How to Watch Football This Season Without Paying for Cable

By Chris Brantner

If you’re a football fan, you’re feeling happy because the drought is over. NFL Preseason is wrapping up, which means the real action is set to begin. Meanwhile, college football is already taking off.

Unfortunately for many fans, football comes at a price. After all, you have to buy cable to watch games and coverage broadcast on ESPN, NFL Network, SEC Network… you know, all those channels where you get your football fix. And with the average cable bill sitting at around a hundred bucks a month, it’s safe to say most football fanatics are paying hundreds of dollars throughout the season.

Now, you’ve probably heard that you can cut the cord to cable TV and save hundreds (or sometimes even thousands) of dollars a year. But does that apply to football fans? Can you really get the football you want without a cable contract?

Sure. But admittedly, the more options that become available, the more confusing it seems. So let’s break down your options when it comes to watching football without cable.

The Good Ol’ Antenna

Sure it seems old-fashioned, but a TV antenna is a cord cutter’s best friend. Assuming you’re in a decent location near a major metro area (you can check here), digital bunny ears will allow you to receive FOX, NBC, CBS, ABC, and more — all live in HD.

If you’re a die-hard fan of your home NFL team, an HD antenna is all you need to watch all the games. Every single one of your home team’s games will be broadcast on a local affiliate, including Monday Night Football and Thursday Night football.

An antenna can also come in handy for college football, depending on what conference you follow. ABC, FOX, and CBS all broadcast games from various conferences throughout the season on Saturdays. However, if you’re a big-time college football fan, you’ll need ESPN for the most coverage, which isn’t available with an antenna.

PlayStation Vue

Don’t let the name fool you—this isn’t just for PlayStation owners. Vue is a live streaming service that lets you stream cable channels online without actually having cable. Channels like ESPN, Fox Sports 1, and even local stations in some markets make Vue a great service for NFL and college football fans alike. The best part? You can get it for as little as $29.99 a month in some locations without a contract. You can try it free here.

Sling TV

Sling TV is similar to Vue, except the channel bundles are skinnier and a bit cheaper. You get live-stream programming from popular cable channels like ESPN, with no contract.

The Orange bundle, which includes ESPN and ESPN 2, runs $20 a month, while the $25-a-month Sling Blue package will get you additional sports channels, including the NFL Network. College fans can even add on the “Sports Extra” pack for must-have channels like the SEC Network.

Like PlayStation Vue, Sling is also available with a seven-day free trial. My advice? Try both of them separately using the free trials, then decide which one you like best and cancel the other.

Twitter

Social media site Twitter is trying to dig itself out of a hole, and football fans are the ones who will benefit. A few months ago, the NFL agreed to allow Twitter to live stream 10 Thursday Night Football games this year for free. All you have to do is go to Twitter and watch. You don’t even have to sign up for an account (unless you want to tweet out your trash talk). Here’s a list of NFL games you can stream on Twitter.

Twitter will also be helpful for some college football fans after their deal with Campus Insiders. This partnership will allow Twitter to stream games from the Mountain West Conference, Patriot League, and West Coast Conference.

Don’t want to watch on your laptop or mobile device? Rumor has it there will be a new Apple TV app to watch through Twitter.

Verizon Mobile

If you’re a Verizon Wireless customer and don’t mind watching the game on your mobile device, I’ve got good news for you. Just download the NFL Mobile app and you get live local and national games for free. No catch. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to get the stream on your TV.

NFL Sunday Ticket Streaming

Are you a college student? Or maybe you live in an apartment or condo that won’t allow you to have a satellite dish? If so, you’re probably eligible to get a standalone streaming version of DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket.

If you’re a student, you can sign up for just $24.99 per month. But if not, your starting price will be $49.99 per month, which isn’t exactly cheap. However, you only have to pay during football season, so it’s still a cheaper option than a pricey two-year cable or satellite contract.

NFL Game Pass

If you’re an NFL fan who DVRs games because you don’t have time to watch them live, then NFL Game Pass is your ticket. At a price of $99 for the whole season, Game Pass lets you watch every single regular season game in its entirety, as well as in condensed form.

The catch? You can’t watch until it’s over.

I know, it seems silly, but I guess those live streaming rights are worth too much to give away for less than a hundred bucks a year! However, if you live outside the United States, Game Pass does offer live streams of all games — at double the price. So if you’re not in the U.S., you’re in luck.

There you have it. I told you it was a bit… convoluted. But the bottom line is, you have options. And for many football fans, these options can help you save big — because kissing cable TV goodbye doesn’t mean you have to say goodbye to football, too.

Chris Brantner is founder of CutCableToday, where he helps people cut the cord and find the programming they want… like football! Follow him on Twitter (@CutCableToday) for more cord-cutting tips.

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• The Secret to Getting Great Concert and Sports Tickets for Cheap

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‘I Almost Married a Money Nightmare’

Have you ever felt grateful a relationship didn’t work out? Have you ever looked around at what you have now and thought, “Dang, I really dodged a bullet with that one!”

If so, you’ve probably been reminded of that Garth Brooks song, “Unanswered Prayers.” While in the thick of your relationship and still struggling, you were willing to do anything to make it work. You prayed. You brainstormed solutions. You hoped he or she would wise up and change.

But it fell apart somehow, and you’re perfectly fine with it now. In fact, you may even be thrilled things didn’t turn out quite like you planned.

This is exactly how I feel about someone I dated in my early 20s. Let’s call him my “money nightmare.”

You know, I wasn’t great with money at the time either (mostly because I didn’t have any). But he was really, really bad.

How bad? Bounce a check almost every other week bad. Have a bad day at work and randomly quit your job bad. Spend your rent money buying your friends drinks at the bar bad.

Bad, bad, bad. And it got old… fast. Fortunately, I was given an amazing opportunity in the form of really good advice. And of course, that advice came from my mother.

One day, when I was complaining to my mom about some ridiculous thing he had done, she offered up a gem of wisdom I’ll never forget.

She said, “If you end up with him, your entire life will be this way.”

Now, that was a scary thought.

Shortly after, I realized I didn’t want to end up with someone who couldn’t balance his checkbook – someone who had no desire to fix his inexplicably ruined credit – someone who made it clear he valued expensive steak dinners over any semblance of responsible adult living.

So, I bounced. And when I look at my husband and kids and the way we live now, I am so glad I did.

Nine Money Nightmares

If you dodged a bullet like I did, you can probably relate. When you’re young and don’t know what you want in life, it’s easy to fall for people who seem fun and exciting, but are actually nightmares in disguise.

Fortunately, some people are able to escape the poor decisions of their former flame and move on with their lives. Here are some stories of others who dodged a money nightmare of their own:

Money Nightmare #1: He Couldn’t Live Within His Means

Gwen of Fiery Millennials says she dated a guy who acted like money grew on trees. “He was a 24-year-old newly minted CPA. He insisted upon picking me up for our first date. He got there and I saw why: He had a Porsche 911 – a ridiculous car for a 24-year-old with student loan debt, but even more ridiculous considering we live in the Midwest and he can’t even use it for most of the year. He had to have a second car to get around in the winter, so he got a late-model Audi,” she says.

“He also lives on the new side of town in a brand-new condo that’s furnished with brand new ridiculous furniture such as an all-white pleather couch that can only be dry-cleaned,” Gwen continues. “I ducked out of dating him really fast after seeing all that!”

Maybe he could afford all that, but maybe not. Either way, Gwen saw the way he spent and ran out that door without looking back.

Money Nightmare #2: The Over-Spender Who Cannot Change

Pauline from Reach Financial Independence says:

“I dated a guy who considered himself thrifty. He was making several hundred dollars a day when working, but living like he was employed full-time and had thousands to spend. He had big goals and became frustrated they were never achieved. I looked at his spending for a week and saw all the signs of bad money management: food waste, unneeded mileage to run errands, buying the first thing without comparing prices, and always brand new…

“What bothered me most is there was never any free time to do things together because he had to work to support his wasteful lifestyle. I tried to show him how to be more savvy, but for as much as he understood the concept, spending money was like a deserved treat for working hard. I cut it short when I saw it would lead to a lifetime of frustration.”

It’s one thing to stay with someone who is truly trying to change, but it’s another to stick around when they just can’t – or won’t.

Money Nightmare #3: When Someone is Indifferent About their Credit

Jon Luskin of Uncle D Money says:

“I dated a girl in college who had a practice of ducking debt collectors. When the phone would ring, she would insist that it not be answered. Despite this massive debt load, she would wax poetic about $400 pairs of jeans, having several pairs of the jeans in her own wardrobe.

“Once, I lent her money when she could not afford yet another discretionary purchase herself – a puppy. Of course, I never got the money back (and she kept the dog). Looking back, I can say that the whole experience was valuable. I gained some key insights in how not to manage your money.”

If you’ve ever dated someone with financial problems, you can probably relate. No matter what, some people aren’t programmed to care about their credit – or their debts.

• Related: Honey, I Wrecked Your Credit

Money Nightmare #4: The Person Who Runs

John Rampton from Due.com says:

“I dated ‘the traveler’ right after college. She was the girl that traveled every chance she got. We dated for years. During this time, I noticed that she would spend a bit more than she was making. It got worse and worse and worse to the point where I confronted her about it. She denied it. Over the next two years, I fell in love with her. I ended up marrying her to find out 2 weeks after we were married this was more than just an addiction, it was a major problem. Things when from bad to worse when I started getting calls to pay off debts. Needless to say, this caused our marriage to end months after it began.”

Generally speaking, you can’t fix financial problems when you run from them. And most of the time, no one wants to stay behind and fix your problems for you, either.

Money Nightmare #5: The Clueless Giver

Rory Olson of Wall Street Survivor says:

“I once dated a girl that had terrible money habits, but great intentions. It was a weird  mix because she would spend in an irresponsible fashion – but on other people and for good causes. She would donate money to charities whenever the opportunities arise (which there are plenty of), and was constantly buying thoughtful gifts for friends and family. She even once bought a super expensive plane ticket to treat her mother to a spontaneous vacation,” Olson says.

“She was still a student and couldn’t afford all this spending, but so desperately wanted to please others. Confronting her was difficult because I had never met someone whose carefree spending was so selfless. Explaining to her that just because it is well-intentioned spending does not justify financial hardship that comes along. The relationship eventually ended for reasons unrelated to her kind, green-colored heart.”

Being a charitable person is a good thing, but you’ll make a bigger and more sustainable impact if you have your own finances in order before you go in debt trying to help others.

Money Nightmare #6: Destined to Be Broke

Hannah Rounds of Unplanned Finance says:

“I dated a guy who wanted to become a pastor, but by the start of our junior year he already had close to six figures of student debt. Here in the Southeast, full-time pastors earn anywhere from $30K to $70K per year, and he would need to get an M.Div from a private school before he started full-time work. I was no good with money in college, but even I could see that was a recipe for disaster. We decided we weren’t a good couple for non-financial reasons, but I’m thankful it didn’t work out.”

The first years of marriage can be hard enough without six figures of student loan debt. Fortunately, Rounds never learned just how hard it would be.

• Related: What I Wish I Knew Before Taking Out Student Loans

Money Nightmare #7: The Financial Trainwreck

Valerie Rind, author of the award-winning book “Gold Diggers and Deadbeat Dads: True Stories of Friends, Family, and Financial Ruin,” shares her money nightmare story:

“Not only did I date him — I married him. However, there were few if any warning signs of his financial difficulties when we met or during the course of our 10-year relationship. On the surface, he appeared to be doing well. Not flashy or rich, but comfortable enough. My fatal mistake was not learning enough about his background before we wed.

“I got the shock of my life when I found out the condo he claimed he owned was not an asset on the marital balance sheet. Without realizing it, I lived in a home where we were only tenants. The plan to eventually sell it and buy our dream house was just a farce.”

This could have been avoided if they had shared all of their financial details ahead of time, Rind says, and if she had conducted due diligence.

“You need to disclose all your assets and debts and talk about how you’re going to handle money when you’re married,” says Rind. “I won’t say that people are incapable of change, but if you’re uncomfortable with how someone handles their finances when they’re single, it’s unlikely to get rosier after you’re hitched.”

• Related: 10 Pieces of Financial Advice for Newly Married Couples

Money Nightmare #8: The Borrower

Tai Stewart of Saidia Financial Solutions says:

“The financial shock of my life was dating someone who lived paycheck to paycheck, bounced checks, and borrowed money from his parents regularly.  He was the master of impulse shopping and used a positive bank balance as the indication that he buy something. Enrolling in college classes in order to get student loan money should have been a major indication there was a problem, but alas, I was blind,” Stewart says.

“Before it was all over seven years later, he had opened and failed two businesses, maxed out his (and my) credit lines, and received several loans from me, still unpaid. I’ve been rebuilding my credit and savings ever since I learned to say no and to cut off all contact with people who are financial leeches.”

It’s one thing for someone to ruin their own finances, but it’s another when they’re intent on ruining yours, too. And when your partner wants to borrow money from the start, that’s usually a bad sign.

Money Nightmare #9: The Mooch

Sarah Li Cain of High Fiving Dollars says:

“I was in a serious relationship with someone who was a little too dependent. Right after college, I bought a one-way ticket to Australia to work there. We only dated for a month at the time, and this person decided to move across the world to be with me. Talk about pressure! Long story short, I paid for the rent and groceries initially until my ex could ‘get on his feet.’ I was living paycheck to paycheck as I ended up paying for expenses. I was offered a chance at a promotion and to move across Australia, and was guilted into paying for myself and this person. I ended up paying for a bunch of trips around Oz, and ended up with about $9,000 in credit card debt.

“When I moved back to Canada, this person said they wanted ‘to go on a break.’ I moved to South Korea a month later and broke things off with him for good. I’ve learned that relationships need to be both ways. I learned to say no to a lot of people and things that are a drain on my energy.”

When you’re dating someone for a month, they shouldn’t become your financial liability. Unfortunately, Sarah learned this lesson the hard way – by accruing $9,000 in credit card debt.

The Bottom Line

Sometimes you have to date a few toads before you meet your prince. Other times, you wind up running away from a money nightmare as fast as you can. The hard part is, it can take months – and even years – to find out someone is incapable of living a financially responsible lifestyle.

As for me, I’m thankful for the wisdom of my mother who knew the truth – that some people will never change their ways.

Related Articles

• Why Your Spouse Is Your Most Important Money Decision
• 11 Cheesy Money Sayings That Are Absolutely True
• When Thrifty Met Spendy: Love, Money, and Financial Compatibility

Have you ever dated a financial nightmare? What happened? Please share your story below.

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We Tried the Mvelopes Budgeting App to See If It Could Help You Save Money

Have you ever heard of envelope budgeting? It’s a simple system that helps you visualize and stick to a budget.

The envelope system relies on a traditional household budget — your income and expenses like rent/mortgage, bills and groceries, plus spending money and savings. But it goes beyond the spreadsheet: You actually label an envelope for each facet of your budget and divvy up cash among them.

So as money comes in, you direct it to each portion of your budget. Instead of working with one big total, you can use envelope budgeting to build mini-savings toward each necessity every month.

It’s a smart system for someone like me, who works much better with the tangible than the intangible.

There’s just one problem: I barely work with cash anymore.

How to Use Mvelopes to Stick to a Budget

My paycheck comes twice a month via direct deposit. Freelance clients pay me via PayPal. I use one online checking account, and my main bank doesn’t even have an ATM in this state.

It would be ridiculous to get my hands on cash to try to use this budgeting system.

Instead, I tried Mvelopes, a budgeting app inspired by the envelope system.

Like its physical counterpart, the Mvelopes app partitions my money across categories. But it doesn’t require any cash on hand — everything happens digitally.

Before you think otherwise, Mvelopes didn’t ask us to talk about its app. We just love to test new financial tools, and I want to share my experience with you!

How Does Mvelopes Work?

Mvelopes connects to my bank account to keep track of income and expenses. I can use the app to set a monthly budget for all of my expenses, plus I can also set savings goals.

Money goes toward each of these expenses and goals, and Mvelopes tells me what’s leftover — my spending money!

This system makes sticking to a budget easy for me.

Instead of looking at a full bank account balance and subtracting upcoming expenses to  determine how much fun money I have left over, I can just look at my Income Cash Pool. That’s where extra money lives after all the “envelopes” are funded.

Because it’s connected to my bank account, Mvelopes automatically tracks my income and expenditures. I like that it gives me a full overview, and the option to include multiple accounts lets you see your full household budget in one place.

Unfortunately, the app doesn’t automatically partition my spending, a feature that’d make it much more valuable.

I usually prefer “set it and forget it” tools to manage my finances. In this app, I have to manually assign my income and expenditures to my various envelopes, which is more hands-on than I prefer.

I’d love to see a feature that automatically funds my envelopes when each paycheck hits my balance and assigns purchases to envelopes. But if you prefer a more hands-on tool and direct control, this could be a smart budgeting tool for you.

How to Use Mvelopes

If you want to try Mvelopes to manage your budget, here’s the nitty gritty:

1. Sign up online at www.mvelopes.com.

Or you can download the app for iOS or Android.

2. Add your accounts.

I only connected my main checking account, but you can add any accounts you think would be useful, including your spouse’s. You’ll need your online banking username, password and possibly an answer to a security question.

3. Define your income.

I added the date and amount of my fixed paychecks, but left off my freelance income for now.

You can also add variable income month by month, if your income isn’t consistent.

4. Create a budget.

Creating your budget in Mvelopes is similar to creating any other budget.

You’ll create envelopes for what you spend money on and assign a monthly cost to each.

I have envelopes for my fixed monthly expenses, including my rent, car insurance, car payment, utilities and phone bill. I also budget for gas, groceries and household essentials I know cost about the same each month.

You can also create envelopes for non-necessities, like entertainment and recreational shopping (I think some people call it “retail therapy…”)

Mvelopes also reminds you to budget for larger periodic expenses, like car registration, holiday gifts, buying a new car and vacations. You can set aside a little for each every month, so you’re prepared when they come up.

5. Fund your envelopes.

Next you’ll fund your envelopes, which means assigning part of your balance to cover each expense. You’ll do this with each paycheck to distribute your income as needed across your anticipated expenses.

When you “fund” envelopes, no money is actually being moved around, or in or out of your bank account. Mvelopes just works with your balance to help you keep track of your digital money the way you’d do with hard cash.

6. Get an easy snapshot of your budget.

When you want to know what you have left to spend, you can check the Mvelopes app on your phone or your account online.

The amount left in your Income Cash Pool is money that hasn’t been allocated to other envelopes. Use this for extra spending this month — or allocate it to envelopes to get ahead for next month!

This should help keep your spending in check.

You’ll have to spend some time each day or week assigning your purchases to various envelopes. For example, Mvelopes will track a purchase you make at the grocery store, but you’ll have to assign that purchase to your “Groceries” envelope, so the total is deducted from that portion of your budget.

If you’ve already used the envelope system to keep track of your cash, and you’re looking for a digital companion, this is a perfect option.

Or if you like to keep a close eye on your budget rather than automate it, this could also be a smart solution.

I think I’ll look into other budgeting apps for now, because I prefer automation. I’ll be sure to let you know what I learn!

Your Turn: What’s your favorite budgeting app?

Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more, attempting humor wherever it’s allowed (and sometimes where it’s not).

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