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Turning Off the Television

Blog | April 20th, 2012

                  Remember the study that said television was damaging to your brain? Well, it disregarded another vital part of life, your wallet. Television can easily be blamed for much want and need in this world. If it wasn’t for television maybe society wouldn’t be as demanding as it is.  Turning off the TV can actually make your children more receptive to their parents, more self-assured and less curious about things that don’t belong to their age. Of course you knew that! Here are a few things you might not know.

Guilt sucks, you know that. Television is the root of a lot of guilt. Who doesn’t like watching the Food Network at night when on a diet? Saving and dieting aren’t very different. With one, you’re saving money by avoiding wants and wasteful things. With dieting, you’re saving yourself by avoiding things that you know aren’t healthy. Television is not healthy for your budget! The Food Network messes with your diet and many other channels messes with your budget. Things just look so enticing on all of them.

The worst ones are the channels that advertise all day, like GSN. You can live without the purple strapless maxi-dress that only costs $56.34, which can be paid off in six easy payments. I’d bet you could find a dress very similar to that exact dress for less than 20 bucks. Just ignore the impulse buys. The same goes for food.  So what if a pizza is Hot & Ready for five dollars? Hot Pockets are hot and ready in two minutes. Added bonus, they’re already in your refrigerator! The television makes us want things that we already have. What’s worse is it makes us feel like we need these things.

Television also installs instant gratification into children faster. It renews it in you every day. People as a whole want things faster, more convenient, more effective, and cheaper. That doesn’t work. For instance, take the iPod. It was fast, convenient and effective but not cheap. The iPod touch was faster, convenient, and more effective yet more expensive. But that didn’t stop you from buying it. Books used to be free! Why are you purchasing them on expensive readers? Where did this all come from? Television! You are wasting money by becoming pressured into buying these things due to advertisements on television.

If you don’t want to turn it off, try not to watch shows that are centered on other people’s lives, even reality television. No one watches COPS and says “I wish I had that top!” Be assured that it’s perfectly human to want; you wouldn’t be human if you didn’t want. You’re here due to want, you want to save money, and you want to survive this economy. That is understandable. You should want Kim Kardashian’s wardrobe. That want is understandable as well but you should want Kim Kardashian’s paycheck first.

Simply put, turn it off! It does more damage than good to your home and wallet. Throw it out the door when you see all the money you save. Encourage fun activities with the kids, go outside and get fit. Buy a nice pair of running shoes and get healthy. Just don’t sit in front of the TV and throw away your hard earned money.