April = No T.V. (an update on “Seasons of Sacrifice”)

I haven’t blogged about our Seasons of Sacrifice lately… so here is a quick update. 

January was our complete spending fast (no spending at all except for gas groceries and bills).  Compared to what I remember of it last year, this year it was surprisingly refreshing.  In a strange way, it was freeing to know we could not spend money.  The hardest part for me, by far, was not eating out at all.  Not because I was dying for fast food or to go to a restaurant, but because of the work that it took to plan every meal ahead of time and make sure we always had groceries on hand.  Although it was actually good to get in the habit of planning all the week’s meals out, there were nights when the last thing I wanted to do was to scrounge around the cabinets & fridge looking for items that could somehow magically transform into a meal.  All in all though, it was great.  We enjoyed many nights of having friends over rather than going out.  We were also reminded of how many fun things are free (friendship, playing games, the great outdoors, tickle fights…)!

In February our focus was on slimming down/cleaning out/getting rid of excess.  Hope chests, closets, drawers, attics, pantries, desks and cabinets were cleaned out and we had one whopper of a garage sale!  It felt really good to get rid of rarely used things that were occupying precious space in our house.  We also got a kick out of seeing perfect strangers buy our objects they couldn’t live without.  In February I also begun a new workout regimen (thanks Diane!) to personally begin slimming down or at least toning up.  And in March we enjoyed focusing on giving & tithing creatively.

Now it is April, and we are fasting from the T.V.!  This will coincide with national T.V. turnoff week which is April 21-27.  If you want to join us for that week or for the whole month…. please comment and let us know how it’s going for you.  We have determined that going out to a movie theater is okay (besides we usually do that only 0-1 times a month anyway), and that for the sake of my sanity- Jackson can watch 1 video a day.  When we originally came up with this plan at the beginning of the year, we chose April because that was when the national T.V. turnoff week was.  Little did we know it would also be when American Idol was in full swing and during the premiere of Hell’s Kitchen !!!  But then I suppose if there were nothing good on, then it wouldn’t be a sacrifice, now would it?