Thursday, December 28, 2006

Unnecessary necessities

Isn't it amazing to think back 10 years and all of the added expenses for our unnecessary necessities? Cell phones, PDA's, satellite radio, internet, satellite TV... There has to be a better way! And I don't mean by going back in time and giving up all these luxuries. I've thought about eliminating our home phone and just using cell phones, but then we don't have 911 service. And with 2 small children in the house, this is not really an option. We do have 2 phone lines, 1 for personal and 1 for business and we could eliminate the business line and just use our cell phones. We have not subscribed to satellite radio, but with the way the radio stations play irritating commercials 90% of the day, I know it is only a matter of time. I refuse to give up my satellite TV with TIVO. And forget about giving up high speed internet service. I work from home on average once a week, plus with all of our business activities, it just would not be time efficient to go back to dial up.

Have you managed to simplify and if so, how?

2 comments:

Sara said...

Hrmph.

I feel exactly the same way about all our unnecessary necesseties.

There was a time when we didn't have cable TV (because I'm a TV addict and it was better for me to not have access to cable), but we caved on that almost 4 years ago. And now I can't do without the cable and DVR.

I do, however, look at the DVR as something that is a good addition to my TV-addicted life. If there's something I really want to watch, but instead should be spending time with the kids while they're awake, I know I can DVR it and watch it later. And if I never get around to watching it? Well, then it really wasn't THAT important was it?

I think simplifying should involve using the devices that are available to us in order to live more efficiently and hopefully provide something to enhance our quality of life.

Having said that, I have to admit that I received something as a Christmas gift that I swore I would never own: an iPod. I have since wasted at least 4 hours of my life downloading music onto it and will probably invest some more time into it over the next week.

I'm going to try it out for awhile, but honestly? I'm hoping it doesn't become a permanent part of my life.

Anonymous said...

I haven't simplified, but I just sort of never complicated. We don't have cell phones. We don't have cable. We do have high-speed internet because Rob works from home every morning. It makes life much simpler just not to mess with all that stuff. I thought I would miss cable when we gave it up (over three years ago) but I don't. We just don't watch TV as much as we used to, which is a good thing.