mathbabe

The hype around Black Friday is building. It’s reaching its annual fever pitch. Let’s compare it to something much less important to americans like “global warming”, shall we? Here we go:

Note how, as time passes, we become more interested in Black Friday and less interested in global warming.

How do you resist, if not the day itself, the next few weeks of crazy consumerism that is relentlessly plied? Lots of great ideas were posted here, when I first wrote about this. There will be more coming soon.

In the meantime, here’s one suggestion I have, which I use all the time to avoid over-buying stuff and which this Jane Brody article on hoarding reminded me of.

Mathbabe’s Black Friday Resistance plan, step 1:

Go through your closets and just look at all the stuff you already have. Go through your kids’ closets and shelves and books and toychests to catalog their possessions. Count how many appliances you own, in your kitchen alone.

Be amazed that anyone could ever own that much stuff, and think about what we really need to survive, and indeed, what we really need to be content.

In case you need more, here’s an optional step 2. Think about the Little House on the Prairie series, and how Laura made a doll out of scraps of cloth left over from the dresses, and how once a year when Pa sold his crop they’d have penny candy and it would be a huge treat. For Christmas one year, Laura got an orange. Compared to that we binge on consumerism on a daily basis and we’ve become enured to its effects.

Now, I’m not a huge fan of going back to those roots entirely. After all, during The Long Winter, as I’m sure you recall and which was very closely based on her real experience, Mary went blind from hunger and Carrie was permanently affected. If it hadn’t been for Almonzo coming to their rescue with food for the whole town, many might have died. Now that was a man.

I think we need a bit more insurance than that. Even so, we might have all the material possessions we need for now.