Buy Nothing Day

International Buy Nothing Day is on Saturday 26th November.
Back in the day, when all the shops used to shut from Saturday afternoon till Monday morning, it seemed we could easily plan our lives to get the shopping we needed and then manage without shops on Sundays. Many of us knew our next door neighbours in those days - partly because if you ran out of lemon juice or caster sugar at 6pm on a Wednesday or 10am on a Sunday, there was no Tesco Metro to go to. So instead you'd pop next door to borrow some. Rarely did a Sunday go by when I was a kid without someone popping in to see if we had this or that. Maybe 24 hour shops are helping to eliminate our neighbourhood relationships.

To spend a whole Saturday without spending any money at all requires a little forethought. You'll have to buy your milk on Friday.  But in addition, it's become a bit of a tradition in my house (on the basis that  "the third time you do it, it's a tradition") to celebrate Buy Nothing Day a little more deliberately - as an opportunity NOT to take part in the great consumer machine, and a chance to rediscover proper weekends.

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Try any of these - some of them gleaned from memories of a realtively consumerism-free childhood
* clear out the clutter - go through a room's worth of cupboards, turfing out the stuff you'd forgotten you had, haven't used yet, don't use any more, and throw away/rehabilitate/recycle as appropriate.
* cook a meal using only what you have in the cupboard
* make your own bread
* mend the broken things that you keep meaning to get around to doing
* check out a charity - give something away instead
* pack up a picnic and go for a walk

Comments

[kyle]

I love the idea. The little suburb of Tulsa where I live is starting to bulge with new shopping centers. The whole town is buzzing about some new big-name retailers who are moving in. There's so much excitement about the local economy and the energy that will come from shopping.

I don't mind the easy access to retail shops, nor the new restaurants - we need them.

But there's such an empty promise in the commericialism.

We're in Maggie. Thanks.

[Enoch]

I see no point in "opting out of the great consumer machine" for one day, and then happily(?) being a part of it for the other 364..but maybe I'm just being a grump.

[maggi]

Hi Enoch, how are you?
I think the beauty of doing anything for a short period of time is that it jump-starts your thinking into how the rest of your life might be different. Like fasting through Lent - no point in doing it for its own sake; every point in doing it to re-orient your life around better things.

[susan]

I love it! We consume too much of the planet's resources ~ brilliant.

[Enoch]

Hi Maggi, I'm fine thanks, how are you? Yes, I can see the logic in that..but wonder how many people will use it to re-orient their lives. I guess re-orienting your life takes a lot of effort and struggle. Just changing your habits for one day is no big deal. I'm not saying I'm different from anyone else mind you. But I am trying to change in small ways.

[jimmy]

Ye' I know what you mean
we used to line up next door every Sunday
for pieces n' jam
if only we had a Tesco then
and a car and money.
What's lemon juice ?

[viola]

Thanks for that, it got me thinking. What a beautiful time that was, people valued neighbouriness. And life, slow as it now may appear to have been had a lot of meaning. I love that. The speed at which we are moving has me scared.

[Lorna]

Here in Finland shops (except corner stores) still don't open on Sundays :) -except the sundays of advent. :( and this year they extended it by 2 Sundays

I think we don't need Sunday trading,and as you say a sat free every now and then is good too :)

be blessed as you whistle up something from your pantry :)

[Simon Barrow]

Hi Maggi: you're on Ekklesia with this one... Buy Nothing Day challenges global economics 26/11/05