It’s December 31st today and despite being constantly bombarded by advertisements on the TV, in the newspaper and via junk mail I have just realized that I have managed to avoid shopping (other than food) since Christmas Eve. It’s not that I don’t love shopping. I’ve just sort of got to the point where it all seems some sort of a crazy frenzy. I want lots of things but if I were to ask myself what things I need then my shopping list becomes considerably smaller.
Not that I’m a no-shopping saint or anything. I’ve just decided to try and see if sometimes I can exercise constraint on my desire to have to go out and purchase ‘stuff’ as a form of entertainment. Sustainable Dave has a helpful list of questions that a consumer may want to ask themselves before purchasing things: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/get-on-board-the-non-consumption-train.html.
With regards to this my husband and I have been renovating our house over the last year and a few weeks ago I bought two pieces of art for the house. I really like the two pieces but on reflection about my consumer habits I’m wondering if I could instead create some of the art for my house instead of buying it? I started yesterday creating ideas in my workbook (I already had one J) and although it is very early days I’m really enjoying the creative process. A bonus is that it should take up time that I might otherwise spend shopping!