So, I Cheated
What, it’s been like a week and I’ve already botched my own plan. I don’t want to justify my spending … but I think I’ve come up with some great excuses. I’ve deemed each of these purchases necessary. Take a look:
$8: Stamps, cause not paying bills for a month would be a bad idea (and all but one were out of driving range).
$14: Dinner, for a coworker, who took me out a few weeks ago. I ambiguously promised then that I’d get her “next time” … next time turned out to be right about now. It was hectic with elections this week and the whole newsroom was up late. I figured, since the point of the experiment is to examine my own consumerism, not punish other folks for theirs, how could I say no?
$20: A second lock for my front door. (My apartment was broken into last month and I had another scare this week … It wasn’t too tough to convince me that this was also a necessity.)
Although I spent about $40 this week, it was far less than I normally would. I call that success. (And I still saved a few landfills by curbing my pastic bag habit, no?) But maybe that’s just what is easiest to think. I’m sure there were more creative solutions for each one of my quandaries, at least one other option I didn’t explore before choosing to throw money at them. It amazes me just how much it says about my lifestlyle and our culture when, at the first sign of inconvenience, its easiest just to buy myself out of a problem.
So … What do you think? Was it really cheating?
Not only are you not cheating- the lock, stamps to pay bills, come on- some things are just required to live in our society- and dinner for $14 sounds like a bargain for me.
I had a much more expensive dinner with a colleague/friend this evening and we started talking about the whole fascinating topic of this experiment- which for me resonates on a couple of levels- the question of fiscal responsibility, the idea of what kind of stuff (if any?) really makes you (I guess I mean me) happy- the sexy new shoes or cute purse can result in a sort of temporary high, or thrill of purchase, but at the end of the day or week is what’s in your closet what makes you content?
and then there’s the whole huge topic of waste (an American talent) and environmental and social responsibility- But those people who were using old t-shirts as toilet paper- it’s not as clear cut as all that- because using a washing machine (or perhaps they were beating them against rocks in their backyard) and detergent requires energy and results in detergent waste released in the environment…
Do you think they ever had guests to their home and had to explain the reusable rag/toilet paper- I would be happy enough for fewer of my friends to drive SUVs, the recyled tp is just too, too…..
Well said and I agree. It got me thinking, thus the new post. As for the anti-toilet paper odd balls ….
The folks who have gotten on me for my spending certainly have different agendas than I do. Obviously, it’ll sell more books to describe a radical decision to forgo toilet paper. That’s not my goal. Some of the most hardcore people I’ve talked to seem entranced by anti-consumerism to such an extreme that they lose the point and go about their day making big money by selling books about sending less.
As for the wash, they used a hand-crank machine and made their own soap from borax and a couple of other ingredients. I guess that felt “green” enough.
[...] Feedback, some by comment, some by e-mail, is evenly split down the middle. I am both a big-fat cheater and reasonable, level-headed spender, it seems we have decided. [...]