WHAT 31 DAYS WITHOUT PIZZA OR NETFLIX TAUGHT ME

During the entire 31 days of August, I went without Pizza and Netflix.  To you, that may sound easy peasy.  However, when I told Ironman, his exact words were, "we're going to die."  So, although I started out with the worst case scenario rolling around in my head (death), it actually wasn't too bad and I am glad that we did it!  Since Ironman and I do pretty much everything together, me skipping out on these beloved items meant that he would end up doing it also.  That really helped it not be so hard since I wasn't doing it alone!  And the good news is, we didn't die, but instead learned some lessons along the way:

1.  There are other ways to watch a movie.  Even though we weren't watching Netflix, we did watch a few movies by other means.  One night, we went to the movie theatre in town to see the new Jason Bourne movie.  We hardly ever go to the movies due to the cost, but we turned it into a date night and really enjoyed getting out together and seeing a movie in the theatre!  Plus, it helps that we love all the Jason Bourne movies and this one was just as good as the first three.  And other than going to the movie theatre, we ended up renting a few movies through iTunes.  Again, because of the cost, we usually wait months (or years) until the new movies show up on Netflix.  I realized that when we are watching something on Netflix, I know that I can always go back and re-watch something.  However, when we pay a lot of money to see a movie in the theatre or on iTunes, we really focus during the entire movie.  This is so much more enjoyable!

2.  There are other things to do.  So often, Ironman and I just turn on Netflix because we can.  Then we scroll and scroll and scroll looking for something decent to watch.  This is such a waste of time!  However, during the time we weren't watching Netflix, I realized that we stayed pretty busy!  We went to the gym more frequently.  We had friends over.  We went out more and socialized longer when we were invited places.  We sat on our front porch and talked.  We read books.  We found things to do the entire month of August and were never bored!  Also, I found that I worked better.  Since I work from home, I find myself turning on Netflix in the background just so that I don't feel like the house is so lonely and quiet.  However, without that background noise, I found myself concentrating better while working and getting much more done!

3.  There are other good things to eat.  Each Sunday afternoon, Ironman and I go to ALDI and stock up for the week.  During August, I noticed that I did much better with planning and preparing meals because I knew that I couldn't just go pick up a pizza at the last minute.  This was great for our budget, but also for our bodies since we ended up eating so much healthier!  Also, when we went out to eat at any restaurants, I ended up trying some new foods instead of just ordering a pizza like I normally would.  This definitely got me out of my box...I am such a creature of habit!

Overall, the 31 days without pizza or Netflix was really good for us and got us out of our rut (the pizza and Netflix rut just feels so good, right?).  However, I have to admit we were really excited to get that first pizza and finish Limitless, which we had started in July!  Also, we found that it was hard to have some type of "rule" around friends and family.  We would end up feeling so bad when someone suggested pizza or Netflix and we had to break it to them that we couldn't participate.  The good news is, though, that everyone was understanding and we really have cut back big time on our pizza and Netflix obsession!

So, tell me...what is something that you absolutely LOVE and it would be really hard for you to give up for a month?