Last week, I shared about 4 ways to eliminate extra data from your life. Here are four ways that may or may not work for you to lessen your data overload.
1. Stop couponing.
You heard me. Just quit. In my neck of the woods, the only way to get even close to the deals you can get in Florida is to buy your inserts (or more technically, to pay someone to find them for you & have them shipped). Then you have to sort them, find them, clip them and follow the deal sites to find out about the freebies.
I don’t know about you, but I find that even when I buy inserts from metro areas, I’m still missing about 1/2 of the coupons I want. I forget them, they expire, and I’ve also paid to have them sent. Add that to extra money I’ve spent on other deals from reading the deal blogs and then missed ECB’s/UP+/etc, that have expired before I’ve used them…well, it’s looking like less “data” equals less money spent, even if I pay full price.
2. Curriculum Deals
Is it just me, or are you a curriculum junkie, too? Do you download & save every free homeschool printable ever offered? How many do you download vs. how many have you used? Uh huh. Me too. You never do check your hard drive before the Internet to see what you have, do you?
Let’s not even talk about the curriculum deals I’ve bought that I just can’t cram into my day. Or the ones I decided to change for no reason. Or the curriculum that you’ve subscribed to & quit using.
Try being creative with what you do have & trust God to fill your holes when you need them.
3. Edit Facebook.
There are three veins you can edit on Facebook. The first is friends. Because I blog & own a business, I have a TON of acquaintances & people I barely even know. Or I did. I biffed everyone that I don’t know in real life, regularly work with or want knowing about personal details. I probably biffed close to 100 “friends.” I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not.
Another vein you could take is to unlike a ton of sites. Because FB defaults to your entire newsfeed, getting rid of liked pages will cut down on time spent. Only keep pages that truly offer something of value.
The third thing you can edit in Facebook are groups and their notifications. I’ve removed myself from dozens of groups. I’ve eliminated notifications on several others. I only check in on those when I want to.
The worst part of all this data, all this input, is that it breeds discontent. There is always something new and shiny distracting you from the beautiful moments around you.
How do you limit what you process on a regular basis?
Stephanie Kay
17 January 2014 at 11:37 PM (11 years ago)Oh my goodness, YES! I have most of my FB friend list hidden. I don’t need to know what a girl I graduated high school with 20 years ago (who barely spoke to me then) is eating for supper. I’ve also hidden and unsubscribed from a ton of stuff. Don’t even get me started on “friends” who create new FB groups and then put you in them without asking. I also quite couponing. I find I usually spend more money using coupons than if I just buy my normal offbrand stuff. Thanks for letting me know I’m not the only busy mom doing these things!
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