Cat - LOL. I was expecting someone to suggest that. It’s not something I feel I can impose on the rest of the family as I don’t watch much anyway so it doesn’t affect me the same. We still have 2 small TV’s - but Farmboy’s eyesight isn’t what it used to be and he can’t see the footy scores!!!

Sharon - no, me either. Although the kids have spent ALL DAY today outside which has been great (for them AND me ). Not that that has anything to do with the TV breaking though as they watch the smaller one.

River - I think that’s what we’re coming around to. What worries me is that they’ll last even less long and we’ll have more landfill issues. But then again, maybe they’ll last as long or longer based on my past experience???

Mark - yes, I get exactly what you’re saying about paying for the privilege of being advertised to. I think part of my problem is that I grew up without a tv for many years and I was treated quite badly by some of the kids at school even back then. People assumed we were either part of a cult or the “Addams Family”. I can’t put my own children through that so we try to focus on balance.

Lisa - you should try watching sport on a 34cm TV!!!! If it were my old 34cm that had gone on the blink, we wouldn’t have bothered replacing it. But because it’s the larger one (51cm I think) we do need to. DH had been finding the 51cm a bit small for sport and other printing on the screen anyway so I guess a bit bigger is on the cards. Picture quality is another consideration we need to ponder in terms of brands isn’t it.

Lynette - what, you think I’m going to hand over my computer for a crows game???? LOL. We ended up purchasing a front loading washing machine even though our top loader was fine simply due to water issues. But our issues are different to yours. The newer top loaders are better on water usage than they used to be. In fact, I think you can now get a “front loader” that is top loaded. *shrugs* Or so I’ve heard. We were able to sell our old top loader though so it worked itself out. These big decisions are hard aren’t they?

Alice - not that we have Aldi here in South Australia but you’re happy with the quality of the Aldi TV in terms of the picture?

Trish - we’ve found the same with smaller appliances. I had some very cheap ones when I first moved out of home that have well outlived the more expensive ones we’ve had. Interesting.

Maggie - sounds like you’re doing well outfitting your home second hand. I have NO IDEA when it comes to various technologies. It’s going to make shopping for one rather interesting. And who to believe? AND we only have the 1 day (DH has already checked out the local suppliers but they only have expensive ones at the moment).

Kelli - it absolutely IS a luxury, you’re right. Audiosonic. I’ve heard of that brand. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

UNFORTUNATELY, i’ve heard through the grape vine that regular old picture tube tvs will no longer be of any use as of February 2009. TV reception in Canada is going to be replaced with digital reception. I’ve been told I’ll need an adapter of sorts, but the adapter doesn’t work with picture tube tvs. Only with flat screens and LCDS or whatever the new technology is.

I haven’t decided what I am going to do. I am very annoyed that I’m being told I must change when my current model works just fine. As well, what about the other members of society who can’t afford a new TV, cable reception or anything else along those lines? Shouldn’t tv (especially publicly funded tv stations like PBS in USA and TVO in Canada, or even government tv, CBC here) be free to the public? Why should we pay to have the privilege to watch TV?

Of course, I could have the story completely wrong. But it is something I will look into this summer as I do like to watch my 3 stations — CTV, CBC and Global.

The only other ‘brand new’ electronic wizzardy is my DVD player which I purchased last year. I had a cheapie before that and it died. So i bit the bullet and bought a higher end model and it’s been working fine.

Everything else I own is secondhand or gifts. Even my computer was a gift. My monitor is still old school lol. Kevin teases me about having a monitor which takes up the entire desk.

Right, end of rant.
Maggie

It is hard isnt it and I think you find out if you are a name brand person or not too in the process….. are we also teaching our kids that we just get a replacement when the other breaks down…. … do we show them we have saved already for emergencies etc…… food for thought hey!!!!!

I think you buy the best you can afford at the time….. and stay within your limit if possible….

Cant wait to see what you decide…. no guilt trips ok….

Meanwhile happy family games night vs tv watching…. you can always get live Crows updates on the web you know!

My frugality actually made me decide not to spend money (a lot in my eyes) on a nice telly only to be blasted by advertising… The supposed return on my investment just didn’t stack up.

Maybe you can make a compromise and try how life would work out without a telly for a while, let’s say until the end of June. Maybe by then you’ll find that you can actually live without one.