Simplicity Challenge #3 - Kitchen - the pantry

Oh, the pantry, the pantry.  There is no excuse for this to get overloaded, because we have a huge food storage in the basement where all unopened food is stored.  This is really only for things currently on the go.  One of the hard things I find about organizing a pantry is that it's hard to remember how long things have been there.  Sure, if I was on the ball, I'd pull out my black Sharpe and date everything as I opened it.  But that has never happened yet, so I probably shouldn't count on that happening anytime soon.

Luckily, because I was sick for 9 months, it was really easy for me to remember what I've purchased in the last 2 months since Juliette was born.  All the rest is more than nine months old.

So, here are the before and after pics:

My pantry also naturally extends up to the shelves above, so I figured I'd give them a clean out at the same time.  Other than the extra pantry shelf (bottom left), the rest is mostly storage.  I finally parted ways with all but three mugs I had been holding onto, since we never use them anyway.  The Crockpot I kept until I can get a new one that works better.  The George Foreman grill and the sandwich maker haven't been touched in years, so out they went.  Here is the before and after:

You probably can't tell, but I also put the last two cupboard doors back on.  When we moved in five years ago, I took all the doors off to paint them, but then decided I liked the open look (very French).  James was never a fan, since we have to pack them so tightly due to a lack of cupboards (we have only 3 sets in the whole kitchen).  Gradually I put them back on, the the two on the right were the last to go up.

Voila!  I'm definitely getting closer.  And I'm going to work extra hard this weekend and next week in preparation for a garage sale.  No, I'm not running one myself, just tagging onto a friend's.  I've never liked the idea of sitting all morning on my lawn with all my stuff displayed for others to pick over, but if I do it with a friend it might not be so bad.  :-)

100 things

This idea is a little extreme for me, but an interesting one nonetheless.  I heard an interview on CBC radio the other day with a woman whose family is trying "100 things to live by."  In other words, each family member is allowed 100 things, period.  Everything counts.  Each clothing item, each pair of socks, toothbrush, toy, book, souvenir, knick knack.  As a bonus they have allowed 100 items for the "house" which includes the furniture, kitchen utensils and the like.  She and her husband recently downsized from a house to a 2 bedroom apartment in order to suit their new lifestyle.  They have almost been successful in the count: she only exceeds her 100 allotment right now as she holds on to some wardrobe pieces from her work days (pieces that are expensive) until she decides if she will return to the workforce or not.

Personally, I have more than 100 items in my bedroom.

But it's an interesting idea.  Something that gave me pause to think about.

Really, this whole simplifying process is so personal.  There are so many theories, and just as many ways to go about putting those theories into practice.  But unless you are personally converted to the idea, you might get rid of some excess, but you likely won't stop it from accumulating again.  Simple living is a mindset that must be embraced to be successful, a mantra that plays over and over in your head so that you stop the clutter from descending into your home in the first place.

I have more pictures to post...I've been ruthless in the kitchen so far, and it is beautiful!  More to come.

Simplicity Challenge #2 - Kitchen - Junk drawer

Ah, the dreaded junk drawer.  A good friend lamented that she now has three junk drawers.  I guess the one good thing about a small kitchen is that there is no room for more than one - we only have three drawers to begin with!

Here is the infamous junk drawer pre-clean.  This drawer was even worse for being able to be opened.  Things were always jamming it shut.

Here is everything laid out on the counter for sorting.

Here are all the things I tossed away - at least ten.  Several more items got stored downstairs (I decided I didn't really need three boxes of plastic wrap.)

And here is the final product.

Look at that - the junk drawer is no longer a junk drawer!

Simplicity Challenge #1 - Kitchen - utensil drawer

Okay - here it is!  I've started my simplifying challenge around my home.  And I started in the kitchen, with the utensil drawer.

Here is a photo of everything in my utensil drawer on the counter:

And here is a close up of the utensil tray that is in my drawer:

A reminder of my goals as I simplify:

1.  Empty each room by half, and get rid of at least 10 items in each challenge.

2.  Keep only what is useful or beautiful.  In the case of utensils, useful.  And also make sure I don't have multiple things fulfilling the same purpose.

3.  Stop keeping things I think I might use one day down the road.  I am particularly guilty of this in this drawer.  But the truth is I hardly need all that excess stuff.


Here is a picture of all the items I got rid of from this drawer (plus a whole bunch of plastic cutlery in restaurant packets, and a pile of other garbage that was hiding under all the useful stuff.)

And HERE is the final product:

Isn't it absolutely beautiful???  I realize I don't have a picture of the whole drawer before hand.  I promise I'll get better at this photo thing.  But you can imagine all that extra junk just piled on top.  The drawer was forever getting stuck, and I could never find what I needed.

How good did it feel to clean that drawer?  So good that every time I walked by the drawer during the day, I would actually pull it open and give it a quick glance again, and smile at how neat and tidy and simple it was.

The first clear-out

The first clear-out happened yesterday.  Over the past six weeks I've filled up part of the garage with garbage to go to the dump, donations to go to a second-hand store, and a couple high value items to sell.  I'd been waiting to finish my clean/purge before taking these piles away, but there wasn't much room left in the garage.  So I got rid of it all yesterday, in preparation for the real clean and purge yet to come.  And it's coming.  Boy is it coming.  And it will be brutal and ruthless.  But I will love it.  Oh, how I will love it.

40 decluttering jobs - one a day

Anyone else find that decluttering usually involves wandering through the house aimlessly and randomly picking up things to throw into a donation or garbage pile?  Or maybe, like me, you pick a room to work on but never feel like it's fully tackled.

Over the last six weeks, I have definitely been working on decluttering my home, and yet I don't feel like I made the dent in it that I wanted to.  That's why, when I saw this list on 40 separate tasks to getting rid of the clutter, I knew I had found a new valuable tool to use.  Blogger Stephanie broke down the house into 40 different jobs to be tackled, one at a time, one day at a time.  Her list makes so much sense.

For example, instead of saying "work on the kitchen today," she breaks it down into:

1) kitchen drawers - cutlery/utensils
2) kitchen cupboards with dishes/storage containers
3) kitchen cupboards with pots, pans and appliances
4) kitchen drawers - junk drawer
5) kitchen linens
6) kitchen "other" - anything else stored in the kitchen
7) kitchen cookbooks and recipes

At the end of these seven days, the kitchen should be decluttered.  Stephanie recommends spending 30 minutes a day on your task, and trying to purge a minimum of 10 items a day.  This breakdown just seems to make the whole job both easier and clearer.

If you're like me, decluttering and simplifying can be depressing if you never seem to be able to get ahead and stay ahead of the clutter.  I've tried many methods in the past, and none have ever stuck.  But sometimes it's just about trying all the different methods until you find one that works for you.  Here's hoping I've collected the right combination of things to do in order to win over simplicity in my home!

Simplifying possessions

(From Josh Becker's article "The 10 Most Important Things to Simplify in Your Life)

"Too many material possessions complicate our lives to a greater degree than we ever give them credit. They drain our bank account, our energy, and our attention.  They keep us from the ones we love and from living a life based on our values.  If you will invest the time to remove nonessential possessions from your life, you will never regret it."

This is the number one area I need to work on right now.  My house is bursting with stuff and I can't stand it.  Since Juliette was born 6 weeks ago, I've done an initial sweep of the house, and I've collected two massive piles in the garage - one for garbage, one for donation.  But I'm nowhere near where I want to be.

I'm using a couple of rules when it comes to de-cluttering the house:

1.  Empty each room by half.  To do this, put everything in the room in the middle of the floor and make two piles from that - half to keep and half to go.  I have a strong feeling that 50% of all my stuff is superfluous.

2.  Keep only what is useful or beautiful.  Having something simply to fill a corner is clutter.

3.  Keep the number of things standing on the floor of a room to less than 10.  This is an original idea of mine.  I remember going into a friend's house that always feels open, clean, and simple.  In her living room, I counted only 7 things: a bookshelf, a couch, a standing lamp, a piano, an armchair, an ottoman, and a side table.  It was revelatory to me to realize that is the key to a simple feeling in a room.

4.  Stop keeping things I think I might use one day down the road.  If I'm not actively using it now, don't bother holding onto it.  If I get rid of it and then really need it one day, I can always borrow it from someone or buy it again.  Although I don't like the idea of buying something twice, I'm holding onto too much that I never use again.  I will have to sacrifice one idea (wasting money by buying something twice) for a superior idea (simple living.)

Simplifying my life

It's coming...

...the gradual shift has been occurring in my mind, and I have been taking some gradual, unintentional steps towards a simpler life...

...but now I want to take some larger, more purposeful leaps in that direction.

I'm inspired again by this article.  And by a challenge to take on each room in my house.  I love the idea that this writer will live blog about tackling the stuff in her house.  I feel somewhat inspired to do the same thing.  Record some thoughts on simplicity, and document my journey toward achieving that.

In brief, these are the 10 areas recommended to examine and simplify:

1.  Your possessions
2.  Your time commitments
3.  Your goals
4.  Your negative thoughts.
5.  Your debt
6.  Your words
7.  Your artificial ingredients
8.  Your screen time
9.  Your connections your the world
10. Your multi-tasking

Not because I want to brag, but because I think it is important to recognize strengths and achievements, I don't feel the need to work on all ten areas.  For example, number five, debt, is an area I've never struggled with.  Number seven (think Blackberry addictions) is another that's never controlled me.  Number two has been one I've been working on over the past couple of years and I feel I have mastered to a satisfactory degree.  So that leaves seven areas I still want to work on.  And by recognizing that I've already conquered 3 from the list, with only 7 to go, it gives me a sense of partial accomplishment and leaves me with the feeling that the others can also be accomplished.

I'm going to try to remember to label the posts I write on this topic under "simplifying" so that if anyone is interested in following these posts they will be easy to find.  And be sure to let me know if you decide to embark on a similar journey.  Encouragement from others in common goals is a great form of support!

Organized Simplicity

"Creating a more peaceful living space doesn't happen overnight, nor does this tranquility remain forever unchanged once you've arrived at uncluttered nirvana. A peaceful home requires a change of attitude, a habit of regular maintenance, and a lifelong commitment to place higher priority on relationship and events than on things."

We are slowly, slowly working on this, beginning with our home environment. Despite the fact that the ground is still snow covered and any chance of garage sale is a couple months off, I'm starting a gentle purge around the house. A big garbage bag and box of toys left the play room last week. (And still there is too much in there!) I was feeling well enough two days ago to clear paths in our basement where stuff has piled while I've been sick. The laundry area got a mop and purge also. The upstairs hall closet got a first go over, but still needs a bigger sweep. The garage is just scary, and will have to wait until better weather when I can haul things out onto the driveway to try and make some sense out of it.

But there is promise. The first step truly is a change in mentality, and I really think I've turned that corner.

Organized Simplicity

"Align your habits and your lifestyle with your purpose in life so that you're running at a comfortable pace and gliding along with time, rather than wishing it would slow down."

On the other side of this quote, you could equally align your habits and your lifestyle so that you are not wishing life would be faster and more exciting. Either way, I love the idea that we can control the pace of life we lead. Activities and time-fillers that we might think are indispensable just might not be, when we examine our daily lives under the microscope.

As someone who is married, this is a conversation I would have to have with my husband. If I found the pace of our life not to my liking, then we would examine our schedules together. But I am convicted here, just a little. How quick would I be to point the finger at one of my husband's activities and suggest he cut that out, so that we had more time? If I asked him to cut something, would I be just as willing to cut something of mine? More to the point, would it even occur to me? That's what really got me thinking here. I am afraid I might be too quick to point out the "mote" in someone else's eye that I couldn't see the "beam" in my own. I think it's a common human trait to believe that I've got things managed just the way they should be, and everyone else should be aligning themselves with me.

Food for thought. (And actually not related to anything specific going on in my life. But sometimes preemptive ideas help avoid problems from cropping up rather than having to go into damage control after the fact!)

Simple Living

The more I ruminate on what I have read in the book Organized Simplicity over the past couple of days, the more excited I am about my purging project. I am a little bummed that I'm this excited right now, when I'm not in tip top shape healthwise, and when it's the middle of winter and the completely wrong time for a garage sale. All this comes down to the fact that I will likely have to wait until April or May to really tackle this project.

But I'm not sure I will end up waiting that long. I know how important it can be to act on desire like this, because in a couple of months who knows if I'll have the same drive. So if I can convince my wonder, amazing husband to clear me some room in the garage where I can gather yard sale items, I might get moving sooner rather than later.

The most important concept I've gathered from my reading is about purpose. I need to define (in writing, for me, since that' most effective) what vision I have for my home, and then more specifically, for each room. For example:

Main floor: an area where the kids can run around in freely and safely, a friendly atmosphere that let's guests know they can kick up their feet and relax here

Living room: a gathering place for our adult friends, a place to sit and read, our entertainment hub

Kitchen: a place to cook healthy foods from scratch as much as I can

Entryway: effective storage for daily outdoor clothing/shoes, but hidden away as much as possible

With this vision, I can now enter each room and evaluate it against these pictures. An item should be either useful or beautiful, or it doesn't need to be there. If the item is not helping to fulfill my vision of the room, get it out!

I am making a goal to track my room by room progress here on my blog, as a measure of accountability. It will likely be a drawn out process, not something I tackle in a myriad of days in a row. But hopefully, if I get my act together, I can post my ideas and photos of each room, record the items I've held onto for forever but am now tossing, and sharing the joy/agony of the process. Maybe you'll be inspired to embark on your own "organized simplicity" journey, too. If so, be sure to share!

Organized Simplicity

I've gathered a few of my favourite excerpts from the book Organized Simplicity. I'd love to share a few, and add some of my own thoughts swirling around in my head.

"You are making a choice to own and keep every item you have in your home. The important thing to ask yourself is: Is the choice to have the thing in your home worth missing the opportunity to not have it? Do you value owning the item more than you value the liquidity and open space you have without the item It you value the item more, buy it or continue to keep it in your home. If you value the money and the space more, don't buy the item, or sell it if you already own it."

"You're not a victim. You allow each item in your home to be there. Do you love it all? Do you find it useful or beautiful? The surprising effect of getting rid of the things that you don't love is that you grow deeper in love with the things you choose to keep. Your kids love every toy they own. You'd gladly wear every pair of jeans in your closet. You like all the music in your CD collection. Simplifying is not parting with love. It's gaining it."

Stuff, stuff, stuff. This is a HUGE obstacle to being able to organize my home. I'm not a hoarder per se, but I do hold onto things that quite possibly have a future use. I hold onto things related to sentimental memories (different than something that actually has a sentimental memory in itself.) I hold onto items that are worth a lot, even if I don't use them much.

No more. "I am not a victim." I love that phrase in the book. If I don't like the clutter around the house, then I can get rid of it. Nothing is saying I have to hold onto it all. As I was reading the book, things kept flashing into my mind, things that I never would have previously gotten rid of, but suddenly seemed superfluous and annoyingly in the way.

I have a nice set of dishes we got for our wedding (not super expensive) but they can't go in the dishwasher so I never use them. These are not practical and so they will go.

I have a lovely decorative shelf with glass shelves, but it's hidden in our basement because it is impractical to have around with little boys and a house full of people. While I love the shelf and it's very beautiful, my priority in the house is to have a home where the boys can play freely and safely and this piece just doesn't fit. It must go.

CDs and DVDs. Too many we never listen to or watch. I will be much more ruthless in cutting down our collection.

Knick knacks. I've never been a big knick knack person, but they have started to pile up over the years. When I read about the difference between an item that reminds you of a great memory (like a souvenir of a trip) and an item that is a memory (like a childhood teddy bear) I was suddenly able to look around the house and tick off a bunch of things sitting on shelves and mantles that just don't need to take up the space anymore.

Toys. Toys, toys, toys. The bane of my existence. We have too many. We have too many the boys have never played with. Toys are hard, because 90% of them were gifts, and I feel really bad about selling/donating gifts. But we're bursting. What I want out of the toy room is a place to be creative, make music, do puzzles, and play together. Right now it's just a place to gather the toys, with no room to actually play in (which means the toys migrate around the rest of the main floor, which I can't stand!) At least half of the toys need to go.

Clothes. I'm pretty good with keeping the clothes under control. One bin per size. One extra bin per adult for the off-season. One bin of extra shoes. But I know there are several pieces of clothing I could still cull from our closet.

And so I will finally bend to the boys' pleas and have a yard sale in the Spring. There are still many things we have to hold onto until our expected baby grows a little older, but that's just time and season. I want more organized simplicity in my home and this spring I'm finally going to get it!

Tidbits on me

It's naptime, but I'm on the couch, so I likely won't nap. Which means I'm just sitting here, basking in the silence. It's really nice. I can't decide which is a better way to spend my lovely 2 hours of naptime - sleeping or being alone. It's a toss-up. I gave the bed to my wonderful amazing husband (home for the day due to Caleb's sleep dentistry appointment) who really could use the extra 2 hours of sleep. Plus the phone guy is coming sometime this afternoon, so I offered to stay up in case he comes during the precious hours that are naptime.

Anyway, I'm enjoying the quiet.

I made dinner last night, first time in a really long time. It was an easy casserole, chicken, mixed veggies, can of soup and topped with stuffing. It was yummy, but Benjamin didn't like it at all. We rarely eat salt on anything, and those canned soups taste really salty when you're not used to it.

I'm now administering my own IV meds from home. Someone at some head office decided that I was capable enough to do my own, and didn't need to be taking up the hospital clinic time every day. Turns out it's perfect timing, because I was wondering how it would work having to take Benjamin with me every day. So I have a little hospital corner set up in my living room with the machine and supplies. Honestly, after watching the nurses do it for three months, I can pretty much do it in my sleep.

I'm reading a book called "Organized Simplicity" and I'm loving the ideas in it. (Thanks to Jen who let me know when Amazon was offering it for free!) I'll post some excerpts in the next couple of days. But the main idea I'm coming to understand is that everyone is allotted 24 hours in a day. People who seem to accomplish more, people who say they are too busy, people who balance well - we all have the same "time" opportunity. It's all about the choices we make on how to use the time.

In reading this book, I've also realized that I actually am doing really well in managing my time in a way that lines up with my idea of how I want life to feel. I like a 50/50 balance between scheduled activities and lazy days or last-minute plans. While I want to simplify in my house a little more, my schedule is actually doing pretty good.

I've been feeling the baby move for the past week and a half. I first felt in on Sunday, January 22 (18 weeks along). I think that's the earliest I've ever pinpointed my baby moving. Lots of twirls and rolls inside.

A great reminder in today's women's bible study that we can expect joy in our lives from God. And even if the actual circumstances of our life are not joyous (like feeling sick and in pain 24/7 for 9 months), we can still feel joy. I've got to let that settle in me a little more.

Groundhog predicted an early spring. Well, winter never really came. Unfortunately, groundhogs are only right about 37% of the time. Even if winter comes, there won't be much more than two months of it, which I think I can handle.

Remember

“We women have a lot to learn about simplifying our lives. We have to decide what is important and then move along at a pace that is comfortable for us. We have to develop the maturity to stop trying to prove something. We have to learn to be content with what we are.”

Marjorie Hinckley

Circles of Organization

I am not a naturally tidy person. Not that I don't love everything neat and tidy, it's just that it takes work for me to do it. My Nana and mother-in-law are both naturally tidy. They immediately see disorder and almost subconsciously clean as they go. I do give myself a bit of slack giving that I have three young children, but I always wondered why it was such a struggle for me to have everything in its place.

A new book provided some much needed insight for me. The author wrote of "Circles of Organization". You see, everything we do creates disorder, but we need to complete the circle by bringing things back into order. For example, when it is mealtime, we need to pull out food, dirty pots and pans, and use dishes. So often we consider mealtime over once we have eaten the food when in fact we are only part way through the job. Instead of designating the clean up as a separate job, which leave you open to leaving the clean up for another time, think of loading the dishwasher, putting away leftovers, wiping the table and doing the dishes as part of mealtime. Mealtime is not over until all that is done.

In her own wise words:

"As I observed women who seemed to be more organized, I discovered they move around their organization circles from order to disorder back to order again without getting stuck at the bottom of the circle. They make a mess as they fix lunch, bu then they stay until their kitchen is ordered again...

In other words, we may be juggling multiple circles of organization, but we shouldn't stay at the bottom of any one circle and let inertia trap us there in a place of disorder. We need to learn to finish. If we don't leave the dishes undone after breakfast, or clean the clothes unfolded on the couch, or an ongoing creative project on the table when we leave to pick up the kids from school, we will always be traveling toward the top of our organization circle (order).

This simple habit of finishing what we start will enable us to have more order in our lives. It allows us the freedom to have some messes out, but not have the whole house be a mess."

Isn't that brilliant? It will be, to any people out there who struggle, as I do, with restoring the home to order. It is simply a matter of finishing what I start.

My biggest problems occur in these areas:

- Diaper changing - too often I change a diaper and just leave the dirty one tucked away under the living room table rather than taking it immediately to the garbage.
- I rarely do a full clean-up in the kitchen after a meal, opting instead to get to the dishes after bedtime. Then I find myself exhausted from the day and grumpy at having to do the clean-up or simply leaving it to the morning. And there is little worse than a messy kitchen when you wake up.
- Laundry. Laundry, laundry, laundry, you are the bane of my existence! I always manage to get it into the washer and dryer, but the folding and, even worse, the putting away can sometimes linger on for days after.
- Coming in the from car. This always seems like such a chore, getting three kids in and out of coats and boots and lugging in bags and toys and food. I usually get the kids in the door, leaving a collection of items at the front door and a whole host of stuff still in the car.

At least now that I know my weaknesses, I can consciously try and finish those circles of organization more often. And I can tell you, it seems to be working! Even with the three boys running around, it isn't taking much more time to completely finish what I have started.

Granted, oftentimes multi-tasking is a necessity. The important thing to remember is not to start more projects/tasks than I can handle at one time. The author recommends starting with only two or three, and seeing how you manage. It will soon become second nature to understand how many things you can do at once and still bring them all back to order. My biggest problem is starting something I want to do because I want to do it right now. Just the other day I was in the middle of doing the laundry. Obviously I don't need to sit idle while the wash and dry cycles are going. But this particular day I wanted to do a little baking for my own purposes. Just as I was about to pull out the ingredients, I heard the dryer beep indicating the cycle was finished. I held the tantalizing recipe for gingerbread cake in my hand and paused in the kitchen. I considered getting the cake mixed and into the oven before folding the laundry, since I would have 45 minutes while the cake baked. But the more I thought about it, I realized that as soon as the cake was out we were leaving to pick Colin up from school and then heading out of town overnight. There was a good possibility that Benjamin might start to fuss or Caleb would wake up grumpy or I would remember something I forgot to pack...and the laundry would be left in the dryer. So I put the recipe back down and went to empty the dryer. I quickly folded the load, put it away, and then to my delight realized I still had just enough time to bake the cake. Once the cake was in the oven, I did the dishes and put on a light load in the dishwasher so that I would come home to an ordered home after our trip.

So that is a summary of my organization revelation this week. The book (called "Project: Organization") is full of great ideas to help get you organized around the home and in your life. Although many of them I simply don't have time to get to right now (each project takes 20 to 50 minutes, but with young children, it's often impossible to even find an extra 5 minutes!), I'm so glad to have learned this new finishing-things-off technique. Even James noted the other day how things seem to be a little less chaotic around the home. Success!

The move to no TV

I grew up without cable. While many people might wonder what on earth we did without TV, I should mention that the good ole' bunny ears meant that we still received a good 10 channels. Sometimes we might have watched our favourite shows through a fuzzy signal, but there were a few channels that were strong. Most of the major network shows aired on the channels we did get.

When I moved out into a basement apartment during university, full cable came with the place. I have to admit that I usually bypassed the lower channels and indulged in programs on the history and arts channels. My television viewing habits changed - I stopped watching television on a schedule (like tuning in for a weekly program) and started dropping in now and then when I needed a mental break.

When I got married, we had basic cable (I moved into James apartment, and he had the cable already). While I was grateful for the distraction for the 18 months of two pregnancies that I spent in bed, I quickly discovered that basic cable is a rip-off. The stuff I really wanted to watch was available via antennae. All the rest was just filler, stuff I would flip on to watch to "relax" or "pass time." None of it I really needed or wanted to watch.

With our move to our first house, we got rid of cable. And then we were hit with a surprise twist: our television downstairs couldn't get any reception, even off the 2 foot bunny ears we bought. It presented our first challenge to our media decision. Should we get cable or leave it? Luckily I was on a "simplify" kick, so it didn't tempt me for long. We put a little TV (previously used as a preview monitor for film editing) in our bedroom and left the TV downstairs for movies only.

Turns out it was the best decision we made. There is absolutely no TV on during the day, because with three kids I can't simply retreat and hideaway in my bedroom to watch something. At night the same principle applies. I've got too much to do around the house to sit up in one room. I never used to watch TV without doing second activity or chore at the same time, and still don't like doing it. The few times when I do flip on a movie, I'm usually folding laundry. The only thing I regularly watch is ten minutes of the nightly news just before going to bed.

Now I would like to thank the broadcast companies for helping me make the last move that we have, as yet, been unable to make. I wanted to get rid of the television completely, but since the analog signal was free, it seemed to not be a big deal to keep the two or three channels we get alive. Next summer the industry is switching to digital cable, which means I would need a digital box monthly subscription to watch TV. No deal. I am not paying for television. I simply don't need it anymore. I'm grateful for our gradual change, so that I don't have to go cold turkey (hmm, that sentence has undertones of an addiction, doesn't it!). Apparently I am one of about 1 million households in Canada that does not subscribe to cable. I wonder how many of us will let it go completely next summer? I imagine there will be a portion who opt to start paying, but I best the vast majority won't. I haven't read any studies on the subject, but I question the statement that most people who don't have cable don't have it because of budgetary reasons. I have heard reports in the past that in low-income areas people will go to the food bank for food but still have a big-screen TV and cable subscription.

So next summer we will get rid of television programming in our home. We will still have our TV and a collection of films. Any TV shows we really want to see we will rent or buy on disc (a much better way to enjoy the show, without the commercials!). I know the next step would be to get rid of the television completely, but as James and I are both filmmakers, I don't think we would ever do that. However a film is a two hour time investment, and certainly we only put in that time once or twice a week. I have loved the extra time I find I have, filling it with reading and quilting and kayaking and board games and music and writing. I hope soon to add composing (it's been too long since I engaged in writing music), finishing the children's book I started, learning more of the guitar, writing more letters, improving my gardening knowledge and skills...there are so many things I want to do and learn and now I have a plethora of time at my fingertips!