(1) Family/ Spritual Well-Being
(2) Home
(3) Job
(4) Finance
(5) Health

Family: If he/she is a married person, is the relationship with his/her spouse is healthy, and also with his/her children/in-laws/close relatives. Is the family a dyfunctional one?

Home: The up-keeping of a home is very important.
Is the house kept in the "hospitable" environment?

Job: Is the person a happy one with the present job, and the relationship with his superiors and co-workers?

Finance: Is his/her monthly expenditures and expenses
within the budget ?

Health: The breadwinner's well- being is very important to bring "bread and bacon" to the family's
dining table.

I think above is a typical priorities in life.

For myself, my priorities in life:

(1) Good Health (2) Simple Life - Enjoy the essential parts of living (3) Sufficient Finance(Money)

Is priorities in life is all about a proper planning of time-management, sufficient finance and setting and
achieving your life goals ?

It is postively correct to the above.

Speaking of budgeting one's own expenses e.g monthly expenses is depending on the individual lifestyle. A person tends to spend more on his/her interests/pastimes and favorite leisure/entertainment
e.g. gambling,smoking,night-clubbing and etc.The size of the individual's savings (for the raining days)
is one's own priority and his/her beliefs in being thrifty.

Message edited by its author, Nov 10, 2009, 12:55am.

As to your TV issue, DEL, I can vouch that an adult person can live a quite balanced life without a cable or satellite television subscription. The caveat is that it's good to have some ability to tune in on the local culture, and so if you live in an area where there is absolutely no local (free broadcast) television reception - even with an antenna - then maybe it would be worth the while for a very, very basic tier of services. Also, I am a big fan of public television, as it is not quite so shackled by the entertainment for the lowest common denominator imperative.

Remember, virtually all television programming (even "news") is, ultimately, entertainment. If you get the entertainment you need and enjoy through books and the internet, then not paying a cable or satellite subscription makes perfect sense. Every time I find myself thinking I should get satellite, I wind up deciding I really ought to sign up for Netflix instead. It would certainly be a better use of my time and money.

Message edited by its author, Nov 9, 2009, 7:24am.

#1 - I've been TVless for years. Not really to do with cost at all, I've never owned one and OtherHalf's old one broke - and given how little we'd watched it we didn't bother getting it replaced.

In terms of disposable income once all the boring life bits, food etc are sorted it out I'd probably go something like:

transport and Visiting friends and family
Hobbies - getting outdoors and gear
internet
books
Special food and drink

But it's a bit difficult to tell because I'd easily have an odd spare £ for a cheap book, wheras a new bit of outdoor gear could be £££ requiring much more careful thought.

Using the categories skoobdo listed, I don't think there is an "average person." From what I've experienced, I would put them in a quite different order:

(1) Family/ Spritual Well-Being - yes; relationships are probably the most important thing.
(2) Finance - whether a person is financially stable or deep in debt, I think money issues are generally top priority in people's consciousness.
(3) Health - are second to finance only because if you don't have money, you don't have health care (at least in the US).
(4) Home - while having some place to live is important, many people do not put a priority into having a showplace. Even if they have time or money, they will invest in other things and let appearances or maintenance lapse.
(5) Job - I stayed in a job I was unhappy with for 9 years, because I needed to support home, finance, and health.

I'd have to think a little about my "disposable" income, because a fair number of things I spend money on, I consider essential while other might think them a choice.

I can recommend Your Money or Your Life for folks who are seriously interested in evaluating their financial priorities. The Dominguez/Robin life scheme is pretty extreme, and certainly their "solution" is not for everyone. But if you look at the book as a thought-experiment, it does challenge you to evaulate what you really want to spend your life on.

We dropped down to basic cable (plus cable internet) a couple years ago, and now we barely watch TV. Time AND money saved.

considering they are currently filming game of thronesthere is no way I'm dropping HBO

I haven't had TV for close to 4 years. I really don't miss it. We have a TV and watch movies and TV series on DVD. I get my news off the internet and the radio.

After bills and necessities? Books and tools for my wood shop.

I very rarely watch broadcast television. Our TV's primarily for watching DVDs. I don't have a digital decoder, let alone payTV. The internet beats TV when it comes to paying for things, every time. After essentials (rent, food, bills, ...) my luxuries are primarily books and the occasional DVD and clothes when I need them. At the moment, though, I'm trying to be essentials only, because money is very tight.

I like to watch SF television shows and movies, but considering the odd hours I keep, I just buy DVD movies and boxsets. Movies cost about ten dollars, and television shows cost between fifteen to forty dollars. Basic cable costs about forty or so dollars, but when you start adding options, it gets expensive quite quickly.

Watching my SF on DVD is a lot cheaper than cable, and I get to watch whatever I want whenever I want, rather than be beholden to television programmers.

I have been thinking about this, too, and I am right on the edge of cutting the cable to the TV. Maybe I'll take a first step and cut back to Basic just to ease into the experiment. Right now I confess I use TV as background noise for being on the computer. I used to think my mother was crazy for having the TV on as background noise...I have become her. Ack! *hides head in hands*

edit to add priorities:

1. family and friends, 2. dogs, 3. finances (want to be comfortable, not rich), 4. health, 5. home, 6. everthing else that I want to do: reading, photography, computer, making art, walking, talking with friends, and so forth. I like being retired which allows me to indulge #6 as never before.

Message edited by its author, Nov 10, 2009, 2:12pm.

#10 - And you can get expanded versions and interviews and other good stuff besides the basic program.

I dont have pay TV & I think it would be dangerous for me. I'm already addicted to a lot of free to air programs (I have so many guilty TV pleasures), my TiVo gets a real work out as it is & I dont think I'd get any reading done if I had pay TV too.

As for priorities, that’s an interesting & difficult question & I think mine move around from day to day (probably from hour to hour). As far as financial priorities go, I guess my list would be something like this:

1. food for me & kittens
2. rates & mortgage payments (once they start)
3. gas & power bill
4. water bill
5. petrol (gotta get to work)
6. internet bill
7. mobile phone bill
8. car expenses (services etc..)
9. books
10. clothes
11. citylink bill

I’m sure I’m forgetting important things, but that’s all I can think of for now…

A couple of years ago, our cable connection was taken out in a lightening storm. Since we were only a few months away from a cross country move, we decided to do without it, and didn't have it fixed (canceled it). My daughter and I were living by ourselves (hubby and other daughter had already moved), and we did great without cable. We rented TV shows we wanted to watch from Netflix, and read a lot. I still look back on it as one of the best times I've been able to spend with my daughter.

Now we have satellite and still don't watch even 10% of the channels. We never have the TV on unless we are actually watching it (not used for background noise), but I do wish we could go back to not having it at all. However, I am addicted to some programs, and would miss having them to enjoy.

Other priorities:

Food for my family and pets
Books (I'd go without food for these, but my family can't eat them)
Phone bill
Older daughter's tuition
Gasoline
Quilting supplies
Savings account
Club membership and activities

I've been TRYING to persuade my spouse to reduce the cable package for the past two years; he says I watch a greater diversity of programming than I admit and thinks I'd be unhappy. But in my view, generally I only pay attention to the television when there's an on-going news story (such as in the election period) or when I have the set on to watch a DVD. I do watch DVDs because they fit into my schedule and adjust to my mood (for BBC costumer productions, for West Wing, or for Babylon5).

Rent DVDs or Borrow DVDs from a public library. You will save some money, the cable TV package is very expensive. The Video-On-Demand scheme is very affordable, you pay for what you liked to watch on your TV.