Super Saver Saturday

Today's Super Saver post is about what we gain by not spending. As I have stated previously, we have a tight budget and we live within that budget. I like to view this challenge as a game that I want to win.

We do not have cable television or Internet at home though we do have six computers. I will allow that to sink in for a moment as you process that strange piece of information. When I tell people this, they look at me as though I just announced that I gave birth to quintuplets (while I do have five children, I had them one at a time, but I digress).

We don't have room in our budget for cable and Internet so we don't have them. We actually have a more peaceful, intentional life without them, in my opinion.  We watch movies and tv shows we deliberately chose to watch by ordering them from Netflix or Redbox. We don't sit in front of the tv scrolling through 100 or more channels of stuff to fill our time. We do have dtv converters on our television sets so that we can watch over the air broadcasting.

When we had the Internet at home, we had one computer and my kids had a lot of arguments over just how long one of their brothers or sisters had spent on the computer. I sure don't miss that!

We go to our library to use the Internet or take our laptops to one of the MANY places that offer free Wifi. We enjoy a trip to Starbucks or perhaps Chik-fil-a if the library is closed. Again, we don't sit on our computers for hours at a time distracting ourselves from more productive activities. We do not have to pay to update our software or clean up viruses when using the library computers as the tech department does that for us. ; )

Our library is very generous with the amount of time available to each patron on the computer-we have up to 8 hours a day! So, if I have a big project to do I can actually do it at the library and complete it.

The nice thing about going to the library or another facility to use the Internet is that I do not have the distractions I do at home. Multi-tasking is great for some activities but I have discovered that I am more efficient by concentrating on one thing at a time for the most part.

So, for us having less really is more. We have gained peace and productivity by eliminating cable and Internet. How about you? What have you given up or done without and discovered that it actually added to your life?