When hurricane Ike blasted through Houston, I thought I would die without electricity and TIVO.
No TV or internet for about 2 weeks. There were few, if any, smartphones then in 2008.
The one thing I DID miss? Hot food. One day my neighbor brought over hot beans and a cold beer (they had received a gas generator from friends who lived in town and didn’t need the generator). I cried as I ate it, so grateful.

I realised there were so many luxuries I could live without
TV with all the bells and whisltes is EXPENSIVE.

You would do much better getting DSL internet and stream shows.
I found Netflix for $4.95/mo (now is $8 to stream), bought a computer cable to hook to the TV and hooked up my laptop to an old speaker system I had.
I didn’t have TV again until 2011. It’s true and I survived.
I was still able to watch the Bachelor and Bachelorette on abc.com.

You can do this too if you reeeeally want to get out of debt. You are more cunning and creative than you think. You can also download tons of free podcasts including Suze Orman show on your computer.
“C’mon! What about sports?” Many are streamed live on the computer. cbs.com etc.