I just cut the first cord. After three days with my new YouTube TV, I called my cable company, DirecTV, and told them to cancel my subscription.

I access YouTube TV by means of Apple TV. And Apple TV comes with a fantastic remote.

With that remote I can turn the television on and off, and I can fast forward or rewind using scrubbing. This allows me to see a picture of what is happening as I move my finger side to side on the remote.

If that is not exciting enough, I can ask Siri, the voice on the Apple TV remote, to move forward or backward, any amount of seconds or minutes that I require.

Those are just some of the interesting options I have.

We use our iPad to Control YouTube TV. This way, we can take our iPhones with us when we leave the house, while leaving the TV on.  Leaving the TV on when we leave the house is what I call inexpensive security.

Speaking of inexpensive, YouTube TV will cost me $35 a month, compared to $85 a month for DirecTV.

With YouTube TV, I can record as many shows as I like, and I can access them at any time since they will be saved in the cloud.

I Googled and saved to my desktop websites listing upcoming movies for FX, AMC, and other TV channels.  I can now chose any movie I see and tell YouTube TV to record it.

Earlier, I said I cut the first cord. The next cord will be cut a month from now when our contract with Verizon is up. At that time we will switch to Cricket Wireless and save $150 a month.

Here are three other cords I wish I could cut:

• The cord on the Dept. of Water and Power. I wish I could do this by purchasing inexpensive solar panels to cover my entire roof, and by purchasing an inexpensive water treatment system to provide us with clean water for drinking, washing and other purposes.
• The cord on the auto insurance bill. I wish I could do this by purchasing inexpensive auto insurance.
• The cord on my mortgage company.  I don’t really know how to do that but, years from now, once our home is paid for, that will cut the cord.

What cords have you cut lately?

Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertzebsen@gmail.com