In January Paul and I cut cable TV. And it was really scary. As a stay at home mom, I considered TV my personal pal helping me make it through the day. Not so much for Roswelle to watch, but for background noise so I wouldn't lose my mind talking to myself and a toddler all day.
We weened ourselves off television slowly. We cut cable, but kept Netflix, Amazon prime, and bought this antenna for only $19 (which are so sleek now!). I'm able to watch the Today Show in the mornings and we can watch the Bachelor if we feel like it on Monday nights. We also added the Sling TV app on our Roku, which allows me to watch Bravo and Paul to watch the NFL network - a win win for both of us. We plan to unsubscribe to Sling in the summer when we are home less, and then pick it back up in the winter months.
The first month was tough - I found myself quite bored... However, slowly but surely I started realizing I didn't miss it as much...in fact TV started to not interest me! I started meal prepping and trying new recipes during Roswelle's nap instead of sitting on the couch. And recently I've been writing and creating more blog content, as well as moving the blog to a new website host! In the end, I'm feeling more fulfilled.
The biggest change has been our new bedtime and morning routines. Now that Paul and I aren't endlessly searching for something on TV to watch at night...we pick up the house, prepare for the morning, and go to bed! We have been reading more and falling asleep by 9pm on a regular basis which means we have been getting up early in the morning, getting ahead of the day, before Roswelle wakes up. Paul goes to the gym in the mornings and comes home earlier to hang out at night, allowing us to have sitdown dinners as a family between 6/6:30 most nights. I have been waking up a good hour before Roswelle which allows me to drink my cup of coffee quietly, read a few blogs, and catch up on my to-do list for the day - even knocking some things off before 7am like ordering a wedding gift I've been putting off.
If you are considering cutting back on TV, this is me encouraging you!! At least try it, if you are miserable, then by all means add it back, but you'll never know what is waiting on the other side of the black mirror... haaaa. good ol' TV pun to end this post.