Purchase distancing

The watch-spend-work treadmill from the Story of Stuff.

Ads tell us to buy things. We buy them. We go to work to earn back the money. Then the cycle repeats.

Locking down the treadmill

In recent times, the only shops open have been the "essential services". For once we could only buy what we actually need.

That's a significant change from usual times, and (after a brief surge of stockpiling) our spending has gone way down.

The treadmill strikes back

Of course the online world means that we can purchase most things even when stores are closed.

Advertising and business love smartphones. For them it's like having a cash register in every home. In normal times there's a gap between when we see and ad and when we make a purchase. Marketers like to close that gap because time allows us the chance to realise that the purchase isn't worth it.

In 2020 we all know that creating distance protects our physical health. The same things applies for our financial health.

"Purchase distancing" is a time gap between an ad (or idea) and a purchase. Want to purchase something? Write the item on a piece of paper, or as a note on your phone. Come back to it later. Three days, ten days, 30 days - it's up to you (and probably depends on the item).

If the item is worthwhile, you'll still want it. If not, lose the piece of paper or delete the phone note.

Purchase distancing can save you a bunch of money, and keep a lot of future clutter from entering your home.

Comments

5 Reasons why we hoard - and they're wrong

"Less is More" is one of the catch-cries of downsizing. Often the fewer things we have the more we value them. So it's a great title for a book that's basically a manual for how to de-clutter your home. The introductory chapter of Less is More: How to De-clutter Your Life gives some great insights into why we find it so hard to reduce our stuff. Here are 5 of them - the last one is one of the biggest for me. 1. The cost of holding on. We were raised by our parents and grandparents and in their day items were expensive and space was cheap. It made sense in those days to hold onto stuff just in case you ever needed it. But today housing is expensive and items are cheap. It's hard to change a habit, but now we save much more by downsizing. 2. Keeping it in the family. For some reason we prefer to give things to those close to us. Again this was viable in the days of big families and lots of children to receive hand-me-downs. But these days we have smaller fa...

20 unplugged ideas

May 1-7 is Screen-Free Week . It's about spending time away from the screen and more time with each other - or doing things we love. It's a great chance to break the work-tired-watchTV-ads-shop-work cycle. This list of twenty alternative ideas is great for screen-free week. It's also a great reminder of things we could enjoy if we're shopping and spending less - and maybe working less and enjoying life more.

The Little Treehouse craze - why I hate it but joined it

Supermarket collectibles. Parents go crazy for them. This time I'm in it. Instead of rolling my eyes at the craziness, I'm purchasing, collecting and even trading. Why? Read on. The dogma of more A big key to happiness is to ignore the dogma that more is good. Instead, to be satisfied with what we have. To have enough, but not too much. To ignore the never-ending quest for more. The Little Treehouse series is a classic example of the culture of more. (To explain for international readers, an Australian supermarket is currently giving away a small kids book with every $30 spent in store.) Each book is about the size of a bank card and maybe 3 times as thick. Manufactured desire The (very) short stories are an extension of the Treehouse series of books, which are popular with Australian kids. If the supermarket had not done this promotion, we would all be blissfully satisfied with the original series of full-length books. But that's not how it is. Instead, swarms of parents, ...

But wait... there's less!

Search This Blog