Confessions of a Consumer Addict

admin April 4th, 2010

Resurrection Sunday, 2010

Wonderful revelation this Easter morning in, of all places, The Washington Post business section!

Michelle Singletary, in The Color of Money column, reviewed a new book by Gail Blanke entitled Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear the Clutter, Find Your Life, (Springboard Press, $13.99) which of course I haven’t read yet, but will shortly.

The point of the book is that much of the stuff we have (junk and clutter, savings in the bank and mental junk as well), not only doesn’t make us more secure, as we have been taught, but rather when we lose these things as we inevitably will at some point, it causes us to feel very insecure, sometimes to the point of crumbling if what we lose is important enough.

All the while we are collecting and maintaining this stuff we are not free. We are prisoners to it because of the debt it creates in order to buy and maintain it, the pressure to make money to support it, striving to make more money to get out of our increasing debt or, worse, buying even more security blankies (my term) to bolster our sagging egos.  Then of course there is the need for either more space to keep it in, or suffer a loss of living space as we give it over to storage, not to mention having to live with our irritation, stress, and possible depression around having to live in the midst of it all. It gets in our way and slows us down.

On the flip side, you probably won’t be surprised to learn, when, as Gail tells us, we get rid of all those useless security blankies we miraculously find that we not only feel just as secure without them, we actually feel more secure because we are free of it and the burdens it creates for us. Getting rid of it frees us to begin finding out who we are or who we want to be, since we may not know who we or God wants us to be because we’ve been hiding behind our stuff, lo these many years.

Gail says we should throw away 50 things because throwing away our blankies is a cumulative experience in which success at throwing things away breeds still more success and leads to more and even joyful throwing away – our power over our stuff grows while our self-esteem and freedom grows along with it. We also begin to realize the real value of things, not the value we fantasize it will give us before buying it.

I won’t go into the details Michelle Singletary lays out in her review about how this all works because I want to get to the part about my Easter simple living revelation.

Simple Living Easter Resurrection

Easter is about resurrection and new life for all of us, and Lent is about sacrifice or “giving up.” Christian simple livers understand that living simply with less stuff opens a door to new life that is not contingent on physical stuff, and that new life becomes fuller as we deepen our commitment to living a life as much for others as ourselves.

Giving things up for Lent should not be an exercise in self-flagellation just for the sake of experiencing pain or loss. Instead it is intended to be a time of growth in which we re-discover ourselves by getting rid of the things in our lives that separate us from God and from others. For most of us that would mean our stuff and our irrational emotional attachment to it.

So, here’s my revelation, and I wish I had had it a couple months ago: The throwing out of 50 things would be an excellent Lenten discipline which would not only teach us something important about who we are, our relationship to God and to others, but would do something concrete and necessary for our neighbors everywhere by decreasing the size of our ecological footprints, and would allow us to give our stuff to those who need it much more than we do.

Then, Easter morning, we can wildly celebrate Jesus’ resurrection right along with our own. We will have completed our own Lenten hard work and will emerge from the tomb right along with Jesus.

There could hardly be a better Easter than that!

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admin January 4th, 2010

Well here it is: three different articles related directly to simple living and the environment – all in the same edition of The Sunday Washington Post (1/3/10). The stars must be aligning just right!

When our simple living concerns serendipitously show up all at once in the headlines of one of the nation’s most prestigious newspapers, then maybe our time has come… or not. I always get overly excited when things like this happen, as though our world is really, finally about to change for the better. I can’t help but think that it has to be more than just a coincidence. Maybe our collective consumer desperation over our deteriorating financial and economic situation has finally culminated in a rush to sanity!

Then my memory kicks in and I recall that in the past such rushes to sanity have quickly pooped-out when the heat of the crisis abates and most of us revert to type.

But there is always a glimmer of hope that even if the sanity doesn’t last long, that at least a few people will have learned a little about a better way of living and a few more people may actually have tried living a little better – a baby step toward lasting sanity. And I really do think that happens often enough that it’s worth writing and talking about.

At any rate, I commend these articles to you along with a brief summary of each.

Sink Your Teeth into a Fast, Michelle Singletary

Michelle, who writes the Color of Money column in The Post, recommends a 21 day financial fast in which we buy only necessities by curbing our need to consume. Several families took her up on the fast and the article reports on their experiences.

She advocates the fast for people for whom the stress of money causes pain with a spouse, friends or family, or for people who are worried about their retirement or college savings, or if they just don’t have enough to get to the end of the month, i.e., it’s for most of us.

The fast instructs us not to ‘shop’ (or window shop, which she says, is merely shopping for entertainment – a definite no-no) not to use credit cards (cash only), and not to buy anything that is not an absolute necessity like food. No going out to restaurants or fast food emporiums, not even a coffee on the way to work, and no buying gifts or gift cards.

On the gift-giving issue, Michelle tells us that, like most simple livers already know, we can give ourselves or hand made things instead.

And on using plastic: it makes buying too thoughtless and easy. Even if we pay off the card every month, the ease of it causes all of us to buy more than we need.

Michelle also advises folks to make a budget and stick to it, explaining that budgeting is not about you, it is about good stewardship, using well what God has given you.

There are many more very thoughtful items in the financial fast guidelines, so click on the link above and take a look at the entire article.

Happy Talk, Carol Graham

Carol Graham is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a professor of public policy at the University of Maryland. Her book, Happiness around the World: the Paradox of Happy Peasants and Miserable Millionaires, will be on book shelves this month, and her article in The Post hits a few of her book’s key points, including:

There is a pattern for those who are happy:

A stable marriage, good health, and enough (but not too much) income.
Not surprisingly, events such as divorce, unemployment, or economic instability are terrible for it.

But strangely, we tend to adapt to both prosperity and adversity, i.e. we can have virtually everything and be miserable as well as being cheerful during tremendous adversity. Where our adaptive ability often fails us is around uncertainty. This is difficult for most of us to adapt to and it is under these conditions that many of us feel the least happy.

Carol’s team’s studies in Russia and Peru showed that those who made the greatest income gains were, ironically, the most critical of their economic situation while those with the least income gains were, on average, more satisfied. Of course, she explains, the frustrated achievers may have made gains precisely because they were discontent in the first place.

But the bottom line here is that, as a number of recent studies have shown, our western, First World assumptions about wealth and possessions making us happy are simply bogus.

Beyond recycling and light bulbs, Juliet Eilperin

Finally, a story that once again not only demonstrates how far behind the rest of the industrialized world the U.S. is with regard to the environment and climate change, but also shows how those who are way ahead of us are becoming missionaries to us, the former (how embarrassing) leaders of the technological world.

A Swedish experiment aimed at helping U.S. citizens understand that a lifestyle that curbs greenhouse-gas emissions is not necessarily oppressive, just different, has selected a number of American families to be “Climate Pilots”.

Under the coaching of Swedish volunteers, several Virginia families are installing high-tech greenhouse gas saving devices and changing their daily routines to greatly reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. In addition to installing such technologies as geothermal heat pumps, these families are also using a number of low-tech strategies such as eating much less meat to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by farm animals.

The author reports that Americans each emit 23.5 metric tons (that’s nearly 26 tons U.S.) of greenhouse gases per year, 4 times the world average! The average for the European Union countries is 10.3 tons per capita while Sweden is now at about 7.4 tons. Sweden has made climate change a central pillar of their domestic and foreign policy for over 10 years. The city of Kalmar for instance will be fossil fuel-free by 2030. Several Kalmar families visited VA to coach the climate pilots there how to do it themselves.

Sweden has accomplished this by making climate change a national priority such that every community has a climate and energy adviser, and the government has launched “study circles” on climate across the nation during the ‘90’s. The article also makes the point that Sweden, along with other European countries, has not succumbed to the American pathology of believing that individual’s rights and freedoms must always trump the common good, no matter how many people may be hurt by that kind of ego-centric living.

Post Script

Perhaps Christians who live simply may be able to reach other Americans with the message that it is our community, whether it is our local neighborhoods, or the nation as a whole, that is at stake here. It is no longer about ‘me’, but care for all of us and all of God’s creation that is paramount, not my right to have a Hummer!

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admin November 24th, 2009

When we begin to think about Christmas, some of our first thoughts are about joy, family, gifts, and all-around good times. But then come thoughts about the anxiety and stress it causes. The American Psychological Association published a study in 2008 that found that 80% of people in the study expected a stressful holiday season.

Such a shame for a celebration of someone who came to get rid of that kind of stress!

Of course, not surprisingly, the stress is caused primarily by the expectations of our consumer culture for excessive gift giving, partying, and our personal expectations for a ‘perfect Christmas’ as perhaps defined by Currier and Ives. Mental Health America, http://www.nmha.org/, suggests that finances are the primary cause of this anxiety followed closely by bad memories of Christmases past, too many holiday activities, overindulgence (I’m shocked), and loneliness.

It would be easy for us to rant about the commercialization of Christmas as I have many times in the past, but really, if we are serious practicing Christians, that should be of little consequence to us except to feel sorry for those caught up in the craziness.

As Christians we don’t have to do it that way because we know better. We can celebrate in a much more meaningful way that brings depth to our faith, joy to our families and friends, and a great deal less stress and debt.

Instead we can happily focus on making our own celebrations real “Jesus birthday” celebrations, getting rid of the stress and anxiety of the whole thing – and we don’t have to worry about consumers and their enablers.

But getting there takes some effort and doesn’t come instantly. My experience is that it takes a number of Christmas seasons to gradually work our way into a more reasonable, happier birthday celebration. I know of few people who managed a big change all in one year, so RELAX, take it a step at a time starting with a few small steps, and add a few more steps each year.

Another key principle is do not ADD simplicity practices to what you are already doing – that will only make things worse. Instead, get rid of one or two practices that make you crazy during the holidays and REPLACE them with one or two of the ideas below.

Some folks think we’re being Grinch’s to talk about giving up things at Christmas, but in fact changing just a few crazy-making practices can make for a much more joyful and meaningful Christmas that will be remembered for a long time – because it is more personal and loving.

And the “giving up” can be wonderful in and of itself.

Picture this: less, or no driving in heavy traffic, no careening through crowded stores or waiting in long lines when you’re short of time, no stressing-out over which thing will be the “perfect gift”, no longer traveling to too many places, and no horrendous credit card bills in January… aaaaaaah!

AND the best thing is that the result of all this “giving up” is getting to have more time with family and friends. Time to give them what they really want – you – and your love and caring. It gives you time to actually savor the meaning of Christ’s birthday and his life, and what a difference it has made in your life.

A wonderful way to begin this holiday change process, if you don’t do it already, is to start a daily meditation and prayer practice. Take the time no matter how busy you are. A serious, regular practice can help you focus on what’s really important in your life and in the lives of those you love. It can help screen out the craziness we are heir to during the holidays and let us slow down and deeply appreciate what the holiday (the word comes from ‘holy day’) has done for us. I’ll get another post out in a day or two on some ways to approach this.

Basic Jesus Birthday Principles

1. Shifting from gifting to giving

The “Whose Birthday is it Anyway?” project on the Alternatives for Simple Living web site, http://www.simpleliving.org/, makes the excellent point that if we are actually celebrating Jesus’ birthday, then we should be giving him what he asked for or what we think he would really want. Remembering “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” we should be giving the presents to those who need it most – families of people who are out of work, those who may be losing their homes, those in need of support during the war, people in institutions, and people around the world living in poverty or suffering injustice, instead of giving so much to people who don’t really need our gifts and sometimes don’t even want them.

We often buy pricey gifts for people we don’t see often or don’t know well out of duty, tradition, or guilt and end up giving them things they don’t want or need, when our good wishes, love, and our presence is what they want most. This wastes money and goods that folks in real need could use well.

Sometimes we ‘overbuy’ gifts in order to impress friends and family or assuage our guilt. This can set up a competitive game that goes on for years and even generations through which we all lose in the end. Especially with kids. I’ve often seen two and four year-olds completely overwhelmed by a pile of gifts resulting from an orgy of keeping up with, or better yet, ahead of the Jones’. Who can give a child the bigger, better gift so the giver can win the envy sweepstakes. This is destructive for the kids and for our own souls.

A thought: plan to give your kids just three gifts – the number that Jesus got – and hide them so the kids have fun finding them. Then explain the meaning of the three gifts.

Carefully review your giving list so you have a very good idea of each person really needs or deeply desires even if it turns out to be an unconventional gift.

We can give ourselves by providing services and our time instead of a sweater that a person might never wear: if you are an accountant, prepare someone’s taxes; give a summer’s worth of lawn mowing to grandparents or other elders; if you’re handy with hair and makeup, give a facial and hair-do; do some painting and wallpapering; a gift of weekly story reading to a child, etc.

With the money we save in buying fewer and less expensive gifts we have the ideal opportunity to give to those who have the greatest needs. Many families now give to charities in the name of their family members as gifts and give a card explaining the gift to the family member.

The best way to do this is to carefully research potential charities for their needs and make those donations first before you begin your conventional shopping.

2. Preventive Shopping
Nip your automatic over-shopping urge in the bud at the very beginning of the season so that you don’t over-buy, over-spend, and over-give while on “shopping auto-pilot.” We can all do this by practicing “Preventive Shopping.”

Over the Thanksgiving holiday make a preventive shopping plan with the whole family so that everyone knows and agrees to the new ground rules and why they are important. Decide how you want to change your gift-giving and celebrating this year, and be sure to include the kids so they can learn that Christmas isn’t about the getting, it’s about the giving. Your plan should include a gift giving budget that includes conventional gifts as well as donations, crafts, and your time BEFORE ever going out to the mall.

This holiday planning is also a great time to introduce your kids to the actual story of St. Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra as the origins of Santa Claus. They will gain a whole new, life-long perspective on giving rather than getting. Take a look at the St. Nicholas Center web site http://www.stnicholascenter.org which has a lot of games and activities to help kids learn about St. Nick and the real meaning of Christmas – the younger the better.

Practice “targeted shopping” instead of grazing at the mall. After making your holiday plan and preparing a gift list, determine which stores have those specific items, then go only to those stores and buy only those items: no impulse buying (“Oh, wouldn’t that be great for Terry? I never would have thought of that!”)

Avoid the globalized big box stores despite their heavy advertising for extremely low cost items.

Money isn’t the issue in our new approach to Christmas!

Instead buy from local stores, crafts people, and service personnel whenever possible. This limits your contact with dangerous shopping areas like Walmart, Target, Toys R Us, etc. which will limit unnecessary impulse buying (leaving more of your cash for donations to those who will really need and appreciate it) and helping to build-up your local community and neighbors.

Hint: in general, buying gift cards is not a good idea. A very large percentage of the money in these cards goes unused and wasted – money that could have been used in a much better way. AND bank-branded gift cards are notorious for their high fees and expiration dates which make many of them an even worse deal.

3. The Quality of our Gifts

When giving gifts we should be very conscious of the earth and social and economic justice issues world-wide:

What is your gift made of? Non-renewable resources or those through the manufacture of which much pollution was generated? Are they made from natural or renewable materials or do they help you live a greener life?

Try giving a do-it-yourself gift box of natural household and personal cleaners, perfumes, soaps, etc. to introduce someone to a new world of more responsible day-to-day living?

Is the gift a fair trade item? Does the manufacturer or retailer support unjust manufacturing, management, or other social and economic practices?

Give a different kind of gift to lift someone’s spirits or quality of life – a course or workshop on meditation, yoga, Tai Chi, or a weekend retreat.

Are the children’s gifts non-violent?

Have a joyful and stress-free Christmas.

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Guest August 4th, 2009

This guest article was written by Adrienne Carlson, who regularly writes on the topic of online bible colleges . Adrienne welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: adrienne.carlson1@gmail.com

How to Live a Simple College Life

College is an essential part of life; it helps us come to terms with the change that takes part as we transit from being a carefree youngster to a more responsible adult. It bridges the leap and makes it more acceptable; it prepares us for the life that is to come, the one that involves career, family and more. Very often, the kind of life we lead in college sets the tone for the rest of our lives. So if we learn to adapt to a simple and frugal life during these four years, it becomes easier to be more responsible when it comes to managing finances as a working adult. It’s easy enough to lead a simple college life once you set your mind to it:

Limit your belongings: There’s no need to carry your room and everything that’s in it when you go to college. For one, you may not have the room to store everything, and for another, you’re going to sharing with someone else.Take only the bare essentials, stuff that you need to use on a regular basis. Also, don’t go on a buying spree once you see your room and think that it needs more furniture and accessories. You’re there only on a temporary basis, so limit your belongings and keep things as simple as possible. When you have just a few things to take care of, you don’t need to worry about keeping them safe.

Eat simple, healthy food: This not only minimizes your expense but also keeps you healthy. You realize the value of good health early in your life, a habit that stays with you for a lifetime. When you choose to eat simple foods instead of binging on snacks, junk food and alcohol, your needs are simple and your finances are not stretched. Stay away from cigarettes and alcohol as they can affect your physical and mental health significantly if you do get addicted.

Focus on your studies: When you’re focused on your education, you don’t have too much time for other activities that involve spending a lot of money. While it’s ok to have fun, make sure it does not affect the learning process in any way. Get involved in sports for your extracurricular needs – they’re a great way to unwind and relax your mind and body.

The key to leading a simple life in college is to close your mind to the various temptations that exist and that are constantly in your face. Once you learn to control your mind and focus on what’s important, you are bound to find the going easy.

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admin January 30th, 2009

You would think that the notion of “loving what you buy” would be anathema to Christian simple livers, but not in this case. Here’s why:

Consumer Reports

The March 2009 issue of Consumer Reports includes an article on people who continue to use very old appliances. This is great because it provides mainstream support for maintaining and re-using expensive appliances, an idea which, at this moment, may find even greater support given the recession.

Some of the appliances noted in the article were really old, including a 1926 gas stove and a 1936 toaster; some a little more recent like the 1955 vacuum cleaner; and, an almost trendy 1980 color TV – all in routine daily use, and well-cared-for – not to mention the 11 year old goldfish.

Every person interviewed showed great pride in their machines as much as in their care for them. Maintaining them had become a meaningful part of their lives and they simply didn’t have a need for anything newer. Many of the interviewees mentioned that they worked better and lasted longer (obviously) than their modern counterparts. There is also the monetary benefit of the maintenance costs being lower than the purchase price for several new appliances that most of us would have bought over that same period of time.

Benefits

There are obvious benefits to the environment of not trashing these appliances and constantly buying new ones: less stuff in landfills leaching chemicals into the ground water, and increased depletion of resources, etc.

But a Small Downside

However there is a small downside to this as well: many older appliances aren’t as energy efficient as new ones. But we should also consider that the increased efficiency of some classes of appliances are so small that compared to the efficiencies of continued use and buying fewer big-ticket items, it’s a wash. That is not true for some appliances like refrigerators which have become vastly more efficient over the years, so we’d need to think carefully about keeping very old ones.

There is also the issue that focusing primarily on energy efficiency isn’t going to “save us” in the end. Technological solutions such as more efficient machinery will never overcome both world-wide population growth and our ego need to have and use as much stuff as we can get our hands on. The real solution is to have a massive shift in our group psychology toward living with and using much less of everything. Our consumer mental illness drives us to think of ways of saving ourselves without having to make any changes or give up anything. There is no free lunch! If the fewer things we use are also energy efficient, that would be good, but the better over-all strategy will be to use much less in the first place.

Mindful Living

A key to keeping and using things longer is that we have to care for them, use them mindfully and judiciously, and maintain them regularly. Lots of us don’t want to be bothered with that because it takes too much effort – better to just throw it away and get another one.
But as simple livers, we should be living mindfully already, and if we live with true mindfulness, we will not only take better care of what we have, but doing so will be a joyful experience rather than an objectionable chore. As for folks who don’t already live that way, it is a learnable skill that will improve lives as well as our world.

Examples

I hesitate to write this because it sounds like I’m tooting my horn, but here are a few examples of how an ordinary lazy person like myself, can easily use old stuff:

My car is 14 years old and fairly fuel efficient. I take some pride in keeping it going and the longer it goes, the more pride I feel in it. And… it’s paid-off! Plus maintenance and repairs cost half of what the payments on another used car would cost and only a quarter of what a comparable new car would cost. Some day it will die or become more expensive to maintain than buying another one and at that time I’ll have a little memorial service for it. But at that time I’ll buy a used car as I have for the past 25 years!

My last computer was seven years old when I got a new one, and I’m still using the old one for file storage and to backup my newer machine.

We have a 1960’s vintage vacuum cleaner that I still use for cleaning up after renovation projects and when I don’t want to lug the newer one upstairs to vacuum the floors.

We have no furniture newer than about 10 years old and most of it is 20 or older and one piece is over 140 years old, and we didn’t buy it as an antique and we use it every day – and it looks it.

A New Mental Strategy

Living with older stuff requires buying higher quality appliances rather than participating in the big box store’s ‘race to the bottom’ strategy of only selling cheap stuff. This may mean purchasing at a higher price as well as a making a commitment to caring for these items from the moment we purchase them or they just won’t last.

This requires a new mental strategy: when you buy it, be thinking that it will be with you for the rest of your life. When we feel this way we will almost automatically select higher quality stuff and we will feel a greater investment in it – and in its maintenance – and it will last a lot longer.

No Need to Apologize

I think another lesson here, especially for those of us already committed to living simply, is that we should take pride in our efficient/long term use of things rather than apologizing for it. (“Oh I just like having old things.” “I just haven’t gotten around to getting a new one yet.” “I want to take it to the Antiques Roadshow!”)

In addition to changing how we feel and think about ourselves and our stuff, it will help to market or evangelize the whole notion of simplicity, and eventually the world will be grateful.

Buying and maintaining for the long run not only reduces our footprint and makes better use of what God gave us, but also shows others that it is a joy and a benefit to live for the long term by living simply, so they’re more likely to try it themselves.

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