I don’t buy into the whole consumerism of Christmas. It’s more apparent here than it was in Canada, and I’m uncomfortable with it. I don’t shop on ‘black Friday’, either, aside from groceries and the like.
I have several friends who came from elsewhere to study here who were stunned by the crowds on Black Friday.
What an insufferable prig.
I went to the grocery and the drug store, but I didn’t buy anything gifty. The bookstore called and said 2 books I ordered were in, but I won’t get them until Monday.
I always wait until at least the Monday after Turkey Day to go shopping. I can’t stand large numbers of people in one place, and if I went out on Black Friday, I’m sure I’d be locked up in a couple of hours, simply because I’d have to swat people left and right. I know it’s against the law, even if they richly deserve it. So I stay home.
“Buy nothing day” surely only works if you don’t actually go out the NEXT day and buy what you would have bought the day before??
I only exchange gifts with a small handful of people – mostly close friends, and usually folks who share my interests (movies, music, comics, action figures, food). Makes them a lot easier to shop for, and it’s fun to look around all year and stockpile small, thoughtful gifts when they turn up, and when I find good deals on them. That way, there’s no pressure as the holidays get closer, and no mad rush on Black Friday.
However, I HAVE braved Black Friday sales before, and I feel no shame. When I was moving into my first apartment back around 1998, Best Buy was selling a Daewoo microwave oven, full-sized, for $10 after mail-in rebates. You better believe I was waiting in line outside when they opened, snagged one of those for myself, and it still works. When my printer died in November a few years back, I got a great deal on a Lexmark printer/scanner/copier on a Black Friday. When I was living with my brother, we woke up at 4 AM to hit Wal-Mart because he wanted a GameCube with the Zelda game – it was an excellent deal, he had been wanting one for months, and we fought the mad mob and scored him one. Nothing wrong with that. It wasn’t an impulse buy, but rather a planned and price-shopped and fully rationalized purchase.
This year I stocked up on cheap digital media: a 50-pack of CD-Rs at Spec’s, $2.99 after rebates, and a 100-pack of DVD-Rs for my roommate at OfficeMax, $11.99 after rebates. Those are things we’re going to use up like crazy and run out of eventually, so I see nothing wrong with grabbing them while they’re on sale. However, I showed up at Spec’s and OfficeMax at 2 PM, and the stores were mostly empty and quiet. Unless they have an offer I can’t refuse, I’d much rather sleep in after Thanksgiving. And if they do have a good deal on something I want, and I can afford it, I won’t feel shame in standing in line with everyone else.
I’ve worked retail Fridays after Thanksgiving. It wasn’t pretty. I have little desire to shop on that day. The past few Friday-afters, I’ve come along with my mother and aunt to serve as another pack mule. I didn’t go this time, being stuck at school, and it was very pleasant to relax instead of fighting through the crowds.
I only buy presents for a few people–parents and a few friends. This year I am in a slightly better state of funds than usual, so I will buy a few (two, to be exact) more presents and still keep my savings at a good level. (For once, I actually have savings.)
I’ve tried to do the shop during the year thing, but I always end up giving such presents before the holidays, since I am so impatient.
The last thing people need at Christmas time is more “stuff”
I send out fruit baskets to my relatives. I imagine its consumed rather quickly (or thrown out), but the bottom line is that its not something that they need to find a place for. It doesn’t have to be stored some place.
That’s a good way to go. When I have people who refuse to drop me from their gift list (mostly older aunts who can’t understand anything eco) I tell them to give me fruit, and not more than I can eat in a week, either. That’s keeps the present down to a couple dollars, which is as close as they can get to zero.
The worst case is my sister, who every year gives mom a silk purple blouse. Mom has shelves full of silk purple blouses, all worn once at Sis’ new years eve party and then forgotten. She’ll complain every time to us that she doesn’t like either silk or purple but she supposes it’s the thought that counts. All I see is lack of thought, but I’m not about to get into the middle of that one. You have to pick your battles, and I don’t have a dog in that fight.
Simple answer? NO, I would not consider it.
Now, if YOU don’t feel like spending money, by all means, don’t spend it. If you’re happy living in a Ted Kaczynskiesque shack in the woods, or living off the land like Euell Gibbons, you have every right to do what makes you happy. Nobody is forcing you to buy any consumer goods you don’t want.
Just shut up about it. Pat yourself on the back for your virtuous, Amish-style simplicity silently, and don’t tell me about it.
Snopes.com calls this “slacktivism,” and it’s kind of a waste. Seems to happen twice a year to protest wars and oil prices and things, sending “them” a message about something or other. Just by chance, I didn’t buy anything on Friday. I’d be happy to skip the entire holiday shopping thing, not that I have much to do, but I’m not going to be the one to suggest it to everybody else.
That depends what you mean by “works”, I suppose.
As I understand it, the point of Buy Nothing Day is to get people to think about their consumption habits. Ultimately that should lead to less Junque[sup]TM[/sup] being bought and sold, but if you normally go to the supermarket on your local Buy Nothing Day (I believe it’s Friday in the US, Saturday elsewhere) and you just go to the supermarket the day before or the day after instead, that doesn’t necessarily mean BND didn’t accomplish anything for you. Maybe you took the time to think again about your Christmas list, for instance, and change your decisions about some presents to give something the recipient will really use, or “give an experience” (movie tickets, for instance), or just agree not to exchange at all. If people did that, BND “works” even if the people doing it shop the next day.
On the other hand, on another message board I’ve seen people arguing about whether it “counts” if you just stop at Starbucks 'cause you’ve got to have a gingerbread latte, or - I’m not kidding - if you only shop online. This is not quite what the organizers intend, y’know?
Wow. Sorry to have rattled your cage, but I didn’t force this thread on you. You saw the title and threw yourself into it with both arms flailing. Somebody needs a nap.
Well, theres going to be no christmas shopping for me this year. Everyone is getting a flip-book of short home movies I shot over Thanksgiving and a tin of fudge. I don’t have enough money to give gifts that would meaningful improve people’s lives, and my family doesn’t want or need anymore junk.
I do think buy nothing day serves a purpose. It’s not meant to actually affect anything economically. They just want people to take a break and think for a minute before the shopping frenzy starts. And it’s not just for Christmas. Economics is the driving force of the world, and every economic choice we make shapes the world. You can choose to support fair labor, environmentalism, democracy and peace. Or you can buy products that give money to slave drivers, polluters, dictators and warlords. It’s worth a couple mintues of thought, at least.
What’s interesting are the people who intend to “send a message” to retailers by not shopping that day. On the day that items are priced nearly at or even below cost. If you wait a week to buy that tv, you’re actually doing the retailer a favor by paying more and giving them a larger profit margin.
As far as having the day to actually make people think about consumerism and how it fits into their lives, I think it’s probably pretty effective if you take it seriously.
Luckily for me, buy nothing day is pretty much everyday.
Lesson for VegaBean: don’t solicit opinions and then whine about it when you don’t like the answers.
NOBODY, I repeat, NOBODY is forcing you to buy anything you don’t want.
If you’d rather put your money under your mattress, fine. You wanna send it to the Green Party campaign fund, no skin off my nose. You wanna start a big money bonfire, feel free. It’s your money.
But most of us aren’t interested in crackpot theories.
My attitude is buy what you want/need, when you want need it. Just don’t tell me about it.
Well, I often think about consumption - particularly my consumption, and think about curbing it.
I always fail. This is what I have to live with.
To lessen it somewhat, I give a large amount of time and money to charitable works.
It probably doesn’t totally balance out, but it’s the best I can do, and I feel no guilt.