Consumerism: When Less Is More with Anti Consumerism

Why Anti-Consumerism? Isn’t that Anti-American?

I grew up in a very frugal home. My parents paid cash for used cars, and we lived in older homes with small mortgages that were well within their means. My folks always had money for important things like health insurance, glasses, or emergency travel. They had what we used to call a depression mentality, and as a young person, I struggled against it. Of course, I wanted a better bike, a fancier bedroom set, and more clothes that had not come from my older sister.

So as a young adult, I saved some, but mostly felt as if some extra cash in my hand was a prime reason for purchasing new electronics, hip mall clothes, and whatever else I just had to have. And of course, I took out loans for brand new cars on the lot, and those cars seldom were paid off before being traded in.

I found this article on a term called Off-Consumerism, and it fits in with my new mentality. I like the shoe comparison, because well, we all need shoes. Maybe we even need a few different types of shoes. For instance, I still believe a reasonable person might need a pair of gym shoes, some dress up shoes, and a pair of sandals. It might even be reasonable to consider having a pair of beach shoes, or flip flops, and another pair of comfortable every day shoes. That’s five pairs of shoes.

The Shoes

So it can be reasonable to have five pairs of shoes, even as a frugal person, but can anybody justify having twenty-five pairs of shoes. In my mind, anything over 5 pairs of shoes means we need to clean the closet. Maybe shoes could be donated to an organizagtion that provides shoes to people who do not have any shoes. Maybe our own lives can be simplified by having to contain less clutter. Maybe the black pumps can be polished, and really, do not need to be replaced.

Also consider the cost of shoes. Now some people have foot problems, and their health and comfort justifies a really expensive pair of orthopedic shoes. In my mind, that is something they should have. But most of us can perform just fine in $35 pumps from a discount store, and we really do not need $135 pumps from a name brand retailer. Most of us are happy wearing $7 flip flops to the pool, and $27 flip flops do not enhance our experience.

So take those 5 pairs of shoes. If they are purchased at an average cost of $75 each, that is $375. If you provide shoes for a family of 4, that is $1500! If you are providing shoes for kids, they need to be replaced, sometimes a couple of times a year! So let’s say you are spending 2 grand on shoes because you buy the “best”. And by “BEST”, I mean you equate expense with quality, and the accumulation of goods with comfort.

But if you purchased those same shoes at an average cost of $30 each, you would have spent $150, or $600 for your family of 4. You have saved $900! Is there some other use you could put that money too? A savings account, health insurance, and a small donation to help people with no shoes comes to mind!

Blue Jeans or Butter?

Now, when I say shoes, I mean everything. A teenage boy’s blue jeans, off the rack, at the local discount store are about $12 each. The same jeans, from the name brand mall store, are $40 on a good day. And yes, I am cheating by using boys for an example, because girls are a tougher issue on blue jeans. I have found that clothing companies do not make girls as easy to fit as boys. The topic of another post…. But let’s attack the boy’s jeans first because it is an easier problem. So 5 pairs of jeans for a 16 year old boy can cost $60  plus tax. That same $60 will not even buy 2 pairs of jeans at the mall store, unless you hit a great sale!

So the deal I struck with my teenage boys was to accept 5 pairs of $12 jeans, and they could have half of the $140 savings to spend as they liked. The caveat there was that some portion had to be given up for charity, and that they needed to find their old, outgrown shoes for a donation at a local clothes drop. So we had a bag of 5 pairs of decent, but outgrown shoes for a clothes drop, and the boys each donated $10 for a local charity fund. They each had $60 to spend. The collaborated, and allocated the money for a couple of video games, a couple of bags of munchies, and still had $30 to stick in their drawers for their ready cash stash.

So I hope I am helping my own kids get in the habit of finding the lowest price item that will fill their needs, and by doing that understanding that some money can be left over for a reward. I also am trying to get them in the habit of giving. Charity should just be part of the process of spending.

Now, again, I am cheating here by not even reporting that this whole process seems to be tougher with my teenage daughter. She is under more pressure at school to wear name brands. And it seems harder to fit her with off the rack discount store jeans. So she took her $200 budget and found 3 pairs of name brand jeans on sale for $27.00, and accepted 2 pairs of crop pants on sale for $21.00 each. She spent $125, and had $75 left over. I gave her the same deal, so she had $37.50 left over. She still found a couple of pairs of outgrown jeans for the donation box, gave $10 to charity, and had a bit of cash left over. I felt a bit sorry for her because I understood that her clothes just seem to cost more, so I slipped her another $20. Unfair? Well maybe, but sometimes the needs of the one seem to outweight the needs of the many!

So think about off consumerisms, because the money you save on shoes could really help  out on a rainy day. And some of it could, you know, be used to provide shoes (or whatever) for people who have no shoes.

consumerism, retail shopping

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