Prioritizing Your Life: Services

Recently, I contemplated adding HBO back to my list of cable channels. I used to be a proponent for having the biggest cable package on the planet - I'm a "movie buff", after all. I also had Netflix, to get those movies I couldn't watch on HBO, Showtime, and Starz. To complement that, I bought the movies I really liked, to show some kind of perverse allegiance to the movie.

That was also when I was in college and lived with several people who could share the cost of paying for all those wonderful movie channels. When I moved in with my fiancee, I convinced her to throw out the channels, on the grounds that we could rent the 'exclusive' TV shows on Netflix or buy them on DVD, if we were desperate.

What I've learned is that availability matters to most people. I thought I would absolutely die when my favorite drama, Dexter, came back this year. I made it out all right. During this last stretch of Big Love, LP and I went over to JOAJ's apartment to watch HBO, bringing along brownies or cookies to "pay" for what we were watching.

It's easy for convenience services to get out of hand. This post is pertinent to my life right now, as well, because I am contemplating getting rid of a video game rental service from Hollywood Video. I keep rationalizing it by saying that it's actually saving me money, because I'm no longer buying video games.

And, honestly, it has probably saved me money, as I did not buy the new Resident Evil - which was very tempting - or Bioshock - which I wanted very much. Those two games alone would have set me back $120 bucks, easily half of my total yearly cost of being enrolled in the Hollywood Video service.

So what I guess I'm advocating here is that you should weigh the cost, both actual and opportunity, of these services instead of blindly paying for them. They could easily eat into your paycheck without any benefit. For example, if you have Netflix, divide the monthly cost by how many movies you watch per month. If you pay $24/month and only watch four movies, you're paying six bucks a movie. Is that worth the cost to you? What if you go months without watching a movie?

Moreover, if you currently suscribe to monthly convenience services and don't want to get rid of them, start using them to decrease what I'll call the per cost. Like Netflix above, if you suscribe to it, start watching movies. In fact, if you spend more time at home with movies - if they are your passion - you'll probably save money on other things, like going out to movies or to restaurants. It's all in your perspective.

Prioritize Your Life: Television

Prioritize Your Life: Television

I know that I'm going to be touching a third rail here, but I'm also doing it willingly, so it's all right. It's a pleasurable job to needle the common man. Just kidding! I've blogged about prioritizing your e-mail in the past, and I'm continuing the process of helping you "get a time refund" by pointing out habits that can be curbed or cut out altogether. Organization's straw man for today is television.

Television is great. I love television. But, at the same time, I'm not beholden to the television networks or their ploys to make me spend my time sitting down and being passively invested in their shows. Ouch. That comes off a little more aggro than I would like, but I swear I'm only making a point here. The more time you spend watching television, especially shows you've already seen (or seen multiple times), the less time you have to do other, more productive activities in life.

I get it. After a long day of work - or looking for work, in this economy - passive entertainment is hard to beat. We've all been there. Your brain is fried. Your body can't seem to get off the couch, even when commanded. All you want to do is sink into the couch.

But how about - and this is just a suggestion - you take a day off completely and focus on a goal you've made for yourself. Even if you only watch an hour of television a day, think of how much you can do for yourself once a week. You can repair that leaky faucet or take your dogs for a walk or (like me) work on that daunting novel.

Or, similarly, if you cut your time in half (or a quarter!), you can increase the happiness quotient on the old "things to do" list and get back some of that time that just seems to slip away. Instead of watching T.V. for an hour each day, you can cut out half of that time and devote it to reading a book or searching for a new job or paying bills, so that it won't be looming over your head, which always seems to distract me from fully enjoying a program anyway.

Especially in the age of the internet, you can make a certain time yours so that you don't feel like you're on the treadmill. If you have a must-watch show, HULU.com is a great resource for you to "pick up" certain shows. If you have weekends free, that could be a time to actively catch up on television, and then, if you don't have a DVR, you can watch your shows mostly commercial-free.

Again, I'm no productivity expert, but these are tips I've learned that work for me. My hope is you find a system that works for you!