Monday, November 14, 2011

Buy Nothing Day: An Eco-Stepper's Answer to Black Friday


Here it comes again... that day of post Thanksgiving, deal-getting, stuff-buying, early-bird-door-busting, trampling, gotta-have-it shopping.  For many of us in the United States, that day is known as Black Friday - the biggest and busiest shopping day of the year when many retailers give shoppers the "best deals" possible for the Christmas holiday season.  How can that be bad, right?  Well, our spending and consuming have reallly put us in a financial bad place.  The average American adult will rack up nearly $1000
 on his or her credit card during the Christmas shopping season.  For two adult households, that's $2000 in credit card debt.  To use Annie Leonard's terms, our Story of Stuff has now become our Story of Broke.   The good news is, each of us has control over how much we spend.  We can simply buy less.  Luckily there is an answer to Black Friday.  It's called  Buy Nothing Day

Buy Nothing Day started back in 1992 by Adbusters as a way to combat indiscriminate consumerism and to raise awareness of how much "stuff" we buy.  It has since grown in popularity, although some may argue that point.   Instead of shopping and buying more stuff on Black Friday, there are other money-free things we can do such as:

  • Sleep in.
  • Read a book.
  • "Slow Your Roll" and enjoy some extra time at home with family or friends.
  • Go for a nature walk.
  • Donate your time to a local charity.
  • Declutter your home and give some of your stuff to someone who really needs it.  You can check out Goodwill, Salvation Army, or Volunteers of America to find locations near you.
  • Share some extra food with a local food pantry.
  • Any combination of the above!
I am sure there are plenty of other good ideas.  Please feel free to share them in the comments section. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

4 comments:

  1. The holiday season, which includes the day after Thanksgiving, is a time to be with family, and, well, camping out to get the doorbuster deals - and getting trampled trying to get that annoying toy that you know your kid will get bored of in about ten seconds - isn't really my idea of the "holiday spirit." Chances are, you're still with your family, and isn't it better to spend the time with them instead of a bunch of crazed shoppers? (And, in my opinion, the day after Thanksgiving is for sleeping and watching movies!)

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  2. Those are some great ideas. I'd add arts & crafts with the kids, or working on homemade gifts for the upcoming holidays, since that ties in well with buying less!

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  3. Thanks for these deals. But Im looking for some Black Friday PlayStation 4 Deals or Coupons. Do you have one?.

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  4. In this year I want to buy a vacuum cleaner. Unfortunatly, There aren't any deals for my product at local market. I think I have to find a deal for vacuum cleaner at onlion shop like Amazon.

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