On Consuming less...of everything
I read a book yesterday called The Year of Less by Cait Flanders. It was very inspirational. She went on a shopping ban for a year, while simultaneously getting rid of somewhere around 80% of her possessions. It would not have occurred to me to do both at the same time. It feels like a terrible idea to donate or trash most of your belongings right at the same time you’re not going to be able to buy any more for awhile. But actually, she said that it helped her realize a few things. As she was throwing out things, she saw all the waste. She’d spent so much time and money on this stuff that wasn’t even being used. One of the most interesting realizations was that half of the things that she had bought/owned were for a more aspirational version of herself. Books she thought she should read, clothes she though she should wear, decor items that felt fancy....but they just weren’t her. So as she was throwing out items, she started asking herself for which Cait did she buy this for? It made it a lot easier to throw out or donate most of it. These realizations also made her future shopping easier, because it was simpler to determine what she actually needed and what she did not.
As she went through an entire year, she lived off of 1/2 of her $55,000/year salary. She saved 40% and traveled with 10%. She only bought things as she needed them, and usually after she’d worked really hard to mend it first. When her one pair of jeans tore, she sewed them back up 3 times before she called it a loss, threw them out, and bought a new pair. One thing she said that hit home was the concept of waiting, always, to buy something when you really need it. I tend to stockpile things. I’ll buy an item when it’s on sale (like deoderant) and get 2-3. But if I’m honest, it doesn’t stop just with toothpaste, or deodorant. The philosophy spills over to all kinds of “just in case” situations when something is on sale. She had a different philosophy, and it actually made more sense:
“It dawned on me that I had never shopped like this before. I had never truly felt a need for something, because I had always purchased things to fill future needs that might come up. Like using coupons to buy two bottles of shower gel, even though I already had some at home, because I would still need more one day. Or buying a shirt I liked in four colors, in case I couldn’t find one that fit right ever again. I convinced myself these things would never be on sale again, so I should buy them while they were cheap. Advertisements and marketing campaigns had conditioned me to believe everything was now or never. It never occurred to me to wait until I actually needed something. The truth, I was learning, was that we couldn’t actually discover what we needed until we lived without it.”
Flanders, Cait. The Year of Less (p. 134). Hay House. Kindle Edition.
Anyways, I’ve not made any commitments to start a ban or anything, but it has definitely opened my eyes to some things. I went through my bathroom last night and opened up every single drawer and threw out things that were expired, reorganized everything that wasn’t. It feels so fresh and clean. I believe I am going to go through the house a little at a time and clear out a lot of things. It’s true, I can live on so so much less. I’ve gotten to the point where it’s hard to find what I do have when I need it ahem, I’m looking at you, garage. It also will definitely help financially, to be in the mindset of consuming less. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life chasing a paycheck, needing more, consuming more, and never having any freedom. I don’t want to raise Cash that way either.