Cheap, green, and easy ways to spend less on the holidays -- without feeling deprived
by greenlagirl
Pretty much everyone bemoans how consumerism's killed Christmas and other winter holidays -- and how much they want no part of that crappy-plastic-gizmo-giving, money-wasting dealio. Yet cheapo useless gifts seem to fly off the shelves every year. What gives?
Lately, I'm wondering if this buying-stuff-we-say-we-don't-want deal's like an attention bombardment issue. Yes, we all fret over the blog posts and articles about buying less and enjoying more this season -- but then we're bombarded with ten times as many TV commercials, print ads, and of course, endless blog gift guides (I write some of these on occasion too) about all the stuff we should buy -- RIGHT NOW, because they're on sale for the holidays!
Which makes me think maybe we also need to be bombarded with more frequent, more fun, more inspiring anti-consumerist messages -- except that sounds negative, so perhaps we should call them pro-crap-free-holiday messages. Thus -- To prevent yourself from overspending on useless holiday stuff, here are some cheap, green, and easy ways to inspire yourself to buy less without feeling deprived.
>> Celebrate Buy Nothing Day on Nov. 27. What most people know as Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year -- culturejammers know as Buy Nothing Day, a day to enjoy the free things in life. Started by Adbusters, Buy Nothing Day's an annual celebration of checking out of the consumer culture treadmill -- if only for a day. Celebrants around the world are planning everything from credit card cut-ups to Whirl-Marts -- filling up shopping carts at Wal-Mart but not actually buying anything -- to zombie walks -- walking zombie style, "marveling at the blank, comatose expressions on shoppers' faces." Find an event near you -- or just celebrate it singularly, with your unique, totally-free day.
>> Ask What Would Jesus Buy? Get ready for “The Shopocalypse” by watching What Would Jesus Buy? — a funny anti-consumerist film produced by Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) that’s follows hilarious comic-activist-agitator Rev. Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping. And in the spirit of no spending, if you have a Netflix membership, the movie is now free to view instantly online! Will you be $aved? Or will you fall into the fires of eternal debt?
>> Watch The Story of Stuff. Don't have a Netflix account? Then watch this free 20-minute online video narrated by Annie Leonard to "look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns." Did you know product makers actually figure out how quickly they can make a gadget break without making you too upset about buying a new one? Watch, and you'll think twice before getting suckered into buying yet another useless kitchen gadget or getting another unnecessary tech upgrade.
>> Dive into Tinsel. More of a book person? Then get absorbed in Hank Stuever's Tinsel:A Search for America's Christmas Present, which takes a close look at the holiday happenings at Frisco, Texas, to illustrated "the demented poignancy of our Christmas complex," according a Salon review by Laura Miller.
I haven't yet read Tinsel myself yet, but I'm convinced to do so after reading Laura's review. Lest you think the book's simply a diatribe against the Christmas industrial complex, rest assured that Hank also sympathetically profiles some overzealous Christmas celebrants -- and enjoys the mall himself! From the review:
Where misanthropes see only a palace of conspicuous and wasteful consumption, Stuever also recognizes that the mall is a place where people gather and wander, sometimes without buying anything. They are "falling in love, or kissing a child ... In this carbed-out consumerismo are places and moments of true bonding, places to be seen and to see others, to simply exist."
Just remember to seek out such heartwarming experiences at the shopping center without maxing out your credit card. Buy Nothing Day's Whirl-Marts and Zombie Walks do happen at malls and big box stores!
Bloggers around the world are planning their Buy Nothing Day celebrations:
>> Melanie Rimmer at Bean Sprouts may turn into a zombie on Friday: "Wandering through a shopping mall dressed up as a zombie sounds way more fun to me than rushing through a shopping mall trying to find the perfect pair of bootcut low-rise stonewashed jeans in my size before the shops shut."
>> Eco Women: Protectors of the Planet! urges: "This Friday stay home, go to the library, a movie, have coffee with an old friend, or deck your halls — but DO NOT SHOP!"
>> Amy at Peachy Green's in: "Come on, you can do it. I’m going to do it. I don’t care how good the sales are at my favorite stores. Do I really need what they are selling? Really?"
Top photo by joanieofarc; images via Adbusters and wwjbmovie.com
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BlogHer Contributing Editor Siel plans to buy nothing this Friday without turning into a zombie. She also blogs at greenLAgirl.com.
"But Mom, all the first-graders are getting laptops this year!" Join the Family Connections group, share your digital parenting experiences and ask the BlogHer team of digital parenting experts a question about online etiquette, privacy for kids, age-appropriate technology or anything else that's on your mind.
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Comments
Filling and abandoning shopping carts?
Filling up a shopping cart and leaving it to the clerks to clean up and restock? I have to say that tactic sounds appalling. Yay for promoting a message of mindful consumption and purchasing what you need rather than useless items. As a marketer this is what I want people to do - to buy something I'm selling because it is really what they want and need. My job is to give them the information they need to make such a decision not to push or trick them into buying something which unfortunately happens often enough to give marketing a bad reputation.
But boo for the idea of doing it on the back of low wage workers who likely feel fortunate to be employed in this economy and are probably stretched thin and struggling to support themselves and their families. And sending a message to clerks and cashiers doesn't really hit the appropriate target. As most of the other actions you offer for consideration show, we can raise our individual and collective consciousness without self-righteously punishing others who are simply trying to earn a living.
BlogHer Contributing Editor PopConsumer Beyond Help
I Completely Agree
The fastest way to turn anyone off to any cause is to show them that you don't care about them and their situation. While the intention might not be to abandon the filled shopping carts (the Adbusters website describes it as several people with shopping marts continually looping through the store without buying anything), the idea that so many of these Buy Nothing Day actions seem designed to annoy or mock low level employees or shoppers makes me feel like the actions are more about the people doing the action showing off how smart and non-consumerist they are and less about convincing anyone of anything. By all means, g out with signs and literature and try to convince people not to buy things they don't want, don't need, and can't afford. But these suggested "actions" are probably going to do more harm than good for the cause. Would you be inclined to reexamine your buying habits because someone is shuffling around the tore you work at dressed as a zombie or if you couldn't find a shopping cart because six people are tooling around the store in the last few without actually buying anything?
With all due respect, I'm a little disappointed by this article overall. This year especially, we're being bombarded by messages to buy buy buy because if we don't, the economy won't recover, stores will close, and our friends and neighbors will get laid off. In the face of that, I was hoping for a little more practical advice on how to balance enjoying the holidays with being environmentally conscious and thrifty, not just "rent this movie" or "read this book." It's a good start, but I'd really like some more advice about how to priortize and still enjoy the holidays without breaking the bank or the planet.
Sara
www.inkandpixelclub.com
Wikipedia
I should make clear (apologies for late night ranting and not linking) this is what set me off (not Siel's post nor Ad Busters' description). I was curious about the "whirl marts" idea so searched for more information and from Wikipedia:
BlogHer Contributing Editor PopConsumer Beyond Help
If only all marketers were
If only all marketers were as thoughtful as you are! Unfortunately, it's no secret that much of the Black Friday marketing has to do with trying to get people to buy stuff they don't need, simply because it's on sale -- something I think we can all agree needs to be avoided!
About the Whirl-A-Mart thing -- I haven't done this myself, and don't plan to, but my feelings about it aren't quite as outraged as yours. For one, I think the goal is not to make life hard for low wage workers, but to target media / higher ups in the corporation to draw attention to overconsumption and, even worse, the literal people trampling that happens at Wal-Mart on Black Friday.
Of course, any protest will affect the workers in that particular store -- who, in the case of Wal-Mart especially, are badly compensated for their work. But corporations have often argued that important and meaningful protests by activists are done "on the back of low wage workers" -- which I think is a very insidious tact for trying to shut down needed activist work. By that logic, we should protest least the corporations that treat workers the worst -- because it hurts the workers!
But I do think you're pointing more to a fine line -- meaning we can both support legitimate protest but disagree as to what extent it's ok to inconvenience the workers (I believe that for you, the Whirl-a-Mart dealio's crossing the line -- a perspective I can certainly appreciate even if I don't completely share).
green LA girl
I'm doing an article now on
I'm doing an article now on having a non-consumer holiday. One of the big tips I keep coming across is the value of sharing one or two nice gifts with family members and children, rather than a flood of cheap ones. Sierra Black - embracing the wild heart of parenting - www.childwild.com