"Off-Tober" Rules - Part 2

SIX days until I start the "Off-Tober" Challenge!  You can read the initial post about the challenge HERE and Part 1 of my rules HERE.

Part 2 of the rules will touch on television. 

If I have an addiction to Facebook, then TV is a close tie.  I suppose I should have chosen to do TV as it's own separate challenge......because, let's face it.  This one is going to be tough.

We have 3 TVs in the house.  Nani has one in her room, but she can only watch DVDs on it.  Nudgie has a portable DVD player that also serves as a CD player as well.  We have Netflix, Hulu, On Demand, and Direct TV.  And I'm sure at one point, all of our TVs have been on simultaneously at one time or another.

TV is my background noise.  TV is my escape when I don't want to do housework.  TV is my babysitter and my buffer.  And I'll tell you an even bigger confession......I can't sleep without the TV on.  I suppose that goes back to my early married days when My Marine was gone for weeks/months at a time.  I lived alone in an apartment in a not-so-nice area.....the TV kept me company.  I liked hearing those voices......it made me feel like I wasn't so alone.  But it's a habit that stuck.....and one I'm having a hard time breaking.  I can't stand a silent room......period.

I'm not going completely cold turkey for this challenge.  I can't.  For the safety of my family and the dog.....I just can't.  Plus, let's be honest --- it's Fall Premiere season and I need my "How To Get Away With Murder" and "Once Upon a Time" fix.  So for this month, here is what I'm going to try to accomplish:

1)  The TV can stay on the morning.  I usually check the news/weather and allow the girls to watch Looney Tunes while they have breakfast.  Once the girls leave for school, all TVs gets turned off.  I'll be playing music through my laptop.  I could use the music channels on the TV, but it's too easy to just flip the channel to catch a show......get sucked in......and then the laundry doesn't get folded because I just need to know if Horatio Caine catches that criminal on the 400th rerun of CSI:  Miami.

3)  During lunch -- if I remember to have lunch -- I will be allowed to watch one show from my DVR list, Netflix or Hulu.

4)  When the girls come home, they will be allowed to watch one show while having an after-school snack.  Even kids need some downtime before tackling chores and homework!  But then the TV gets turned off again.

5)  We've been guilty of eating dinner in front of the TV......either downstairs in the family room on TV tables or even at the kitchen table.  Dinners will be moved back to the kitchen table and the TV will be off......even on nights when My Marine has to fly.  The only exception to this will be Friday or Saturday nights when we usually have Family TV Night where we either watch a movie or family-friendly show while having pizza or nachos.

6)  Utilize the sleep timer function and auto tune function on my bedroom TV.  With auto tune, I can fall asleep watching a movie or show and when it's over, the TV will auto tune into a music channel that I can preset.  The TV is still on for me, but it will just be music instead of 2am infomericals.  I will also try to set the sleep time so that it will automatically shut off after a certain amount of time.  Baby steps people.......baby steps.......give me some credit because this one is probably going to kill me.

I am curious to see, however, how much more I get done around the house when I don't have the distraction of Facebook and TV sucking my day away.  Or how much more focused I will be on my kids and family.

Have you ever done a TV challenge?  How did it work for you?