"don't buy anything day"

Was it truly started by anti-consumerists? Or was it someone who didn't have $ to spend & therefore decided to not WANT to participate? Either way works for me. I can honestly say, I don't remember any time getting out there amongst the chaos. I'm sure I have been. It sounds exciting. All the "sales". The crowds. Who knows, if I had a pile of $ I might just be out there taking advantage of some bargains.

Last weekend Matthew Kelly made a good point "are you a consumer or are you consumed?" I think that will be my slogan for the new year. Mr. Kelly also said "you never can have enough of what you don't need" -as an explanation for the rampant consumerism in our society. I admit I too have been guilty of trying to deal w/ deeper issues through retail therapy. It never does solve anything. Just a little avoidance tactic.

As an adult, for a year, I lived in my old hometown. It's a very small blip on the map -Strattanville, PA. There was nothing there to spend $ at. Even in the neighboring slightly larger towns. No trendy national chain stores. Just the typical small town anchors like JC Penneys & Kmart. Quite a relief from "out there". Easy to not get caught up in consuming. Easy to not fall prey to our society's push to instill feelings of inferiority.

T.V. is the biggest perpetuation tool in that marketing scheme. How to get rid of the t.v. though? I know I personally wouldn't be sad to see ours go. It's not my t.v. And it's bigger than ever. Obnoxiously bigger. But it's not mine. So then there's cable. I didn't have cable before I moved here. I would miss DIY. But I'd be more productive w/o it anyway; you know, instead of watching projects on t.v, I'd spend more time actually doing them. Now we have the added feature of HD digital cable. I admit that the picture is clearer -on the 9 channels that are actually HD. But Comcast is now $15 dollars richer each month at my expense. It's just not as important to me as it is to someone else in this house.