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Netflix Review
Netflix Review for Busy Moms: Because There's More to
Life then Watching Movies
I like Spongebob Squarepants as much as the next guy, but I don't want
to watch each episode more than about 6 times (though, admittedly, my
kids don't seem to mind).
As a family with three kids of elementary-school age (5, 7, and 9), we
don't have a lot of time to sit down all together in front of the TV.
But, when we do, none of the kids are quite ready for the prime time
dramas or even most of the sitcoms.
These programs either don't hold the kids' attention or they have
inappropriate subject matter. And, beyond Survivor, we aren't huge into
reality TV programming.
Our nights to sit in front of the TV come along so sporadically, that we
don't like to rent movies from the local video store. Most of the time,
they would get returned (late) and we'd never managed to see them
anyway. So when we saw an ad for a free trial of Netflix, we decided to
give it a try. Since then, we have found Netflix to be particularly
great for families with young kids. Here's why:
1. The website has a huge selection of family and kids' titles,
including my own childhood favorites. When my two older kids
finish reading a book, for example, they like to add the title to our
movie queue, and we are finally catching up, as a family, with all those
movies we had been wanting to see.
Sometimes, we draw a blank when we are adding movies to our queue. And
that's when we use reviews from critics and other members on the Netflix
site. You can also view recommendations that are provided to you based
on how you rated movies that you have seen previously.
You can go online any time and add titles to your queue – or rearrange
the movies in your present queue. Over the entire site, there are more
than 100,000 titles to choose from.
2. It's inexpensive. The plans start at $4.99 per
month, and there aren't any late fees or due dates. This was another big
selling point for us, because with our busy schedules, it can sometimes
take a few weeks to get around to viewing a movie. Other times, we watch
the movie the same day it arrives and turn around and mail it back the
next day.
We upgraded to the $8.99 per month plan, which means we get unlimited
DVDs each month, but just one at a time. That works out really well for
us because we just don't spend that much time in front of the TV, though
the most popular plan, according to Netflix.com, is the $16.99 plan,
where you can get 3 DVDs at a time (unlimited DVDs each month.)
3. It's really convenient. When you're done with a DVD,
you just drop it in the mailbox in a prepaid envelope. When Netflix gets
it, they'll send you an email and then another email when the next movie
in your queue is going out, so you'll know when to expect it.
Netflix has 100 shipping centers across the United States, so it usually
arrives in a single business day. We live a couple hours away from any
metropolitan area, and we still receive our shipments one business day
after they are sent. (And DVD shipping is free both ways – all you pay
is your membership fee each month.)
The only downside that I've seen is that you can't take
the DVDs back to the store and pick up more, which is actually fine for
us because we don’t live very close to a DVD rental store anyway, and I
like the convenience of dropping them in the mailbox. There's never a
hassle – I just drop it in the mailbox and then forget it until a couple
of days later when a new movie shows up.
Netflix also has some titles that you can watch instantly on
your PC. At the time of this writing, there are as many as
10,000 movies and TV episodes that you can watch on your computer, but
you will need to have the minimum system requirements, which you can
find on the Netflix site.
Netflix is a service that I have heartily recommended to my friends
because it has so enhanced movie night at our house. We were notorious
for turning in movies late, even those we would get on loan for a week
at the public library. There's a lot more to our lives than movies and
our daily schedules are so unpredictable. Now we are much more likely to
have a good movie to watch whenever we can sneak in a movie night.
Netflix is still offering a
Two week Free Trial. You do have to enter a credit
card number when you sign up, but you can cancel anytime during your
free trial period and you won't be charged.
Two week Free Trial Offer No coupon code required. Click on link above to activate free trial.
Your free 2-week Netflix membership will begin when you click on "Start
Membership" during the registration process. Simply cancel anytime in
your first 2 weeks, and you will not be charged. If you choose to
continue your Netflix membership, you will enjoy plans as low as $4.99
per month, choices of more than 100,000 titles, and no late fees.
Here is a closer look at the available membership plans for
Netflix:
$4.99 – 1 DVD-at-a-time, 2 DVDs per month
$8.99 – 1 DVD–at–a–time, unlimited DVDs per month
$13.99 – 2 DVDs–at–a–time, unlimited DVDs per month
$16.99 – 3 DVDs–at–a–time, unlimited DVDs per month
$23.99 – 4 DVDs–at–a–time, unlimited DVDs per month.