11 Things I Don’t Need in 2011

Today’s #reverb10 prompt asks for a list of the 11 things you could do without :

What are 11 things your life doesn’t need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life?

I love lists.

1. Cable – I’ve never watched very much TV, and since I started school, I watch even less. I realized that the only reason I really have cable is for the DVR, since I never watch anything live. I’ve done some research (Hulu? Netflix via Wii?), but I need to make a decision and cut the cord.

2. Old clothes – I’m four or five sizes smaller than I was two years ago, so why am I still holding onto the old clothes? I’m never going to wear them again, so they need to be donated.

3. Taco Bell – I used to have a terrible habit of stopping by Taco Bell on my way home from grocery shopping. I do this far less frequently now, but every time I eat it, I feel gross. There is much better, more authentic quick Mexican food at a place right across the street.

4. Music I don’t listen to – My iTunes is full of songs left over from when my ex merged our accounts, many of which I always flip past. I need to invest some time in deleting the ones I really don’t listen to.

5. Clutter – I used to move every year, which kept the clutter under control. But now that I’ve been in this house nearly five years, the closets and basement are getting full. If I haven’t needed it since I’ve lived here, it needs to go.

6. VHS tapes – Really, why do I still have a stack of blank VHS tapes?

7. Staying up/sleeping in for the sake of it – I often find myself staying up way too late, puttering around, just because I feel like I should stay up to a certain time. Conversely, on rare sleep in days, I often force myself to sleep later than I really need to just because I can. Both are counterproductive.

8. Magazine subscriptions – As I’ve blogged, I have way too many magazine subscriptions that I never read. (The problem – and the piles – have gotten worse since school started and I’m not commuting as much.) While a couple are certainly read, I’m going to let the others all lapse.

9. Store-bought granola bars – I eat a lot of granola bars, usually as a pre-run or mid-class snack. I recently started making my own (based on Jenn’s recipe), and they’re fantastic. Then I ran out of the homemade ones and bought more from a store. Blegh. I can do better.

10. Negative people – You know how some people always bring you down? I don’t need that.

11. Excuses to not blog – I love to write but it’s so easy to find excuses not to. I think #reverb10 is proving that frequent writing is possible, even during the busy holiday season and finals.

What’s on your list?

This post is part of #Reverb10, a month-long project to reflect on the year nearly gone. Read all my #Reverb10 posts, or learn more.