benefit #25 – less time shopping (more productive life)
i spent an hour in the mall this past weekend. i was getting some work done on my vehicle and decided to peruse the mall while i waited. because i didn’t have any shopping goals, i was able to do some people-watching while i wandered. i found it interesting to see how many other people were present in the mall at the exact same time as me. and it caused me to wonder, “what else could these people be accomplishing if they weren’t shopping? if i were able to completely cut shopping out of my schedule, how much more productive would i be?”
according to the new york times, the average american spends 23 minutes/ day shopping. males spend 16 minutes/day and females spend 29 minutes/day. to get a further breakdown of how americans spend their time, check out this fascinating link: how americans spend their time:
working the math at an average of 23 minutes/day,
- americans spend 2 hours, 40 minutes shopping every week.
- americans spend 11 hours, 30 minutes shopping every month.
- americans spend 139 hours, 55 minutes shopping every year.
obviously, it is impossible to completely remove shopping from our schedules. at some point, we’ll need groceries, gasoline, or a gift for someone. but it occurred to me this past weekend that one benefit of becoming minimalist is that it allows me the opportunity to live a more productive life simply by the mere fact that i spend less time shopping now. and since we only get one chance to live this life, we might as well make it a productive one.
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I am wondering if that number (23 Minutes) isn’t a bit low? Rhetorically speaking, does it count the time spent shopping online? The aimless browsing (window shopping) for books on Amazon, reading reviews, or ITunes etc.
To me that’s still shopping and still time spent that could be better allocated, in general. The graphic is very telling about how much time we waste overall.
I took the baby triplets to the mall on sunday, partly because we needed to get out of the house (Buffalo + Snowy Winter + Needy babies = Cabin Fever), partly because my wife has been dropping baby weight and needed a few things. We were there for about four hours. Now, granted, we had to feed and change each kid, so that took up two hours. And we had a bite to eat in the food court which was another thirty minutes. But still, it was a fair chunk of time that could have been better spent.
- Charley
I agree with Charley that the numbers are low, especially if you include online shopping. I knew there was a reason I hate to shop!
But I like wandering around the mall. If I have to spend my Saturdays productively, pft, I’ll take overtime.
these numbers do seem low. it can take me 90 minutes to get in and out of the grocery store (because it is HUGE – i shop there for lower prices) and i’m only shopping for one person.
believe me – i do not want to spend that time at the grocery store.
Does that include grocery shopping?