When folks I meet find out that I do not own a home computer, I am often met with a raised eyebrow or two.
When they learn that I also do not have cable television (or any public television to speak of, for that matter), I get the wide-eyed-are-you-serious? stare....
Now this post isn't going to be about how I think that people are way too dependant on electronic entertainment (because, to a degree, I do).
No.....the reason that I don't have some of the more commonplace luxuries is simply that I do not want to use my hard earned cash to pay for them. I have more important things to do with my money.
....like take care of my animals.
I think it's a common misconception that folks who have horses have money. It's because they have horses that they DON'T have any money....
Having horses is not for the faint of heart when it comes to finances. Those of us who are not well-heeled so-to-speak, must learn to give things up in order to have horses in our lives.
On my list of items that I do without--or at least do with a lot less.....is internet service.
When I began my part lease on Tex just over a year ago, one of the things I gave up to afford to do the lease was my cell/internet service (I've never had cable TV).
At one time, I had unlimited internet access through my phone. All the Facebooking, Instagramming, and You Tubing I could handle to my heart's desire.....
My account now is a prepaid one where I have a strict limit on how much I can do on the internet each month.
Things like texts and phone calls are still unlimited (Thankfully), but I rarely watch anything on YouTube anymore and I only do Instagram and Facebook when I am somewhere that I can connect to a free, WiFi network.
Fortunately, things like blogging and looking at a select few message boards and Internet sites are fairly easy to keep up with, even with limited data. Since they are not a continuous feed, they do not eat at my data limit the way other social media sites do...
This is perhaps why I have chosen to spend more time reading blogs and writing on my own blog, rather than reading Facebook stuff..... (less drama in a lot of blogs too).....
At any rate, what I am trying to get at with all this babble is that while I may post here more frequently, there will be times when my posts are going to be devoid of photos.
You see, as my data decreases, and I get closer to my billing date on the 17th of each month, my access will not allow me to upload photos to my blog because my prepaid data for the month is about spent. There is not enough left to share my photos.
I am getting much better at rationing it all out for the month, but I suspect there will always be a few days at the end of my billing cycle when I will only be able to do a type-written post like this one.
For anyone interested enough to regularly read my blog posts, I do sincerely apologize for what will be a few, occasional word only posts each month.
Pictures, of course, always make every read more enjoyable. We all know that picture-filled stories aren't just for kids...adults love them too!!
In all honesty, I don't mind the lack of electronic entertainment in my world. My animals bring me such joy, that they are more than worth it (both the Equines and Felines)!!
I also get a LOT more done at home, get more exercise in general, and appreciate the little things in life.
To throw out an example; I will never own a Kindle or any other form of online book. There is something about holding an actual book in my hand, taking in the design on the cover, and turning each page that brings a tangible sense of satisfaction that no electronic device could ever compare to..
Although much of the personal minimalism in my life is financial, there is some that comes from choice.
...and I don't think it makes me any less happy than someone who has all of the extra conveniences. In fact, sometimes I feel I have more contentment than they do.
...but I guess that's left up to interpretation...
In retrospect, what I WAS going to write about today (before I became severely sidetracked by my financial/minimalism musings) was clicker training. I have started doing it again with all of my animals.
I am not going to go into too many details since this post has already gotten pretty wordy, but I've been working on some specific things with each of my boys (Griffin, Tex, Simon, & Lukus-- they are ALL boys *smirk*) using the clicker and we are learning and having a lot of fun with it.
I will try to touch on it in my next post or two....and pictures are certainly to follow!
Stay tuned!!! :-)
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