Every once in a while, I take a good hard look at my life, as we all should. Usually, it means going through the list of programs that are set to record on my DVR and asking “Why am I watching this crap?”

One of the most important concepts in economics is that of opportunity cost: what you give up in any situation. Even something like free television is not free — the cost of watching an hour of television is what you could have been doing instead. For me, it’s reading a book (I haven’t finished a new book in a long time, sadly), doing work around the house, getting ahead in my work for the semester, or getting more sleep so that I’m better able to take on the day.

Last night I found myself watching Bad Girls Club. Normally I would ask the reader not to judge me for this, but last night I started judging myself, so I can’t really blame you. I slept on it, and this morning I decided that I have watched my last episode of Bad Girls Club. It provides absolutely nothing redeeming to me and, while it can be entertaining to watch a bunch of crazy women scream at and fight with each other (and definitely makes me appreciate how sane my girlfriend is), it drains 45 minutes of my life each week and provides nothing positive in return.

But why stop there? If I can free up even an hour a day, that’s 7 hours each week I get back. I think it’s worth it. So here are the shows I’m removing:

The City — I haven’t even watched an episode, but I have 4 episodes taped. I love Whitney as much as the guys in the Sonic commercial, but it’s just not worth it.

Bromance. I’m ashamed of myself for even having taped them in the first place. Like The City, I haven’t watched an episode. And thankfully I never will. And if I never see Brody Jenner’s face again, I will live a happy life.

Dirty Jobs. I love it, but I’ll just wait for a Saturday marathon when I really have nothing to do. It’s always nice to realize that there’s an episode you haven’t seen before.

The People’s Court. I was going to go to law school before a professor by the name of Martha Olney at Berkeley taught me Econ 1 and put me on this track. I love court shows.  I have jury duty this week and I’m actually hoping they pick me. And it’s nice to have something to listen to while doing the dishes or cleaning up. I’ll miss her spanish idioms like “Toma la chocolate, paga la cuenta.” (You drink the chocolate, you pay the bill. — i.e., if you use a service, you have to pay for it.) But I still have Judge Judy, so Marilyn Milian must go.

I know there are more. On the DVR in the living room, I have 7 episodes of Fringe. In the bedroom, I have 8 episodes of True Blood, 3 Grey’s Anatomy, and will soon be racking up new episodes of Friday Night Lights, Hell’s Kitchen, and more shows than I care to admit. I am at the point now where I actually hope that a new series I record will be canceled so that I don’t have to watch those shows any more. When television becomes a chore, something’s wrong. But they say that realizing you have a problem is the first step towards fixing it. So thank you, Tanisha from Bad Girls Club, for scaring me straight.