Everything is somehow tied to money and how you spend your money ultimately becomes the story of your life. It’s not how you earn it. It’s how you spend it that determines how your life is. Good or bad. Fun or boring. Selfish or giving.
Shopping is not a hobby. Let’s say this outloud together. “Shopping. is. not. a. hobby.”
Many of our consumption decisions are based on convenience. They are unintentional. They don’t have purpose.
Oftentimes, we aren’t consuming for purpose or practicality. It’s for excitement and status.
It’s not necessarily bad to own things. But when your purchases are unintentional, they can be quite costly. Unintentional consumerism creates 10 unwanted consequences.
- It distracts you from what is most important. A rich human experience is about relationships not things. Those relationships that are most important in your life, are most likely not related to your workplace. So the time and energy that you have to spend at work to earn money to spend unintentionally takes away from those people that are most important to you.
- It starts as a pleasure and turns into an addiction. We get pleasure from spending. Then we want to spend more and more often to keep feeding that pleasure trap. That is an addiction. You no longer have self control when it comes to your spending.
- It makes you live on autopilot. Being an adult comes with considerable responsibilities that can turn into a treadmill where you just keep working and spending, working and spending. We are going through the motions. That’s part of why adulting can suck.
- It robs you of your time. Yikes! Time is life’s most precious resource. The more we buy, the more money we have to earn, the more time we have to work, the more time spent dealing with our possessions.
- It deprives you of deprivation. How’s that for a double negative? Everyone wants what’s easy and convenient but we are missing out on the benefits of deprivation. For example, when you sleep outside under the stars it can be romantic for the night but also likely uncomfortable and not terribly conducive to getting a good night’s sleep, but that discomfort also gives you a greater appreciation for the warmth and comfort of your home. Without deprivation, it’s harder to have gratitude for all that we have.
- It assumes that humans are greedy. Consumption is often correlated with greed. We chase greed. Materialistic societies like we have in North America would serve well to back the foot off the consumerism pedal and place it on the pedal that drives community and kindness and happiness. It would be better if we could get more towards a world where people are inherently cooperative rather than greedy.
- It’s wasteful. By making purchases on autopilot, we tend to purchase way more than we need which ultimately becomes garbage. Waste is the norm. I read somewhere that it takes 3 gallons of water to make a piece of paper. When you think about that, maybe you’ll consider how much paper you need and how you are using it. Let’s take good care of our great world.
- It undermines the importance of community. Especially now with delivery apps and online shopping. You can go for a very long time without even leaving your home. But what is the effect of that in our communities? What happened to our vibrant downtowns and friendly neighbors? It’s hard to get to know your neighbors if you don’t leave your house. Our interactions are vital for our communities and our mental health.
- It promotes the wrong message. How you choose to spend your money ultimately determines what products and services are available? If everyone only bought and ate vegetables, then there would be no need for land for cattle or factories for processed foods. Unintentional purchases, such as junk food in this case, can promote poor eating in your community.
- It makes us the weird ones. It is counter-cultural to spend less, be frugal, be considerate in your purchase decisions. It is very hard for people to understand when you decide to work less so that you can prioritize other things in your life rather than making more money just to spend it on things you don’t need that don’t ultimately bring you joy. Living a less materialistic life is not popular, but it is the right thing to do… for our communities, for our families, for ourselves.
The more money you have, the more control you have over your time. That is the ultimate goal, to have control over your time so that you can use that time to write your own story, curate your life and celebrate with your friends and family.
So, the next time you are tempted to hit the “buy now” button, take a pause and think about whether what is in your cart actually matches up with your values and is something that you need and will enjoy and is worth the amount of time that you have to work to pay for it.