Living Deliberately Hall of Fame 03 Jan 2007 10:49 am
Shopping Sabbatical
Cathy sent me this link about a group of people who decided to try and see if they could go a year without buying more “stuff”. I’d heard of someone who did this a few years ago and they wrote a book about it….it the idea catches on just a little it could empower a movement of contentment! Imagine!
““I really found a lot of times there were things I thought I needed that I don’t need that much,” she said.
The pledge provided unexpected dividends as well, such as the joy of getting reacquainted with the local library and paying down credit cards. Gone, too, was the hangover of buyer’s remorse.
Perry got satisfaction out of finding he had a knack for fixing things and how often manufacturers were willing to send replacement parts and manuals for products that had long since outlived their warranties.
“One of the byproducts of The Compact has been I have a completely different relationship with the things in my life. I appreciate the stuff I have more,” he said. “I don’t think I need to buy another pair of shoes until I’m entering Leisure World.”
on 03 Jan 2007 at 7:20 pm 1.dalimama said …
Interesting article. I am not sure I could do it completely. I already call or email companies for parts, though. My latest coup was emailing the company that made little E.’s Christmas present… a Bathtime Ariel Baby Doll to see if I could get a replacement inflatable starfish that the doll sits in instead of returning the whole shebang to the store. (Which I wouldn’t have done anyway since the doll was OK) And, they emailed back within a couple days to say they’d send it in the mail in the next 1-2 weeks. Score!
I love when things work smoothly. OH, and I’d love if the cell phone company would actually send replacement parts but I think they are far too much into gouging the consumer to be that nice.