Experiment Three - Less TV

Our TV is almost always on. With difficult pregnancies and twins - being able to turn on PBS cartoons or a Disney movie was a life saver. My oldest daughter and I would spend our days on the couch watching TV while I was on bed rest. And while taking care of newborn twins, our beloved Disney movies kept our oldest daughter patient. 

Once the twins were old enough to have an opinion on what was on TV, things got challenging. Everyone wanted to watch something else. Sometimes I would have one movie on one TV, another movie on another TV, and PBS on another TV. Our family would be divided between three floors of our home, watching three different things. 

Finally, enough was enough. I didn't like that my three girls were spread all over our home. I wanted everyone to be together, enjoying time together instead of time apart. 

Winter 2014

At the beginning of 2014 we had three televisions in our home - one in our living room, one in our bedroom, and one in our lower level living room. Within a few months of entering 2014, we sold two of our TVs (they were also our largest TVs) and kept our smaller 32" with built in DVD player. We moved our one remaining TV from our bedroom to our living room and we haven't missed the other TVs one bit.

One thing that has helped this transition is a rule we have during Family Movie Nights: All three girls have to agree on the movie we watch. And now this rule always applies - When the TV is on, my girls have to agree on what they watch. It has also helped develop great negotiating skills! Whenever one of my girls wants to watch something, without hesitation or prompting she will go up to her sisters and ask if they both agree! 

Winter 2015

Now that my girls are a year older, my husband and I decided to try another experiment - Can we go without TV one day each week? We decided to make Sundays a NO TV DAY. After our first No TV Sunday, we realized how fantastic of a day we had - awesome quality family time. We played more with our kids, read more books together, and this Sunday my oldest and I made lunch together! The day seems slower and more peaceful. Our girls have not only accepted No TV Sundays, but are excited about it. This experiment was a total success and I am looking forward to more No TV Sundays! 

Experiment Two - One Less Car

My husband took our oldest daughter, 4 years old, to her first soccer practice this Fall. We thought she would love it, but she didn't. She was relieved when the six week session was over. Maybe she will try again another year and love it, or maybe I'm not destined to be a soccer mom. My girls love ballet - maybe I'll be a ballet mom! 

Summer of 2014

I have never been a car person. I just need a safe vehicle to get me from one place to another. My first car was my Nana's old Eagle with crank operated windows - until my parents deemed it unsafe. My next car was a used Ford Escape - until I deemed it unsafe for myself and my 6 month old baby. (When you end up stranded in a grocery store parking lot because your car won't start - it's unsafe) 

My next car was a Prius - and I was in love. My eco-friendly, gas-savings car was awesome! Then we found out I was pregnant with twins - how do you fit 3 car seats in a Prius? You don't. My husband had an old Nissan Altima that smelled like wet dog (It got flooded in college with record breaking rain fall) - that wasn't going to work. So I handed over my Prius to my husband and we got a Mini Van.

This past summer we decided to try another experiment - Could we live with one vehicle? Going from two cars down to one would allow us to pay off our car loan and save us money on car maintenance and car insurance! We decided to give it a try and experiment once again with living with less.

Since we couldn't fit our 3 car seats in the Prius, we parked it in the garage and I started driving my husband to work (luckily a 15 minute drive one way) on the days I needed the Mini Van. We made it work. We even put the Prius up for sale. We even got an offer, but in the end we weren't ready to part with our eco-friendly, gas-savings vehicle. Our oldest child was about to start Preschool in the Fall and we decided - maybe we want two vehicles a while longer. It was a great experiment. We found out that, if need be, we can live with one car. We also decided that we would rather have our Prius - so maybe once the kids are out of car seats we will experiment again and only drive our Prius! 

And maybe in the end I'll be an Eco-friendly, Gas-savings, Prius driving Ballet Mom!

Picture from when we posted the Prius for sale!

Experiment One - Less House

There is one thing I have never liked having a lot of - shoes. Shoes drive me crazy. Having a pair of tennis shoes and a pair of nice brown shoes were always a conundrum to me - which do I wear with my jeans? Either - right?! So why have both. The tennis shoes are more versatile - so I got rid of my brown shoes and never looked back. This was quite a few years ago, and recently, I have started applying this concept to other areas of my life.

March of 2014

My husband and I got rid of all the furniture in the lower level of our tri-level home. We decided to hold an experiment - Could we live in 2/3 of our home and be happy? We sold the furniture and the TV. Today is December 30 of 2014 - and we haven't missed the other 1/3 of our home. I do have to pass through the lower level to get to the basement where the washer and dryer are - so ideally we would have a washer and dryer by our bedrooms.

Currently Painting Walls and Panelling!