5 ways to chop your cable bill

Chopping your cable bill can be as easy as asking.

 There are certain weekly television shows that I'm not sure I could live without. In my case, it's House and American Idol. Everyone in my family has different favorites and, if we weren't able to watch them suddenly, our house would not be a fun place to live. Because we don't go out often, cable plays a large role in our entertainment budget. That means that I do what I can to keep the cable bill as low as I can.
If you want to take a chunk out of your cable bill, try these five approaches and see how much you can save:
1. Call your cable company and ask for a discount.
It's seems too simple to be true, but saving money on your cable bill is often as easy as calling them and asking. Television services are a competitive industry and cable and satellite companies spend millions of dollars every year trying to get new customers and hang on to their existing ones. When you call, ask to speak to the loyalty or retention area. Ask them if there are currently any promotions or specials for long-time customers. Don't be afraid to speculate out loud what moving over to another cable provider might look like. You may be able to get a $10 to $25 monthly discount for up to a year.
2. Dump your premium channels.
When we first signed up for our cable service in our new house, we chose the "full meal deal" package- all channels for a set price per month. After a year, we realized that we didn't actually watch most of the premium channels. If you think that you're paying for more than what you're watching, make a list of all of the channels you watch for a week. Most cable packages come in tiers with groups of channels in each one. If you watch only one or two channels in a tier, try to find another method of watching those shows. They are often available after the first screening on the network's website or other sites like Hulu. Alternatively, at the end of a season, you can rent the entire season of most shows on DVD. Then, call the cable company and ditch the premium packages.
3. Go cable-free.
If you really want to find out quickly what is truly important to you in television-watching, go cold turkey for a month. You can physically have your cable turned off (watch out for reconnection fees) or simply store your televisions for a month. If you are really addicted to television, the first few days will be tough, but soon, you'll find that there may only be a handful of shows that you really miss. Once you have a list of networks you really want, call your cable company back and see what kind of package they can put together for you to give you only what you watch. You may be able to get a higher-tier package for the price of basic cable.
4. Make part of your cable bill tax-deductible.
If you have a small business, you may be able to deduct part of your cable bill against your business income. If you use cable programming in some fashion in your business, it is likely deductible. Examples include watching television shows in order to write reviews of them, keeping up with new gardening trends for a landscaping company or watching food shows if you are a chef. Only deduct the portion that reasonably relates to the business. For example, if you watch a total of 20 hours of television a week and 5 of them are for business, you can deduct 25 percent of your cable bill.
5. Pay attention to the competition.
To get the best price from your current cable provider, keep an eye on the competition- either from other cable providers or from satellite dish companies. Your cable company knows what deals the other companies are offering and so should you. See what you could get if you switched companies and ask your current company what they can do about matching that price. Be prepared to switch over if the competition offers the same or better level of service for a lower price.
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