Heartbreak Hotel

My boy, Kelby, thinks we’ve checked in permanently and for one reason – we are canceling our satellite service. Yes, we are saying goodbye to television as we know it. Why you ask? Is it one of my non-depletables? Not exactly. I don’t see it fitting into a category per se. However, now that we will need to make most of our gifts and become more creative with things we need, one of our biggest new necessities will be time. How can we get more of that? We could simply turn the television off but we aren’t that disciplined. I mean, honestly, if you know your favorite program is on, are you going to turn it off to make a present for your Aunt Martha? Or, will you watch it, tell yourself you'll do it later and then find yourself in line at Wal-Mart the next day buying something? I know the answer for us. Not to mention, the money we would spend on television every month can be put aside in a special fund. We brokered a deal with our 7-year-old. He gets to take half the money we save from not paying for television and spend it any way he wants. For us, because we have the least expensive package, he will have approximately $192.00 at the end of the year. You might think we are crazy for making this deal but getting rid of television was a particularly upsetting idea for him. He really loves to watch certain shows after school. We also think that after a year of learning to spend money in a different way, we have hope that he will have a new respect for money and not spend it foolishly. And yes, I have been accused of being naïve before…