Simplify - Can We?

Maybe it's because Spring is starting to show signs of arriving or maybe it's Cabin Fever gone wild but for some reason lately I've been really feeling the need to simplify our lives. By that I mean reduce the amount of stuff in our home and reduce the amount of time that we spend doing "nothing", like watching tv and surfing the web aimlessley. I took the first step in this process yesterday and called the cable company and reduced our cable. They haven't come to switch it yet, but are supposed to "sometime this week" so we'll go from having 72 channels to about 20 - essentially just the major networks and PBS. I like to think that I'm really ok with this but that's easy to say when I still have access to the 72 channels. My main motivation for reducing our cable is that it will reduce the number of shows that Ben can watch and hopefully reduce the amount of time he spends watching tv. I know I could limit how much he watches, I get that - I'm the parent yes, thanks for pointing that out. But we've been trying to let him learn his own boundaries more and realize the consequences to his choices so that he understands cause and effect and so that he's not just hearing us say No. My theory is, if we only have PBS for kids shows during the day he'll be more inclined to shut the tv off and find something else to do. As I type this, he's actually shut off the tv (after realzing he didn't want to watch Nick Jr) and is in the playroom enjoying his castle and its figures. So we'll see how this pans out.

I'm also hoping to go through the house and get rid of clothes that we don't wear, magazines we aren't reading anymore etc. There's something very freeing about that idea, about not being tied down to a bunch of stuff. I also love the idea of not having hampers full of clothes that we never wear but need to be washed, or of my cupboards being full of dishes and mugs that we rarely use. I want it gone, I want that space back and not to fill with other stuff but just to be empty space. Plus, I'll bring everything to Goodwill where someone else can use what we donate and enjoy it. That's better for us, for the person who gets it and for the item - at least it'll be appreciated. Now I just have to actually do it! No better time to start than now huh? That said, I will stop blogging now and get to work.