Posted on 01/07/2007 4:48:05 PM PST by fishhound
It started as a pledge over dinner between friends worried about the impact of mass consumerism and today's disposable society.
"Let's see if we can give up shopping for a year," they said. advertisement
Now, at the close of the "12-month flight from the consumer grid" — in which the 10 friends were egged on by thousands of supporters inspired by their idea — some have declared the experiment so revelatory and life-changing that they plan to continue the boycott indefinitely.
The 10 middle-class professionals living in San Francisco dubbed themselves the "Compact" after the Mayflower Compact, drafted by Puritan pilgrims who reached the New World in 1620.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Compact members found themselves attacked by conservatives as "un-American" and guilty of "economic terrorism". One San Francisco shop even offered "break the Compact" discounts.
I am sure these Compact members laughed all the way to the bank.
I have lived this way in the past, but it was because paying rent and paying for gas for my car didn't leave too much left over for anything but the necessities. I like life much better now.
Good for these guys, though. Everybody should be allowed to live like this if they want to. I just don't want to anymore.
Someone should ask them where the tax base would go for their special government programs go if we all turned our back on capitalism.
Someone should ask them where the tax base would go for their special government programs go if we all turned our back on capitalism.
I could live knowing that late night basketball was finished.
People in this country can do whatever they like...as long as they aren't trying to "teach the rest of us a lesson" while they wander around polishing their halos.
What ya want to bet at least some members of this group will make up for their frugal year by splurging in the future.
Probably a fabrication. Most of the Conservatives that I know are pretty thrifty people, and certainly don't look down on anybody that is trying to save a buck or two. I personally don't give a flying fig what Libs spend their money (or not) on, as long as it isn't buying elections, or something.
Five hundred cash or so, private sale, as is, paid for, liability insurance only, drive it 'till it drops.
We do not have emissions inspections in our area (which helps), but we don't drive 'oil burners', either.
If you are not out to impress, basic transportation can be had on the cheap. YMMV...
Meanwhile, the idea has spread to everyone in the country. Unemployment has now reached 43% as thousands of factories and stores have closed.
I've done it, too. But like you, I prefer to decide what I can afford, and what I can't.
I don't see shopping as an evil - overspending is.
I still spend too much money on cigarettes and some impulse buying when I do go shopping. I only go when I am after one specific thing.
I buy a lot of groceries at Aldi's because they are so cheap. If I don't like some of it, then I go to a regular store for the rest. I've started buying most of my meat from a family butcher shop that has been here in town for a long time. The reason for that my two grocery stores that had good meat went out of business, and their replacements I don't like so well except the fresh seafood once in awhile, my Cook's ham, lunchmeat, and fresh turkey for the holidays :-).
And I didn't mention my car and home repairs. I've had a terrible time saving there because I've gotten ripped off too much by people who do sloppy work or overcharge me, and I try to get it done as cheaply as possible which isn't always the way to go. trying to drive a hard bargain. I try to be fair and pay them as agreed when done. I do drive a 91 Honda though, 60,000 some miles on it (don't go out much), low ins, low license fees, pretty good on gas to the point the higher prices haven't hurt that much. But it still needs maintenance and repair from time to time, some rather costly for me, but I have a fellow I trust pretty well now, an independent who has worked his way to buying his own place and a convenience store next to it in an excellent location in a nice, but commercial, part of the town adjoining mine. And a lifetime warranty of my muffler which, they tell me, keeps going bad because making the short trips I do causes condensation. And it's only the muffler, not the entire exhaust system. You have to watch those deals.
Smile. I forgot about Colombo. I guess he wore that London Fog tan trenchcoat. The coat was on sale, they didn't have my size here, so my sister found the same one on sale at a store in Minneapolis. I loved the colors, navy blue with raspberry lining.
I wish I were more resourceful sometimes. I'm on a garden group, and you would not believe how they make some beautiful things to landscape their yards with out of junk. Some of it I don't care for like gazing balls, etc., but I've seen some gorgeous things, one lady made a rose trellis out of some old bed springs. It sounded awful, but when she posted a pic, it was beautiful, what I could see of it.
My biggest fault is lining up too many projects and then not having the energy to follow through, so I have to watch it. I'm about done with my stepladder trellis, but I have a pretty old Victorial door I dragged home from the farm that is proving to be more work than I had imagined.
Shoe polish? I haven't bought any for years. I wipe mine with a damp cloth, and now I wear them until they have holes in them.
I can't wait to see what my next find will be though. Once in a blue moon I will hit a garage sale. We have a Restore Habitat, and I went out the other day just to see what they had and came home with a practically new, quality tined spade for $5, 16 flat bricks for $.25 apiece, and a caddy type thing I've just put the base coat on to plant flowers in this spring for $2. I got some pretty wooden louvered shutters now I don't know what to do with for $2 apiece, 4 pair (the white, indoor kind, probably a mistake) and a really nice solid wood crossbuck garage entry door with nine lights for $37, half price. It needs to be reframed though, will worry about that later. It works and looks wonderful compared to the wreck of a thing that was on there.
But then I spend almost $1000 for two cedar arbors, the dream of practically a lifetime, saw one on a 2002 calendar and had no clue how I could ever get one exactly like it. Cost $98 just to ship from the east coast, but they don't have any like those around here. Also had to have some steps poured in back (a nightmare, won't go into that but they're done) and got new custom-made iron rails for the front porch and the back steps. They made them from a photo I took of some people's down the street.
So you see, I save here and spend there.
Amen to that. And now our 11 year old has discovered that its "cool" to shine his, and Mamas. shoes. He's mean little buffer!
I wish I could go without shopping for a year, but the wife still insists on dragging me to the mall.
I'm not convinced that the Compactors are turning their backs on capitalism. If I read it correctly, they are just not participating in exuberant comsumerism. This is not a new idea and not even a hippie, commune idea. All subsistant farmers, early colonists, frontier settlers, sheep station operators in Australia and so many other places conserved resources, out of necessity; and later as a prudent life-style.
25 years ago, I read a book about living without a paycheck. Not without money, of course, but not having a regular 40 hr a week paycheck. The gist of the book was to become a wise conserver not a wise consumer. In the modern scheme of things, people are smug and sanctimonious about being a wise consumer. That's better than being unwise, for sure. However wise consumptiion is 180 degrees from being a wise conserver.
The one illustration that the author gave was in regards to his Grandmother making rag rugs from donated clothes. He spotted a new looking car coat in the pile and pick it up. It fit and was made of cashmere and kept him warm for 17 winters. His greatest satisfaction was that he was in fashion 3 times. This is not new. It's just being recycled.
"They made an exception for food and health care products."
I hope that includes soap and deoderant.
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