The (mostly) Simple Life

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What You Should Be Doing While Your TV Is On

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What you should be doing while your TV is on

Confession time: Our TV is on a lot.

I love the idea of living without a TV and spending all of our time outside and/or playing board games, but it’s just not going to happen any time soon. We do spend a lot of time outside and we do play games together, but we also watch a lot of TV.

We don’t have cable and we don’t even have our TV hooked up to receive regular channels. We watch Netflix and Amazon Prime shows. Plus, my fella is a video game guy.

But for the hours that the TV is on, it’s pretty rare that I am actively watching it.

I like the background noise and I’m known for watching the same shows over and over again while I do things around the house.

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So if your TV is on a lot and you want to get things done, here is my list of productive things you can do while watching TV:

What You Should Be Doing While Your TV Is On

Gilmore Girls Complete WorkoutExercise

You know from my 20-minute fitness routine that I often get some exercise while watching TV. We have a small exercise bike that is completely silent (this one) which makes it perfect to ride while watching TV. I also do strength exercises like lunges or squats. It’s a great time to stretch too.

If you’re looking for something a bit more exciting, you can search Pinterest for drinking-game-style workouts for the show you’re watching.

The Gilmore Girls workout cracks me up. I haven’t tried it yet because I know it would kick my butt. All of the moments mentioned happen multiple times in each episode!

Laundry Day Collect Clean ClothesFold Laundry

Laundry is one of my weekend chores. I do it all in one day and get it over with for the week.

After everything has been washed and dried, I usually turn on a show to watch while I fold.

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I can usually fold everything in about 40 minutes which means 2 episodes of Parks & Rec or 1 episode of You Live in What?.

Pay Bills

It doesn’t take too much brain power to pay the bills, so I can usually do it with the TV on.

Record Spending

If I have a bunch of receipts saved up that need to be entered on our budget spreadsheet, I grab a calculator, pen, and my spreadsheet and make it happen.

Declutter/Pick up

A great way to spend time watching TV is decluttering. Go through stuff in whatever room your TV is in or just straighten and pick up.

No matter how many times I tell him, Mozzie just won’t put his toys back in the basket, so I pick up dog toys often.

Since I can watch Netflix on my iPad or Lappy (aka Laptop), I travel around the house picking up while watching something.

presentsWrap Presents

I’m a bit nutty about wrapping Christmas presents.

There’s never even that many to wrap, but I have fun getting all fancy about it so it takes a while. It’s pretty mindless work though, so why not watch a show or two?

Organize Photos

If you have a laptop or your computer is in your TV room, take some time to organize your photos during a show, or at least during commercials.

I don’t think I know anyone who has their photos organized and printed how they would like them to be. Think of how much more organized your photos would be from working on them for one show a night.

Bloggers: Edit Photos, Interact on Social Media, Outline Blog Posts…

To all of my fellow bloggers out there, take advantage of TV time and work on your blog.

You can be editing photos, interacting with people on social media, or outlining blog posts.

I don’t usually write with the TV on because it takes more concentration, but if it works for you, do it!

Relax!

I have to add this in. I think a lot of us are used to multitasking and doing 5 things at once.

We’re making dinner, checking up on Facebook and finishing the laundry all at once.

Sometimes we need to stop multitasking and just relax. That’s part of the joy of TV, right? You can get sucked into a great show and unwind.

So don’t forget that sometimes you don’t need to be productive while you watch TV. Sometimes you should just relax, turn of your phone, cuddle with your puppy or special someone, and be 100% where you are.

Side note: I’d love for you to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram(if you like pictures of adorable dogs, food, and flowers), and/or Twitter.

⇒ What do you get done while watching TV?

What you should be doing while your TV is on: I love to get things done while still enjoying some shows

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Comments

    • You have to tell me how it goes, I feel like it’s going to be an intense workout!!

  2. We have our TV on a lot too. I also enjoy the background noise and tend to do a lot of multi-tasking while it is on. I like the idea of working out while I watch too 🙂

    • I like to re-watch the same shows over and over so I can get things done and still know what’s happening in the story because I’ve seen it before. It drives my husband crazy because he can’t stand watching the same thing twice! 🙂

  3. My husband and I are usually eating supper while watching an episode of whichever series we are into at the time. We have a Roku, so when I am home alone and cleaning the house, I will turn on YouTube videos and see if I can learn something new!

    • That’s awesome Erin! I love watching Mental Floss videos on YouTube. They’re always so interesting.

  5. Definitely like just relaxing when watching TV. 🙂 I multitask too much in the day as it is, so it’s nice to be able to dive in and focus on just one thing.

  6. I love to catch up on blogging stuff while watching tv. Especially since it’s usually the only time I have during the day (the 2 little ones keep me pretty busy)! Love these other ideas though! Pinning to share 🙂

  7. Great tips! I’ve always been bad at sitting and only watching TV, I have to be doing something else while I’m watching.

    • Me too Deja! I force myself to relax and not do other things every once in a while.

  8. I love it! I find myself putting on the TV while I’m doing just about everything around the apartment. I like the background noise and still getting to be productive while half listening to the news in the morning.

  9. This is a good list. When I am on the TV, well now, most of the time I am putting away my toddler’s toys. They’re like everywhere and I feel like they have a life and they move constantly.

    While not in the living room, I usually bake while I watch since my living room is close to the kitchen. But I don’t watch cooking show while working on the kitchen because I have the tendency to follow what I see on the tv even when I am doing a different recipe/meal.

    • Ooo, I love to watch shows while I bake. I’ve never watched a cooking show while making dinner, but I can imagine the dangers!

  11. I have the TV on right now! I usually try to get stuff done while I’m watching too. I do a lot of blog related stuff, definitely laundry (matching those darn socks!) and work on my calendar. I need to do one of those workouts to a show like that. Fun!

  13. I fold laundry in front of the TV all the time, my problem is if I turn the TV when I’m trying to relax or at dinner I have a hard time getting away from it when I need to be productive. :/

    • I agree! I don’t watch anything too interesting until my to do list is done.

  15. We use Amazon prime instead of cable as well, so TV time is usually intentional (movie date night etc.) but I love the idea of exercising!

  16. I do a lot of blogging with the TV on in the background. My internet company talked me into getting cable when I moved (two years of free NFL Sunday ticket) and I regret it all the time!

    • Those internet companies REALLY want you to have cable for some reason. We get ads in the mail about it all the time!

  18. We have managed not to turn our television on much. We usually watch an hour or so of something on Netflix each night.

    It’s rare that the TV comes on during the day.

    What I’ve found is that after a long time of living this way, I can’t stand the background noise. I used to be able to handle it, but now it just seems to compete with everything important going on.

    Still, I can see how,if we were people whose tv was always on, you’re suggestions would be helpful

  19. We are really bad about always having the tv on. Our apartment is very small (700 sq feet) and consists of a dining/living/office combo, bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen. So….there is absolutely no where to go except possibly the bathroom where we can’t hear the tv. We do have cable because my husband loves the sports channels but otherwise I have netflix on most of the time. I am always doing something else though. I feel like the tv is my background noise while I work on other things. I’m okay with that, but I have an idea to start playing music from the tv instead since we have a smart tv, and see if that makes a nice change.

    Thanks for the tips!

  20. I have to confess, my TV spends more time on than off most days. But, just like you it is more for background noise. I seem to write much better with something on, I just hate silence. (Which my mother would certainly agree with from my younger days!) Great post!

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