“If
men liked shopping, they'd call it research.” - Cynthia Nelms
“A
bargain is something you can't use at a price you can't resist.” -
Franklin P. Jones
Prelude: The post-Christmas
holiday spending hangover is a good enough excuse to allow one to commit to
doing this project first. Admittedly, I don’t really dig shopping to begin
with, so it’s probably the easiest and most fitting one to have for the inaugural
challenge of the dozen. On January 8th I realized that I went the
whole first week of the year without doing any extra shopping beyond
essentials, so I thought I’d just continue for the rest of the month. The
crappy winter weather of January doesn’t inspire or motivate one in moving too
far away from the comfort of home either, it becomes easier to opt not to go through
any trouble to frequent any shopping centre, or anywhere else where one can
spend money, and thus makes it easier take on a personal crusade of
anti-consumerism. Along with the (futile) measure of trying to avoid contact
and exposure to people who were stricken with colds and influenza, and trying
to avoid getting sick myself, I also put myself on a push back against covetous
greed and affluenza.
Mission: To spend
absolutely no money on extra things apart from my regular scheduled bill
payments for the month of January.
Exceptions:
·
Fuel (only enough of the estimated amount rationed
out to keep my car running until the end of the month)
·
Medical/Operational emergency expenses (if need
be): e.g. cold/flu remedies*, car repairs/roadside assistance, household
disasters, potential vet bills.
·
Redeeming collected points for purchases from my
customer loyalty cards, and only on items absent from the home and on discount
offer (an arbitrary value exploited, but no actual money used)
·
Using funds that were already allotted and
loaded on a reloadable credit card (less than $50, used for one single
indulgence of an online ticket purchase, it doubly served as some means to
reunite with someone special (even if was for just a brief while). Somethings
are worth bending the rules a bit for.
Reasons, Facts, and
Figures:
·
Reason 1 – Always follow the money first: if you
want to get a real sense of all other possible wasteful/destructive habits you
might have that you need to change. You really have to see the categorical
breakdown of where and how your finances, and thus consequently, your time and
energy are potentially being squandered. This is what is called the Latte
Factor1 by one author I’ve been resourcing.
·
Reason 2 – Actively avoiding shopping for everything
shows you (sometimes harshly) the reality of what you tend to covet as a
consumer.
·
Reason 3 – Careless wastage makes me angry; I
need an exercise like this to correct any fault in contributing to it that I
may have. Mindless shopping and over-consumption creates waste.
·
Personal Fact 1 – My biggest purchasing sins:
(cheaper) technology, as in poorer quality computers and peripherals, the kind
that goes obsolete quicker than average. The kind bought at a bargain at clearance
sales, but then have hard drives that fry out quickly, or generally lack
capability in terms of speed and memory. If had I invested just a couple
hundred dollars more at the time to get a higher quality/capability premium PC
unit, I would have had something that would have lasted me at least 80% longer,
plus I would have sidestepped the need of the extra expenses of one or two more
cheap-ass PCs, or other components to replace. That’s the difference between
being cheap and being frugal. I noted that as I was cleaning out and sorting
stuff from my closets, I shocked myself by how much of this useless junk I have
still lying around, plus all the extra useless cables and cords, plus the
packaging they came in. At least I’m purging it now to go get processed at a
better proper recycling facility, rather than pitching it out earlier at a time
when it all would have went straight to a landfill. Another wasteful excess I’m
seeing in my analysis is alcohol. I purchase too much of it for someone who
brews his own beer, and for someone who doesn’t drink as often any more (see
next month). My least wasteful expense category: clothing. My need to buy new
clothes is decidedly lower than average. This leads to the subject of trash bound
fashion. Perhaps this is the better coinage of the word trashion. We should be more like Jacobim Mugatu from Zoolander and try to capitalize on it instead of wasting it.
·
Random Fact 1 – Several thousands of tons of
used clothing that are being donated to aid agencies and end up getting shipped
to Africa, often end up just being incinerated or buried in their landfills
there. The fact that the poorest of the poor don’t even have use for this
amount of retired clothing is something to make you shake your head at for this
surplus of dross. If that’s not enough to piss you off about this manner and
level of wastage through reckless consumption, the next point is another fact
that might further put me at risk for dissuading some from ever wanting to make
any other charitable donation to Africa (specifically, the Republic of Congo) .
. .
·
Random Fact 2 – One of the worst cultural examples
I’ve found about fucked up priorities based on affluence-oriented conspicuous consumerism:
despite living in one of the poorest regions of Africa (more than 45% of them
living below their nation’s poverty line), and receiving charity in donated
clothing, many Congolese men spend what amounts to more than a year’s income (up
to 3000 euros/around 4500 CAD) for designer fashions like Armani and Gaultier
suits, and parade around like a bunch of peacock dandy boys. And it’s not
something confined to a single corrupt despot in power and their cronies and
lackies, but extending to any of the men there, regardless of what occupation
or social status each one has, who really don’t or wouldn’t have that kind of
money at their disposal to afford this. The fact that social corruption is so
rampant there assures that many of these high end fashion garments are acquired
by disreputable means (theft, extortion, bribery, etc.), all for the sake of
putting on airs.*** This all part of cultural institution there is known as Les
Sapeurs, abbreviated from the French name from “Societe des Ambianceurs et des Personnes
Elegantes (or “the Society of Tastemakers and Elegant People” in English). Spending
that kind of money to pretend being some sort of aristocrats while most likely depriving
their wives and kids of food and other life essentials to do so, is one of the
most depraved, disgusting, and atrocious marks of pompous, self-centred arrogance
there is. It may be a holdover from whatever animistic religions they may practice there, where relics, fetish and material objects and charms are highly prized. I guess it might be a move to at least have a pretty suit to be buried in, since the average male life expectancy there is only something like 47 years. Once they are dead, it is reputed that these suits can be stolen by grave robbers soon after burial before the material gets ruined by putrefaction. Coming to a close second in terms of covetous, greed-driven, stupidity
and “keeping up with the Joneses” lemming march, I find examples here closer to
home. I’m talking about many of the oil patch workers around AB and SK, specifically
those who dumped and sank so much of their money, and abused credit, on high
ticket toys and other rapidly depreciating assets that they now can’t sell and
are getting repossessed, and then had nerve to complain that they were so hard
done by and “suffering” when the downturn in oil prices came and job losses
happened. No tears shed for them here. According to Stats Canada, Alberta is
supposed to be the richest province in this confederation, and yet has the
highest household debt levels out of all the provinces of the nation compared
to the national average. Sadly, Saskatchewan is doing as badly over the years
in following that trend and trying to keep up with Alberta it that respect since
the oil boom hit.
Substitution
Materials, Activities, and Alternate Behaviours:
·
Using my stash of frozen food instead of buying
more groceries, thus avoiding creating and collecting more leftovers
·
Using my food allowance at work and eating at
home, no need for restaurants*
·
Instead of filling hangers, drawers, and
closets, I’ve been clearing them out and reclaiming some space for myself
·
Drinking only what already remains of my brewing
stock and whatever was left in my liquor cabinet (which flows into the next
project)
·
Other free entertainment from multiple avenues,
including finding and claiming some free collectable books from the give away
table in my building
·
Exercise in my reclaimed office space, and now
hopefully some Nordic skiing after work if the weather can warm up
·
Investing mental energy into learning/practicing
other languages
·
More research on cryptocurrencies and investing
·
Outlining and planning for more upcoming
projects for the course of the remainder of the year
Feedback Mechanisms:
·
My chequebook app. It graphed out all my
spending categories and gave me an honest breakdown of what my good and bad habits
were. It also showed me where savings were made through this trial.
·
My count of freezer containers of leftovers emptied
(17)
·
The cleared balances on my scheduled bill and
credit card statements (no biggie here, that would have been done regardless of
this project)
Progress: I
already have had the fastidious habit of tracking all my income and expenses
long before starting this project. It’s a good foundational habit to have in
place, and of course continue. However, this occasion was one of the rare few
times that I’ve actually seen the weight of what my own personal inefficiencies
and deficits were in terms of acquiring needless excesses. Starting the year
with this project was especially important, as I said, to reckon what other
things I could stand to bring under control through monthlong forbearances throughout
this year. All in all, after assessing all this stuff and if gender roles were
reversed, the verdict is that I’d actually be someone’s heavenly ideal of a
very “cheap date” when I compare what I like to do with my free time, and what
it costs for me to actually do such stuff.
Violations (Stakes
and Penalties): The penalty for making any unnecessary purchases – time added
on to this moratorium to commit to for each needless purchase made. A full day
for each one. My 31-day abstention period for shopping really culminated into 33.
The two purchases I made during the month of January that didn’t qualify as an
absolute necessity: a purchase of some 50/50 tickets at a sporting event. The
other was an admission fee to a fitness facility, with more time used the steam
room as therapy than to actually work out. Not huge purchases, both were around
$10.00, but violations all the same.
Rewards and Final Words:
The material prize for me for committing to and completing this was a couple of
new shirts, since I rarely shop for clothing. They are certainly not Armani or
Gaultier, but they are what’s practical, cool, and comfortable for me. Cleared
space, and some renewed gumption to get up and move again was another bonus. Reconnecting
with frugality, listing and being cognisant about more than a hundred different
ways I can spend time fruitfully without dropping a dime is always good to do
too. Upon seeing a botched merger with two loyalty programs here, I reclaimed
all my accumulated points afterward at the grocers before things got worse.
This post-trial grocery trip ended with me spending only my loyalty points plus
$25.00 secured me with enough food for my home to last for more than two months
if I plan on process it painstakingly and wisely**. Another thing was managing
to squirrel away a little bit of extra money to place into a reasonable risk
investment, I’ll see later if that really will turn out to be rewarding or not.
A shaky start, but I did give myself a few grey areas, where I could have
exploited more chances to rationalize and really sabotage myself. The fact that
I didn’t do that to the max is a success in and of itself. I’d say that overall
I did OK for this first abstention challenge. For February’s project though,
there won’t be any such flexibility like that at all. Wait and see until then.
Bibliography and
Resources:
1.
Bach, David. The
Automatic Millionaire (Canadian Edition), 2003, Doubleday Canada
*- Which includes the natural ones, since I can’t do a lot
of over the counter pharmaceuticals any more; chicken soup being one of them,
and there is no other more potent decongestant remedy form of it that I know of
than whatever is in Vietnamese broth. I haven’t the time to craft it, nor can I
make it as perfectly or as cheaply as any one of my favourite pho joints here
in town. Getting some was the one restaurant expense I could justify making; a lesser
evil than a drug-form remedy with stupefying side-effects, or possible contraindications.
Without it, I’m sure I would have been a big snotty mess for more than a week.
**- Cheaper yet, and for a longer duration of supply yet if
I didn’t buy any meat. More on this down the road.
***-
Sure, there may be more notable and visible examples of over-the-top flamboyant,
materialistic, vanity-laden, and ultimately unjustifiable and unwarranted displays,
and useless squandering of wealth in places like Dubai, and other wealthy regions
in the oil-rich Arab world: like sports car traffic jams, building 7 star luxury
hotels and super huge malls that only very few can shop in, and the competitions
of who can erect the tallest phallic symbol dessert tower, but these are people
who actually already provide for their families and have the excess money to
throw around and to sink into such bullshit.
