Giving Up Netflix: Day 40

I made it! 40 days without Netflix. I must admit it was kind of fun, figuring out different things to do instead of lying around wasting my brain cells away (but does it, though?), but I probably will not continue this trend, if I'm being honest.

I don't think the hardest part was resisting the urge to watch Netflix whenever I got bored, but instead saying no to friends and family whenever they wanted to just relax for a bit in front of the TV. So I found myself having to deny the invitation and quietly go somewhere else and continuously say to myself, "Do it for the blog...do it for the blog..." If I didn't have you all to keep me accountable, I probably would not have made it the way I did. So, I hope everyone out there who decided to start something for Lent found an accountability partner and was successful all the way!

Having a fun time by the pool with my roommate, Kayla                 

Originally, I thought I would simply use my spare time to study some more and maybe start reading, but I found so much more! I started painting again, I started working out again, I picked up photography and started a project on Facebook: taking pictures of people around campus and sharing a bit of their story to capture the spirit of Aggieland, as well as finished a book and received one of the highest scores on my Dynamics test. (Whoop!)

Hannah and me receiving our Aggie rings

Although I won't give up Netflix for good, I will definitely keep the time spent watching it to a minimum. So many amazing things happened during this time, including driving to New Orleans to attend the Women's Travel Festival, turning 21, and receiving my Aggie ring*. I don't know whether I recognized these things more because I wasn't watching Netflix, or because it was just the perfect time of the year for me to take on this challenge, but I hope to continue to find more of these exciting moments in my life instead of watching them pass by outside the window while I'm more invested in a character from a Netflix show.


How does this challenge relate to minimalism? It could do so in a couple of ways:

1. If you're paying for your own Netflix subscription (or for cable in general), you could save a ton of money by canceling it** (sorry, Netflix company). My family got rid of cable TV when I was young, and I don't really miss it, nor do I even care to have it now in the apartment. And I think the same goes for Netflix - sure, it's a hard decision and you make excuses about how you will watch the football game, or entertain with a movie night at the house, but once you do it you find ways to watch what you really want to, and forget about the rest. Start a club with your friends by meeting once a week to read "Gone Girl" and then watch it on Netflix at someone's house. If you really want to to watch your alma mater play on Thanksgiving, ask one of your friends or other family members if you could use their ESPN login to stream it.
2. It frees up time. It's kind of a catch-22, but if you feel stressed and busy all the time and turn to Netflix to "wind down," it ends up making you more stressed and busier because you just wasted that time doing nothing productive, and still have everything on your plate. Free yourself from all of the hassle by not turning to Netflix in the first place. 
3. No TV = less DVDs + less cords + less things hanging on the wall = more minimal. Simple as that!

I would love to hear how everyone else's Lent season went, so feel free to leave a comment below ⇊ or send me an email!

I hope everyone has a blessed Easter weekend!




*for those who don't know, receiving your class ring at Texas A&M is a HUGE deal. Not only does it mean you beat the hell out of 90 credit hours and are now considered a Senior, but you're now officially part of the Aggie family. The Aggie ring is recognized worldwide and by many generations, and it is an honor to be able to wear one for the rest of your life. Still don't believe me? Check this out!
**let's think about this: a basic subscription plan is $7.99/month, but we're going to round to $8. Per year, that's $96 spent on Netflix. That's equivalent to 26 Starbucks lattes. The standard plan, or the most popular plan, costs $9.99/month, rounding to $10/month, which is $120 per year. That's equivalent to buying a fitness tracker for everyone in your family of 4 (assuming you're not buying the latest-and-greatest-just-came-out-yesterday Fitbit or Apple Watch). Now the premium subscription plan is $11.99/month (again, rounding to $12), which means you spend $144 per year on Netflix. That's equivalent to 10 trips to AMC theaters, which is probably the number of movies you watch on Netflix every year anyway.


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