Lately, I have gotten into some bad habits. I forgot what it was like to just enjoy home without distractions. I forgot how to pass the time at home in a pleasant way. This coming week, I am hoping for a more quiet, simplified life. I have a plan. It will last for 7 days. I will not watch television. . . not even DVDs. I am even willing to stay away from classic favorites like The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie.
I want to read more. I want to hand-sew, and bake, and spend more time enjoying kitchen work, and my household duties. I wonder if this bit of time I didn't realize I was missing out on, will enable me to delight in washing windows, iron more, and enjoy decorating and organizing on a regular basis.
Unexpected guests are more welcome when I am not involved in a program, even something as pleasant as You Can't Take it With You, Starring Jimmy Stewart. I think this constant access to a "home theater" (television) where I can see "plays" (movies) and programs any time I want has made it less special. I am hoping that this 7 day fast from television will help me set a new routine of watching one thing a week. . . one thing that is carefully selected. . . something that will be enjoyed and appreciated much more than what has been too accessible.
This week, I hope to do the following things:
1. Sweep my front porch every morning (in the beautiful summer air).
2. Hang clothes on the line before breakfast.
3. Read my Bible more, and read calming, inspiring literature more.
4. Bake and cook more often.
5. Mend and Sew for relaxation, while visiting in the parlour (my living room).
6. Enjoy hours of homemaking - such as decorating, organizing, polishing and shining things up.
7. Write old fashioned letters to cheer and surprise the recipients.
Dear Readers, I would love to hear your thoughts:
- If you were to take this week off from common home entertainments, what would you do?
- If you don't watch television or movies, what does your family do throughout the day?
Blessings
Mrs. White
From the Archives -
Home Economics - Why The High Cost of Food?
Class and Style in Homemaking - When Mother is the Maid.
Don't Change - Even When the Children are Growing up - Sitting Alone at the Kitchen Table.
17 comments:
I would love to try this, but I would have to work around my family.
But, if I could take off from Facebook and TV, I might paint a room, re-decorate something, finish some books, make some throw pillows for the couch, work on some projects with my 13 year old and have a sparkling clean house.
Not a bad idea:)
Mrs. White,
This sounds like a good way to break habits that have become so ingrained. I have a 9 month old, so my time would be spent with him, as well as on household chores. My husband is gone for the month, and I told him I would be working on the house. So this would help in my promise to him.
Thank you for the inspiration :)
Peggy
I so agree with you and feel the very same way. I have managed to wean myself off of the tv and now only watch every now and again. Sometimes an old movie on Netflix or a recording of Wind At My Back. I think we have gotten much too far away from "real" life with all our technological advances. It makes me sad and all the more determined to hold to the old paths.
We don't have access to outside television programming, but we do have TV screens and DVDs in our home. Right now we watch at the most one DVD an evening.
During the day, my husband and I work. He is finishing up splitting our heating-stove wood for the coming winter season, and he also does freelance consultant work from home. I work around the homestead, both inside and outside, fitting in snatches of time to do some reading now and then. I also check my email messages two or three times during the day.
If I took one week off of our regular evening DVD viewing and email communication, I would probably do even more reading as well as crochet, embroider, and/or write (I like to journal, brainstorm, and list in notebooks). You've made me think that a handwritten note sent to seldom-seen-but-often-thought-of friends and family would be good to take time to compose and send more than I do currently (which is seldom).
I'll be thinking more about this now. Thanks for planting the seed!
I would probably get caught up on my craft projects!
I already limit what I watch on television to documentaries and things that I can learn from. The same with my DVD collection - good Christian films, programmes on the past and Homestead Blessings make up the bulk of my watching.
I find the internet eats up a lot more time than the television!!
We did not have television for about 3 weeks, due to a move. It has been so freeing for us. I can't believe what I have accomplished during this time. I have painted every room in ou "new" 182 year old home, weeded and edged a few perrenial beds that had not been taken care of in many years, cleaned and decorated every room in this house as well as the apartment we left (plus repainted that so we could get our security deposit back). TV drains so much of our time. We have it back now, but I have yet to watch a show.
We don't watch much tv at all. We don't have cable and our blue ray is about dead haha. Although I do allow our boys to watch netflix via the ipad some, that's about it unless we have a movie night. We spend our days doing morning chores, reading, going on walks, eating meals outside, swimming, doing house projects, or crafts. I do find i spend a lot of my days working on schedules for school etc. Have a blessed week!
We have been without power for 9 days now because of storms last week so I have been "forced" into a technology fast. We even lost cell phone service for 7 days. It has been such a peaceful time of homemaking!!
Without power there is much more physical work to be done around the home and that has taken up some of the time. The remainder of the daylight hours have been spent reading, writing, studying. I have not yet gotten to the hand sewing but hope to soon. When it gets dark we generally go to bed.
My teen sons are working/living at a Christian camp for 8 weeks this summer and are also on a technology fast. Their days are filled with outdoor activities, teaching children and Bible studies.
I encourage everyone who can to give this a try. It is life changing. (try just going without tv though - losing all power has been a bit drastic :) )
I watch very little TV. My husband enjoys sporting events and we all enjoy watching movies from Netflix or our collection once or twice a week.
I just wanted to say that You Can't Take it With You with Jimmy Stewart is one of my ALL TIME Favorite movies! I love that free-spirited family and the great message that is communicated! My copy of that movie is missing, which makes me sad. :(
I agree, TV, Internet,and games can be addictive and should be limited. So much time gets wasted with them.
If I were to have a week without I would:
Work on and finish sewing projects, garden needs weeding, windows need washing, etc.
When I need a rest, I can read my bible more, write some letters, catch a few moments of sleep, etc.
Things need tidying up, I need to pray for others more.
If I want entertaining I can have a friend or two over for tea or go visit an older person or a shut-in.
You just gave me some motivation to get busy. Thank you for sharing!
Mrs. J.
I agree that TV can be a huge drain on productivity around the home. I always start out with high hopes of not sitting down in front of the 'box', but I, like you, am drawn to The Waltons on INSP or Hallmark channels. The problem is once I have watched one of these episodes (or three!) I find myself just changing the channel to something else instead of turning the TV off!! I need to be more disciplined as I would get a lot more done around the house if the TV wasn't on.
I would certainly keep up with all of my household duties inside and out; spend more quality time with my 2 year old (plus my 11 and 6 year olds while they are home for the summer); read my Bible more; read more in general; knit more; learn to crochet; and just sit in the quietness of the early morning while the children are still asleep on my front porch with a cup of tea (I'm British!) and the birds for company.
Thank you for this post. It's given me a little kick in the behind ;)
Facebook was taking up so much of my time and I found I was actually "addicted" to seeing what everyone was up to! I am currently on day 9 of a 40 day facebook fast.
I think cutting back on my television watching (although, it isn't terrible) would just add to what I'm able to accomplish in a day.
I have a cross stitch project I've been working on for quite some time now and I could use this time to finish it!
I just recently fasted from T.V and computer for the whole month of May. It went really well. I did alot of reading. I sewed an apron by hand. (you inspired me)In the evening I spent alot more time with my husband:) He really enjoyed this and asked me to keep the fast going longer:) I talked with friends more and worked alot outside. I was glad and plan on spending at least 1 week a month away from the tv completely. I mostly watch dvds anyway, but even those are a distraction no matter how good they are. Let us know how it goes. I would love to hear. ~Diane
I love this inspiration! We don't own a tv, but we watch movies some on our computers or netflix. We seem to go in spells-we will watch several movies and then we won't for a while! I have thought about taking a week away from the internet, but haven't done it yet! I do like my blog and popping into other blogs. I have limited my computer time and it feels good to "sometimes" be caught up on household stuff! There never seems to be the perfect balance for me! :) I also set recently set my phone to be silent when a text comes in. I simply check my phone now and then. It has worked well for me and I like it. Something about hearing my phone makes me want to look at it instantly.
My kids play with Legos a lot and they swim in our pop-up pool almost every day. We have a trampoline that my son jumps on almost every day. We live on a farm, so we get to help my husband some or run errands for him or with him. Seems like there is always something to do.
I love this post so much! We've been at my parents this week and they have cable T.V. It has been fun to watch fun shows but boy does it rob us of living real life together!
This spring my husband and I did this for a week. We spent our usual TV time reading our Bibles. It's amazing how much you can read when that is what you plan to do. While my hubby and I watch a net-flix show several evenings a week the TV is almost never on during the day. I encourage the kids to play, read, do a craft they can do all by themselves or play a game together. They might get to watch one movie a week and my son might get 30 minutes a week on the x-box. I probably spend more time online than I should. We don't have cable, both my husband and I agree that to make it worth the cost we would have to watch more TV and we realize the benefits of not watching as much TV for our family. Personally I'd like to play more games with my family.
After a strong conviction many months ago, we called and had the sattelite tv cancelled for the better of our family. We don't watch dvd's except on "Family Movie Night". That's maybe once or twice a month where we pick out a christian movie to watch as a family and I make homemade popcorn on the stove. We gather as a family and watch together.
We made this decision after watching a Jim Sammons seminar. We don't want our children being consumed and influenced with the unhealthy and immorality that the programs on television contain. Even down to the cartoons I have found contain hidden and some not so hidden inappropriate things that we don't want the children to see or absorb. They have children dressing like "adults" (even adults shouldn't dress the way these children are dressing) with low cut shirts and dresses that are so short they really should be marketed as shirts. They have enormous amounts of make up on and talk back to their parents. It's just not something we would like our children to be influenced by.
I do have to say, I really thought the children (12yr old, 9 yr old, and 7 yr old) were going to be upset, but they weren't. And even better is that we have noticed them playing more with eachother, getting along more (don't get me wrong they're siblings and they will still bicker at times lol), they are using their imagination, making up games, and playing outdoors. We actually have to call them to come in.
In doing this it has definitely brought our family closer together and were able to fill our previously "lost" time with bible stories, bible quizzes, games, dinner time closeness, and meaningful family conversation.
It has truly been a blessing to our family and we have no regrets whatsoever in doing so.
Enjoy your time away from the box and see how much nicer life is with out it. :)
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