Okay, “afraid” may be a strong word (although I don’t think it is) but Annie and I were chatting last night about life, money, Sammy, and all the other issues in the world. We’ve been headed in the direction of attempting to be more minimalistic for the past two or more years. I would say we have mostly failed at this but we have certainly made some progress.
The last couple of months I have been thinking more and more about what we can do to enrich our lives more and be more minimal all at the same time. Doing this will be beneficial for many reasons:
1) By focusing more on how to become more minimal we will reduce our carbon footprint.
2) In some ways we’ll have more time because we will be re-prioritizing time spent.
3) We will be spending less money which is good all the way around.
4) Sammy will grow up in a house where the priorities are people, not things.
5) Even though I think Annie and I have a great relationship, I think it will get even better.
One area we have started focusing on is food. Our goal is to eat healthier and attempt to buy as much food (produce, etc.) from local providers versus the big box stores. That doesn’t mean we won’t be at the big box stores but it means we’ll be there less.
We’re also going to start focusing on our home utilities. We want to use less electricity, gas, and so on. We are contemplating cutting our cable and land line with Charter and using Apple TV and an online fax service instead. This will save us money, but overall our goal is to watch less TV. More money in the bank account and more time to work on things that matter! I’m a huge advocate of creating stuff…whether that be a poem, a short story, a blog post, a painting, or whatever it is you do. I think creating is better than watching TV.
There are some other ideas floating around between Annie and I but you get the idea. We are looking in to all aspects of our life to see where we can cut spending without giving up fun and to see where we can do better in supporting our local community.
The end goal is to raise Sammy with the priority that human relationships matter more than material things and over-consumption. We want him to put value on creating things and not just consuming what other people create. My personal belief is that our legacy comes from the relationships we have (friends, family, marriage), giving back, and the things we create.
Other goals are to spend less and save more. By doing this we can retire sooner or give back more…but at least we’ll have those options. We also think it’s important to simply use less…use less energy, less stuff that we consume and throw away. We’re not going to become hardcore tree huggers but we can certainly do better than we are right now.
One of the main reasons for all of this, aside from benefitting Sammy, is I want my life back. I’m tired of allowing the TV and other completely unimportant things to weigh me down and steal the little bit of time I have left on this planet. I’d rather spend more time with Annie and Sammy. I’d rather read more and continue to create the things I enjoy creating. I’d rather travel and talk to people versus sit in front of a TV.
There is nothing more important than time, yet we never work on balancing the checkbook of time like we do our checkbook of money.
When you die, will all those hours of TV have made you a better person?
So here we are, pushing ourselves even more to do something instead of nothing. This life is an experiment and we’re trying to evolve and change as we feel the need. We’re trying to continually enhance ourselves, our relationship, and the time we have. This isn’t about becoming militant with all this and burning our TV’s in the backyard…it’s simply about becoming more aware of how our time is spent.
It’s never too late to start making those changes you’ve always wanted to make.
I haven’t had cable in over 5 years and I’m a better person for it. Television is expensive when you think about how many hours you can waste doing nothing but watching it; when you could be doing something so much more productive and meaningful with those hours.
Elizabeth, that is exactly what I’ve been thinking and talking about the last couple of years. Thanks for the push!! I need to make the break.
More money for wine… Kudos! I was proud of myself when I turned down AT&T’s three-month trial of a package upgrade this week. The caller sounded incredulous that I would turn down free “premium” TV, and tried a harder sell. I told him I’m watching less broadcast TV lately and may downgrade soon. He seemed eager to end the call after that.
LOL, way to go Mark. I think cable and satellite are on the way out. If I absolutely want to watch somehting I am sure I can get it online or via Apple TV or HULU!!
Well said Matt, you have a good plan going and I know you will prosper from it, it’s nice you put that on your blog so most of us can and will follow in your footsteps, if I could turn back the clock I would surely take out TV nothing like family spending time together without interruptions.
But with my age and fighting to find a job these days is still difficult. We have had to do lots of cut backs and after awhile you learn to accept less. I have lots of friends which we do volunteer work together which makes me feel productive and good about myself.
FYI-I will be working Monday with Ian Blackburn/Learn About Wine event at The Peninsula/Beverly Hills carpooling with the Office Manager so I am looking forward to this and the experience, I will keep you posted and hopefully will send pictures too.
Keep up the good work, watching Sammy grow along with the update, the videos and pictures I love it. My grandson just turned 18, he stopped by tonight showing us his Prom suit that he will be going tomorrow evening, then after graduation off to the Air Force, We are so proud of him, yet sad at the same time of being empty nesters again…so the sharing of your family brings the joy back in my life through your eyes. Thanks Matt and Annie you are a blessing to me. Cheers?
Bev, you are so awesome. You are right about the living with less. Annie and I have been slowly making cuts for the last 2 years and it feels good.
As for the event you’re helping out with, I can’t wait to hear about it. Good luck to you!!
Being able to share our journey with Sammy has been really fun and rewarding in ways I can’t quite describe. Thank you for being a part of that!!! 🙂
Since we moved to a beachfront apartment, we made the decision to not install cable. Since our daughter was born, we would watch what was on DVR at night at about 10p.m. So when we moved, cable was not a first neccessity item. We purchased Hulu plus, we have neighbors who let us borrow videos, and Daniela who is two loves the musical movies like Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, and King and I that we have purchased for her. We are outdoors more with the dog who has to be walked at least three times a day and we do so many things with Daniela, I tire myself out. We get our local news from the internet when we see lots of people posting about a specific issue and if it is national news, friends and family will post information on platforms. You really do more when you are not glued to the TV for news or entertainment. Good luck with your quest.
Great points, Lucy!! I totally agree and I am determined to make it happen. I feel like my life will be more rewarding once we do…we shall see…and thanks again! 🙂
I read this post last night and was going to leave a comment but our daughter started singing and I tuned out. Then we started watching old videos of her (yeah old at two lol ) and pictures of when she was a baby. Regards to Annie and a baby high five for Sammy!
That’s so awesome, Lucy. Heck, Sammy is only 6 months and we already go back and look at photos and video…pretty wild!!! Cheers to you and yours. Thank you. 🙂
Great to see how you are focusing your energies on being the best parents–not to mention partners–you can be! Yes, doubt anyone on their deathbed regrets not having watched more TV. We watch very little here. I do like to turn on sports occasionally (seasonally, mostly for big games). But haven’t found a good way to cut things down (e.g no need for a land line at this point) but still get what we want (high speed internet to priority, occasional sports & other shows).
David…we are getting rid of the landline because I only use it to fax and there are online ways to do that…via scanning and emailing or faxing from a website or whatever. As for TV, we’re using Apple TV and we have a Netflix account as well as we just got an MLB app so we can watch any baseball game we want for $11 a month. By doing this we will be saving $80 to $100 per month.
I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own weblog and was wondering what all is required to get setup? I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny? I’m not very web smart so I’m not 100% positive. Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated. Kudos|
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