So a few years ago, one of my best friends got me a book.
I liked it, and I read it….but it just kind of sat on my desk.
Mocking me.
The book is “Every Monday Matters” and it gives you an assignment each Monday to help enhance your life. I always wanted to jump right in, but I never actually did. You know how that story goes, right?
This year, I decided, is the year.
Tim and I started last week with the first Monday, the assignment was to make a list of the most important things in your life. As I was making my list I thought, why not share this with all of my friends? So if you would like to join us….you can find the book at most stores and online.
It is chock full of interesting facts and mind-blowing statistics that get your brain gears grinding. Did you know that the average person spends 100 hours a year commuting to work compared to 80 hours of vacation time, which is why we need someone to get on that who time-travel thing.
I will also be posting the weekly challenge right here for anyone that wants to get down on the challenge with us.
Or tell us how hard this week is going to be.
“Instead of watching reruns of Friends….go make some”
We would love to be ambitious and say we are giving up TV for the entire week, but let’s be honest here. Tim and I often have the TV on for background noise when we are working. We always eat dinner over the coffee table while couching it up to Law and Order (which we vow will change when there are kiddos cobbing onto our mac and cheese). We even leave the TV on while we sleep. That’s my fault because I can’t turn my brain off…did I do the dishes, what do I have to do tomorrow, how many calories were in that triple-chocolate-devil-creamy-mocha-cheesecake, I should work out more, that Gillian Flynn sure can write, yada yada yada.
So today, we are tuning out.
All TV’s will stay off and instead we will talk to each other….wish us luck.
Kidding obviously, but maybe we will like it so much that we will sell all our TV’s.
Have you ever gone without TV?
Think we can manage a whole day without Honey Boo Boo?
Will you be joining us?
I love the idea of having something to make Monday’s better…as of right now I tend to dread them. Well, not so much while I am in one, but Sunday nights make me feel very “meh” knowing that the next day is back to it.
Regarding TV–my husband and I had super crazy cable packages when we first moved in together and we were spending probably over $100 a month. When we bought our house we decided to find ways to save money and so we cancelled our cable. I was really worried at first, but its been close to two years now and I mostly don’t miss it. We upped our internet packages and now we watch Netflicks or rent movies through Apple TV. The good thing is that it quells the mindless watching. Good luck! I am definitely going to be checking in for the Monday challenges!
Hi are you my twin….every Sunday I am all, “oh do I have to? but but but I don’t want to go through another Monday” and then come Monday I am fine haha.
Your comment is kind of funny because Tim and I pay a stupid amount for cable and have been toying with getting rid of it. Before I met Tim, I only had Netflix and you know what….I got a lot more done!!! I think this is our first test to actually taking the leap of cablelessness 🙂
We always complain about never having time…but I blame the marathons!!!!
Typically a weekly project is totally my style and I got really excited to look up the book! Then I took a look at the list of 52 action items and thought notsomuch this time. Oh well, I gotta learn to say no sometimes! I am still excited to hear about your experience though so I hope you keep posting about this each week and I’ll play along through comments.
By the way, I might watch 1-2 hours of TV per week, if that. I’m very selective about programming because it has to be worthy of my time! So maybe a way to feel better about kicking TV for a bit is to plan something that’s super worthy of your time… like a date nite, or starting a book you’ve been wanting to, or researching art you can buy/make 😉
Hahaha yea some of them are a little out there and I might change a couple of them (ie next week) but I am excited to try and make some changes for the better 🙂
We don’t really “watch” tv…except all of Tim’s gold mining shows 😉 but we always have it on. It just seems so draining!
I just did this on Friday night – I was actually just sick of the noise. Now I need to work on turning off my Kindle…
Hahaha..me too Amanda…me too!
But at least you are expanding your mind, instead of you know…sitting on facebook or something.
Which reminds me…I need to update my status 😉
Well feel free to swing by my blog any time you want your TV fix without watching the actual tube… I’ve got your back.
Ahhhhh the loophole 🙂
I gave up cable when I moved into my first place eight years ago (couldn’t afford it) and gave up TV entirely when the whole analog-to-digital switch happened in 2009 (since I couldn’t get any signal!). It was easily the BEST decision I’ve made regarding my time. I still watch a few shows (Castle, Don’t Trust the B* in Apt 23, Scandal, Once Upon a Time) but I pull them up on my laptop when I have time to focus on the show and not multitask. My enjoyment of these few shows has increased, and the money I save enables me to really enjoy living in Chicago.
Don’t get me wrong–It was REALLY hard at first. But seriously, SO worth it. If you are feeling like really REALLY challenging yourself, give it up for a month.
Also, not having a TV/Cable keeps my electrical bill under $30 a month. (!!!)
Yea, when I lived on my own (pre-love of my life days) I only had Netflix so it was a concious decision to watch TV. I was so broke that it didn’t matter anyways. Tim is only REALLY concerned with watching the news so I don’t think he will mind.
I am constantly complaining about “not having time” to do anything, with all of the comments today I am pretty much convinced the TV has to go 🙂
Where do you watch your shows? On Hulu or on the station websites? I am not sure Tim is quite ready to give up Gold Rush haha
The news is my one sad point of not having TV. I have to make an effort to go to CNN (They have the most easily navigable site) and check out what is going on. It’s not as simple as being spoon-fed from TV, but it gets the job done .
As for network shows, ABC has a great site to watch all their shows- they have an iPad/iPhone app so I can watch on those devices while I’m on the train. NBC has a decent site, but I’m really not into many of their shows. CBS has an ok site, but they remove stuff pretty quickly, so you can’t watch more than, say, 4 shows back. I don’t have Netflix or Hulu or anything like that. I watch only FREE TV shows, meaning I don’t pay to subscribe.
One awesome thing I discovered is that my library stocks TV shows on DVDs. So I can borrow all the seasons of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and watch at home. They aren’t as current as watching online, but you can get entire seasons, which is great when you’re sick and need a pasttime.
Nice! I remember when it was move out time at college and my roomate left (with the tv) I watched House on my laptop. It was the only thing I could find that would let me watch the full episode. Granted that was like 5 years ago, so I was curious to see how difficult it is nowadays.
Good tip about the library!!!
I never watch TV and never have. I can count on 1 hand how many times I have even sat down in the last 2 years to watch a movie…lol. Good luck to you guys!
Thats awesome…I just don’t know what we are going to do for background noise now. I am not sure how long T can handle my mouth breathing haha!!!