It’s official. We are now watching more t.v. than ever as a nation. The numbers are astonishing. The average US household watched eight hours and 14 minutes (what, only half of a show?!) PER DAY last official t.v. season according to Nielsen Media Research. Not to worry, each individual American only watched four hours and 35 minutes a day. Both figures are the *highest ever* in Neilsen Media history of tracking t.v. (some 50-plus years).
This is disturbing on so many levels, and not just for cottage industry start-ups (such as myself) that are constantly looking for more time in the day to do our ever-increasing task list. Aren’t we supposedly lagging as a nation in the competitiveness scale against India and China? I’m betting they don’t watch as much t.v. as we do.
But, I digress… This blog is all about soap, the finer things in life and running a small business. Each of the average Americans cited in the study could actually run a small business fairly efficiently if they turned off their t.v. It takes about 30 minutes to make melt and pour soap and about 60 minutes to make a batch of cold or hot process soap. That leaves you a full three hours and thirty-five more minutes to package your soap, market your soap and work on having a small, cottage industry that provides a nice savings account for your family or perhaps a very nice vacation every couple of years.
Do something nice for you and your family. Turn the t.v. off. Go make some soap and start saving for that great family vacation today.
But do people actually sit there and watch TV? Or does having the TV on while doing other things (ironing, answering emails, wrapping soap, cutting labels….) count? Pure watching TV I spend about 2hrs a week. But the TV is certainly running about 6 hours a day….
That’s a good question! I know what you mean about wrapping soap and having something going on in the background. I cannot clean the house without a book on tape in my ears. My husband thinks it’s hilarious but I cannot handle scrubbing a toilet without something to keep my brain occupied (or else it’ll be thoughts of ‘Ewww! I really hate scrubbing toilets!’) Ha =)
I rarely watch TV but I do have Netflix and FB to take up my time. Still, I have plenty of time to make soap and that is what I’m gonna do for a living now!
I do the Netflix/Hulu thing too sometimes. It’s nice to keep busy that way when I’m answering emails late at night but I definitely feel sadness when I think of all the Americans out there watching their 5 hours per night when they could be doing something productive with themselves, their business or just connecting with their family playing games or having a meaningful conversation. =) Keep me posted about how your soapmaking career continues along. =)
Oh no, if the average is 4.5 hours, then somebody must be watching a lot more than that, to balance me out!
Nice blog, Anne-Marie. 🙂
Karen
(from Natural Impulse)