Written by industry expert Chris Day for Making Money Magazine - June 2003 On the basis that, at any one time, there has to be a finite number of television programmes available on this planet, it stands to reason that the more channels you have to watch them on, the thinner they are spread.

It use to be the case, when there were just three channels to watch (yes, unfortunately I can remember that far back),

if a programme was repeated there was a collective "tut, tutting" in living rooms around the country.

Today, if you manage to watch a programme that you've never seen before it is an opportunity for rejoicing.

Of course, television companies have to be commercial in what they do, they are in a war for ratings. So, if we are presented with a continuous diet of Dad's Army, Are you being Served and Heidi Hi, it can only be because they reflect what we enjoy watching. Which brings me to the deluge of make over programmes that seem to be taking over our screens.

It would seem that we are a nation of gardeners, that is of course it we can get Alan Titchmarsh and the Ground Force team to come and do it for us. There used to be a national obsession with mowing the lawn on a Sunday. Now, thanks to programmes like "Real Gardens", we are ripping the stuff up to replace it with gravel and decking - to give us more time to watch television.

We used to have a reputation of being a nation of "do it yourself" experts. Now it seems that if we leave a job long enough, a house makeover programme will come along and do it for us.

Yes, television is becoming the new reality. All we have to do it is to sit and watch and life will take care of itself.

This is not a rehearsal and despite the film title, you only live once. Do you realise that by watching an average of three hours of television a day you have wasted seven and a half years of your life?

It is a fact that the majority of people put more effort into planning their two weeks holiday than they do the other fifty weeks of the year. Instead of programmes devoted to changing the décor in the house or the layout of the garden, when we really need is a programme devoted to changing our lives.

Ask yourself these questions. If you had unlimited money would you be going home to the same house tonight? Would you be driving the same car? If you have kids, would they be going to the same school? Would you choose the same holiday destination as you did last year - that is if you were able to afford a holiday. But with unlimited money, how many holidays would you be taking and where?