How Would Your Life Be Different If You No Longer Had Internet Access?

I ask this question because of how I spent my day, today. Early in the day, we lost our internet. All 4 of us have limited data plans on our phones, relying on our home wi-fi for internet most of the time and saving the cell data for when we're out. Our home internet was restored just as we were sitting down to dinner (about 6 PM). So, I spent the better part of a day in non-tech mode.

A few ways my day was different:

• I read an actual hard copy of the Bible for the daily reading in our church. I knew where we had left off the previous day, so I just had to find my place and guess at how long the reading was supposed to be. Of course, I couldn't leave any comments about my thoughts or read other's thoughts on our reading. I'll catch up with my group tomorrow.
• I worked outdoors in the garden more than I might have otherwise. I harvested the last of the summer squash, green tomatoes, and tiny peppers and made 3 jars of sweet pickle relish. I also dug the entire 2nd bed of potatoes. Both daughters came out late in the afternoon to help with the potatoes, as it really was a big job. We harvested about 20-25 pounds of purple potatoes. This was more work than I would normally take on for the day. I otherwise would have dug about half the bed this day and tackled the other half the next. But today, I had all the time in the world without the internet beckoning me.
• I went for a longer walk than I'd normally take, because, why not? And I took my time really looking at all of the front yards, the flowers, fall decor, new paint jobs, fence installations -- all things I'd quickly walked past ion previous walks. I guess you could say I slowed down to smell the roses.
• My husband took the bus to the public library to do some work for the office. While this wasn't "my day", where he is for the day does affect my day.
• I played 3 games of solitaire with a deck of cards. I laughed at myself when I waited for the cards to be dealt, then realized I had to do that myself, no auto-dealing.
• We spent more time talking with each other.
• And now I'm more tired than usual after putting in a hard physical day.

My concluding thoughts about how I spent my internet-less day were that I was more productive, more physically active, and more intentional in exploring my surroundings and developing my relationships. I could have skipped the card games. It was mostly frustrating that I had to keep my piles of cards straight and deal them myself.

I'm glad to have access back. I get to write to you because I have internet tonight. But I do think I would be more productive without internet. But I also wonder how long that would last. Maybe I would find other ways to be less productive.

So, my question for you -- how do you think your life would differ without access to the internet?

Getting Every Last Dollop of Conditioner and Toothpaste Out of the Tubes

A common frugal move is to cut the bottom off of toothpaste and other beauty care tubes when the tube has been squeezed to the point nothing else will come out. A friend was mentioning that she had just done this with her toothpaste, hoping to scrape out another few brushings worth of toothpaste. I said I do that too, and I also slit up the length of the tube from the bottom, then snip the back near the neck of the tube into wings. I'm able to get every last bit out. With some products this is very helpful. Anyway, my friend suggested I post photos of what I was explaining, here.

My hair dye kits come with this great conditioner. The conditioner comes in plastic tubes that can only be squeezed so much, then the last little bit just won't come out. If you remember, I "shampoo" my hair with conditioner now. Earlier this week, I checked the conditioner supply in the shower and found 2 of these nearly empty, squeezed tubes of conditioner. 

I knew I wouldn't be able to get much out while standing in the shower, so after cutting off the end, I slit the back of each tube with scissors and snipped the "wings". 

The result was I was able to scrape out enough conditioner to co-wash my long hair from these 2 opened up tubes.

My toothpaste also comes in those plasticky tubes. I slit the backs of the tubes and snip wings on those, too. It may only be a little bit of extra product, but 1, 2, or 3 extra portions every couple of weeks adds up.