“Don’t buy what you don’t need.”
Consumerism is not a pathway to joy and meaning in life. This is not a new revelation. In fact, we all know it to be true.
If specifically asked the question, nobody would ever say the secret to a joyful, meaningful life is to buy a lot of stuff. Deep down in our hearts, we know we were made for something bigger—something more significant than mere consumption.
Nobody really believes happiness is directly tied to the number of things we own. Yet almost all of us live like it.
We work more hours than ever before, earn more income, but save less. Personal debt has increased dramatically over the previous three decades. And consumer spending has been exalted to a virtue in our society—even patriotic.
As a result, the average credit card holder now carries 4 different credit cards in his or her pocket. Shopping malls outnumber high schools 2 to 1. 70% of Americans visit a shopping mall each week. Televisions outnumber persons in American homes. Home sizes have doubled in the past 50 years. And consumer debt has risen to 35% of household income.
Will Rogers said it like this, “Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.”
We never intentionally set out to buy more than we need or spend more than we make. But here’s the problem:
Mindless consumption always turns into excessive consumption. (tweet that)
And excess consumption results in more stress, more burden, more pressure to impress, more envy, less financial freedom, less generosity, less contentment—and I haven’t even begun to mention the environmental impact.
It is time to rethink our spending habits, rediscover thoughtfulness and intentionality in our purchases, and remind ourselves that happiness is not on sale at the department store. Buying more is not the solution. We were made for greater pursuits than material possessions. And our lives should reflect that truth.
How then, might we begin to rethink and challenge mindless consumerism in our lives? Consider this intentional approach:
1. Stop and reevaluate.
Look at the life you have created. Are you finding the time, money, and energy for the things that matter most? Have your possessions become a burden on your life in any way? Slow down long enough to honestly evaluate the whole picture: your income, your mortgage, your car payment, your spending habits, your day-to-day pursuits. Are you happy? Or is there, perhaps, a better way?
2. Stop copying other people.
Just because your neighbors, classmates, and friends are chasing a certain style of life does not mean you need to as well. Your life is too unique to live like everyone else. And if you think you’ll be happier by following all the latest trends in society, you are wrong. Just ask anybody who has stopped.
3. Understand your weaknesses.
Recognize your trigger points. Are there certain stores that prompt unnecessary purchases in your life? Are there products, addictions, or pricing patterns (clearance sales) that prompt an automatic response from you? Maybe there are specific emotions (sadness, loneliness, grief) that give rise to mindless consumption. Identify, recognize, and understand these weaknesses. 51% of the solution can be found by simply recognizing the problem.
4. Look deep into your motivations.
Advertisers play on our motivations by appealing to our desires in subtle ways. Advertisements are no longer based on communicating facts about a product. Instead, they promise adventure, reputation, esteem, joy, fulfillment, and sex. What inner-motivations are subconsciously guiding your purchases? What motivations (greed, envy) need to be rooted out? And what motivations (meaning, significance) need to find their fulfillment elsewhere?
5. Seek contribution with your life and usefulness in your purchases.
To live is to consume. As contributing members of society, we are going to work and earn and purchase and consume. But we are more than consumers, we are contributors. Our presence on this earth ought to bring value to the people around us. Purchase only what you need to more effectively accomplish your unique role in this world—everything else is only a distraction. Just because you can buy something doesn’t mean you should.
6. Count the hidden cost of each purchase.
Too often, when we purchase an item, we only look at the sticker price. But this is rarely the full cost. Our purchases always cost more. They require our time, energy, and focus (cleaning, organizing, maintaining, fixing, replacing, removing). They prompt worry, stress, and attachment. Henry David Thoreau said it best, “The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.“
7. Test your limits.
Experiment with a no-shopping challenge. You set the terms—even the world’s biggest shopper can find one experiment to test their boundaries. Go 30 days with no consumer purchases, 60 days without visiting the mall, or 120 days without buying clothes. You set the specific challenge based on your needs. You will break the cycle of shopping in the short-term and lay the groundwork for greater victory in the long-term.
8. Give more things away.
Your life will feel lighter. Your heart will feel warmer. The world will be better. And you will be reminded shopping is not the answer.
9. Do more of what makes you happy.
Your possessions are not making you happy. Once our basic needs have been met, the happiness found in consumerism is fleeting at best. Instead, find what it is that truly makes you happy and do more of it. I find my happiness in faith, family, friends, and contribution. Your list may differ slightly. But either way, owning a whole bunch of stuff is almost certainly not on it.
Make intentionality your highest pursuit. Not consumerism.
I love your blog, your thoughts, your writing – it is so much of what we believe but I can’t always put into words. I have been working with our six year old on the idea of contentment this week and this falls right into line with that. My husband is a pastor and he is preaching on spiritual margin this week and how sometimes things (and the care of those things) steal our time and energy and decrease the margin we have for God in our lives….I shared this post with him as well as it all works together with the same message.
So true. My mother once told me…
“The more you have, the harder you have to work to keep it”
Excellent!!! These are great ideas.
I struggle with this everyday. I am in an unusual position, I work in retail and the store in which I work, is probably my most favorite place to shop. Often I end my shift and then walk the aisles shopping. Another pitfall is that the brands that we sell offer crazy discounts to employees of the store. So justification is so terribly easy, because hey, I can get this insane deal. What happens is, I just end up with more stuff. Some of the practices I have begun to use is once I find something I “need”, in order to halt the impulsive purchase, I go home and try to find something that already does what that item does. If I find it, value it, and use it throughout it’s intended lifespan. Only replacing when absolutely necessary. Not because something new came along. I have also instituted the hiatus method. When I notice myself getting real bad, I ban myself from making purchases for a certain amount of days. The problem is the last time I did this, I literally counted down the 30 days, and probably went overboard after the self imposed restriction was lifted. It’s a struggle but I am getting through it. This blog helps me focus and make better choices. Thanks.
After accumulating 20 years of “stuff”, and now throwing out 20 years of stuff in anticipation for a move, I realize how much money I’ve wasted on things I don’t need. This exercise has been quite sobering.
Ok first almost didn’t leave comment as you have to put email and I have enough intruders to my email lol however, I felt drawn to talk about a few things not mentioned or at least from what I read. I am a travel ICU RN so I move every 3months all over the country. This job has for sure taught me to live minimally as everything I own has to fit into my small car :). With this said it also draws me to spend my $ in a different way (spa, massages, pedicures, makeup, bath stuff) well you get the picture. These things can be just as addictive and a used as say shopping off clothes ect. I also want to share with you my “trigger point” I was broke very broke for a long time when in school such that although working struggled for basic living needs (groceries, utilities, rent) so now that I am making great $ it’s a little toxic as I was so used to having to not wanting to spend every penny made on bills. To some this would make them hoard items but for me it’s like well I have few thousand in bank I should go buy stuff just because I finally can now! My other trigger is that I truly love love love to give to others to the point that I may suffer when some of that giving was unnescerry so I now make tons if lists an separate what I truly need and what I can spend reasonably on others. I often put items back when shopping but I will say going from extremely broke to a higher paid job is tough because you have never been able lets say to afford a massage. This doesn’t however mean I need one. Anyway babbling but we all have trigger points so find them then wrote down what is most important. When I went to Africa to do medicine I had 5pairs of clothes and 2pairs if shoes that’s it. That trip was the happiest I have ever been in my life and the healthiest I’ve been. I was fine to wash my clothes in a bucket and wear same clothes all the time it was liberating. I too left my clothes with them and they were thrilled! I’ll sign off just wanted to share thoughts but great article really!
Oh, Maggie. I can relate. Once when shopping with my mother I saw something I liked but didn’t need. She said “Buy it. You work hard, you deserve it.” For years I bought stuff because my mother said I deserved it. After my parents died and I had to figure out how to get rid of all their stuff. Now I’m back to figuring if I need something or just want it, and then considering what will happen to it when I die.
Last week I caught a glimpse into the “dropoff depot” when I was donating several bags of clothing. Thousands of square feet of people’s unwanted, un-needed stuff, stacked to the rafters. Sickening. It changed me the way walking into an abbatoir could turn a committed carnivore into a vegan.
What a powerful article. I began to simplify my life a year ago and the wonderful work and play in this arena continues daily. I didn’t know then that I wanted to be a minimalist, but now I do thanks to you and others who share their journey. Blessings to you!
“Make intentionality your highest pursuit. Not consumerism.”
best line I have read in months. thank you Joshua!
Like some of the others commenting here, I am on a stop-spending spree. I have been trying to minimalize for a year or so, but still found myself bringing more into the home. I have only stopped spending since the first of this month (consumables and children’s birthday gifts are the exception), but it is so totally freeing! I have not felt at all deprived, but have instead felt this sense of freedom that comes from not adding more to what I already have. And here is the amazing thing – I already have enough! I am going to try and go a whole year and hope I am enjoying it at the end of the year as much as I am enjoying it now!
Any suggestions on how to ‘sell’ this to one’s spouse who is not totally on board?
Todd – Mr. Money Mustache has a few tips that are worth a look. Here is the link to part 1 of 2: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/03/22/selling-the-dream-how-to-make-your-spouse-love-frugality/
I’m with Cheryl (commenter above) :)
I stopped my consumerism tendencies a bunch of years ago and only buy now what I truly need…with the exception of a RUSH DVD that I bought on the weekend!
Also, if I am in need of something I shop at my local thrift shops. If I cannot purchase something used, I really reflect strongly on if I truly need it ot not. if I can talk myself out of it, then I usually do.
Being aware and intentional is a must!
Thanks Joshua for the insightful post and take care.
Lyle
How serendipitous. I commented today that following our 6 month declutter I have changed my attitude to shopping completely. We only buy what we need or really want. In the first category we discuss how urgent the need is. If it is essential (the oven has just died for example) then it can be purchased immediately. Otherwise it goes on the rolling shopping list which is reviewed each month. It is surprising how many things fall off the essential list on review! The “I don’t need but I would really like – a new book for example or a replacement for a reasonably functional pair of slippers that just might make it to next winter or a lovely wooden jelly strainger goes on my “birthday list” By my birthrday I rarely still want more than 10% of the list (if my husband is reading this I do still want the jelly strainer!)
A couple of weeks ago I read Stuffocation by James Wallman, which was completely eye-opening. The push to consumerism can be traced back to over-production in the US decades ago. Basically the choice was cut back on production (with all the associated negatives) or persuade people to buy more and more (with all the associated negatives of that). We obviously know which way the US government chose. We now have countries’ economies dependent on “consumer confidence”, i.e. how much people buy, and how much people owe buying the things they don’t need and don’t have the money for.
After reading the book, I felt like Dorothy when she saw what was behind the curtain. We’ve been duped into spending – consumerism is one big con. I refuse to play anymore and a wonderful weight has been lifted.
Now I’ll have to find that book
Just before Thanksgiving, I decided to stop shopping for a year. I thought my husband would laugh and fall to the floor…he knows me well. But, no. He said I think you can do it…keep a journal too. So I am. I will buy groceries…only things on the list. Our children’s birthday gifts are an exception…but I will be more mindful, I’m sure. Thank you for your inspiration!!
It amazes me that the average person carries 4 credit cards, I only carry one! Thanks for posting this Joshua, it was very helpful.
Oh dear,
I am cleaning out the basement and it feels like I am cutting off my leg.
I want a life that is simple. It is time to rethink how I spend and what I save. If I don’t, the rest of my life will be spent dusting off the past, not making a future.
My possessions own me.
All the best,
Pamela
Pamela: I know others (retirees mainly) whose possessions own them. Years ago, I gave items to nieces or sold extra furniture I inherited.. I don’t try to dictate, but tell others what I do: going thru stuff twice a year and when I fill a bag, I drop it off at charities when I’m doing errands. People hold onto things no longer used and seem to never “purge” items, but store them in boxes in the garage or basement. Kitchen items that sit in drawers or shelves and linens or clothes in the closet unused are purged regularly. Group homes esp. need household items to incl clothing.
Great article and once again gives much food for thought.
Thank you.
All the best Jan
The best part of releasing my photos into the world is seeing them on websites I read, thanks Joshua!
No, thank you. Unsplash.com is wonderful resource for photos and images.
Great photo!
Great article! Thank you!
Great list! My roommate and I are almost halfway through a year-long buy nothing experiment in Calgary, AB where we purchase nothing besides our rent, utilities, groceries and a few necessities (mainly to do with hygiene and medicine). Testing our limits (point 7 above) has been a great way to gain deep, fast knowledge of our motivations and weaknesses, and since we are doing it together, it’s also been fun. I find that having an experiment with parameters makes it easier 1) to stick to it 2) for other people to understand. I used to spend a lot of money on other people (coffees, drinks, meals, gifts) but in the context of this experiment, I’ve found other ways to be giving. From my experience so far, there is definitely a connection between living mindfully/consciously (an examined life) and my personal life fulfillment/happiness.
I love your site, Joshua! Keep going and helping people find joy in simplicity.
I think something that really helps with creating self awareness around this issue is to get really clear on what your core values are and then ask yourself how each act of consumerism fits with those values.
Another excellent post about the deeper causes and motivations for consumerism. I have come to understand this as one of the most deadly poisons to the human spirit. Thank you, Joshua, for the courage to continue to write about these things and to gently push us to think, think, and think some more.
I love the point about giving your things away. Nothing has given me more joy (especially while travelling to developing countries) than giving away my stuff. The joy that the people in these countries get from stuff that has come from ‘America’ as they say, is just priceless. To me, it is just a sweater. To them, it is a foreign American sweater, and they just treasure it for the rest of their lives. I always give all my stuff away before I come back home. I have lots of it, whereas these people have very little. In addition, I do the same back home in Toronto. I give away bags of clothing every year – stuff that has gone out of style, or stuff I got at a clothing swap that I’m not interested in anymore. Love giving away stuff!
To some American a old sweat shirt from someone they care about, means love close to a person. keeps them warmer because who its from. when their sad . missing some-one they put that old sweat shirt on to have the one closer to them. Don’t under mine american feelings. A america sweater comes from any one in another country. A american just wants her friend, husband, boyfriend , that one special person. old sweat shirt. Not from any one els one special person
Huh?
I think I understand what Kathy is getting at. Sometimes possessions are links to people, while other times they’re just stuff. One values gifts that call loved ones to mind every time one uses them, while getting some random person’s old stuff isn’t all that meaningful. However, we have the luxury of making those distinctions only because few of us experience the serious poverty in third-world countries, where the poor welcome our stuff because they actually need it, not because they want it.
Think before you purchase – for you may already have enough.
That’s great. Can I use that sometime? Are you the source?