Reduce: Television

In fact, cut it out altogether! Get rid of the box! This may seem an unusual money-saving tip since it would probably only save you around £2.50 a week on the license fee ( or c.90p if you you are still using a b/w set) and the saving on the relatively small amount of electricity a tv uses will not make you rich or do much to counteract the greenhouse effect, but television is the main portal through which the warped values of consumer society enters our lives. How can you begin to change your lifestyle if you spend 25 hours a week (and that's the average) absorbing the propaganda of consumerism?

I realise that few people who read this will actually go the whole hog and bin the telly since it is so central to our culture and so addictive (it has been even likened to "electronic heroin") but I really believe to live an ethical and truly independent and informed life one must wean oneself off the box.

Television encourages passivity and a need to be constantly entertained rather than activity and independent thought. In the words of Neil Postman, via television we are "amusing ourselves to death".

The choice to live a more simple lifestyle means, contrariwise, that you will probably have less time to sit on your butt. Ethical shopping takes more time than just buying what you see. Reusing and repairing the stuff you have takes time. Sorting out all the crap you want to recycle takes time. Informing yourself about the idiocies and injustices perpetrated in the name of commerce takes time. Who has time to watch television anyway?

Instead of passively imbibing nonsense you could be engaging more with your loved ones, educating yourself, getting some exercise, discovering the wonders of radio (the pictures are much better on the radio), using the internet for information and entertainment - there is so much more on offer than you could ever imagine.

Getting rid of the telly will free up your time and free up your mind. Can you afford not to?