Who likes Oreos? Me!
Who likes HBO? Me!

But, if I had to choose?  Yeah, I’d go for the food.  Oddly enough, more and more people are choosing the opposite route and plunging their money into cable boxes rather than their grocery budget.

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, in this time of deep financial distress, people are cutting back on food purchases in order to hold onto their cable TV subscriptions.  In fact, grocery bills are being cut faster than even cell phone services!  Is there something wrong with this picture?

I guess I get it. If you don’t have a job or money to hit the town, what else is there to do besides watch TV? You aren’t going to sit in the dark staring at the wall…. but cutting back on food – most likely the nutritious kind – just so you can catch a little MTV? Well, it all just seems so backwards.

To each their own, I guess. I mean, people probably think I’m crazy for refusing to go store-brand on my Oreos (sorry, but they do NOT taste the same) or giving up my Starbucks addiction, but those are things I just can’t live without.  Who am I to judge?

What about you? What do you refuse to give up when faced with a budget crunch?

True fact: I went years without cable.  And I never complained.  But, as soon as I was old enough to babysit, I would put the kids to bed and turn on the TV and embrace the goodness of TLC. Those were the glory days of The Learning Channel, because it’s gone downhill since then.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are still some shows I’ll watch.  After all, I am a self-diagnosed What Not to Wear addict, and, like many other College Candy writers, I adore Jon & Kate Plus 8.  Not to mention I now dress up while grocery shopping, all because of Take Home Chef, Curtis Stone.  This sexy Aussie can ambush me and make me dinner anytime.

But, it ends there.  Lately, I can’t even watch show previews on TLC, because even they freak me out.  The Learning Channel either needs an overhaul (starting with this guy), or a new name.  Our suggestion: The Scary Channel (dun dun dun). Read More »