“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.
Alvin says
Real price of products…
It is not just about our lives. But it is about lives people who created it.
Look, what must be done to create product what you buy. How much impact it is have on Earth. Other people.
Fair trade is better solution.
Annette Lessmann says
I went to the mall for the first time in months to walk while my hubby was taking a nap in the motel room. There was nothing there that yelled at me to take it home. What has surprised me even more than clothes not yelling at me that I need them, is that books have stopped yelling at me from the shelves of bookstores. Getting rid of things I don’t need has been so liberating. Thanks.
Linda M says
Right on!
Linda says
I agree, Annette. I used to actually tell clerks who asked if they could help me find something that “I’m shopping for things to need.” Then I’d laugh. I still enjoy looking. Being retired and now on a more fixed income, buying is something I rarely do. I’d rather have an “experience” than a “thing.” Maintaining a friendship while sharing breakfast or lunch together is so much better than a house full of stuff!
ren says
Set a couple old whicker chairs out to curb junk man or someone else can have them. Carried up a bag of trash from basement, this weekend the garage us getting a through going thru. Just doing a little each week and then bigger projects when I can
Vicki Mahaffey says
i have never liked clutter or stuff so my rule has always been that if an item has not been used in the year…it goes out! I do a complete house de cluttering once a year…have a yard sale and anything left does not come back into the house but goes to Goodwill!
jose martin bongao says
be yourself in making a living..simplicity is beauty.
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Steve says
Consumerism = Lemmingism. I remember about a decade ago there was an “I don’t need that” movement. There were small “I don’t need that” stickers you can place on consumerism lures that marketers were tempting you with (like fish attracted to shiny lures, consumers can’t resist colors and shiny lures).
To this day, when too tempted, I mentally use an “I don’t need that” sticker with the same commitment as though I placed a sticker on it.
Simple and smart living is how even up to this date in 2015, I never owned a smart phone, never bought an ultra luxury car nor suv, and continue to live in a modest house I could pay off tomorrow with all the money saved over the years.
I can thank that simple “I don’t need that” movement years ago, it was my first awareness of the Consumer Lemmingism trap. Thanks for this website, I am certain it will help a lot of people make their first detour from the pied piper known as modern marketing.
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Norma says
A few years ago, due to economic conditions, I turned the cable TV subscription off. It was electrifying how much LESS I wanted stuff! I never turned it back on, just watch Netflix or Prime for an entertainment fix…rent a movie…read a book…you get the idea.
The point is, that being no longer hounded by advertisements of any kind reduced my desire to buy stuff I didn’t NEED to nothing.
Those who say they don’t pay attention to the ads are only fooling themselves…they’re pernicious little boogers…
Jacquie Mitchell says
I absolutely agree Norma those TV adds get to you whether you know it or not it’s very subliminal
Shirley says
I am really conflicted. I have been given heaps of gifts over the years by my well-meaning parents. Unfortunately a lot of it is not to my taste but I keep it around because they were gifts. One day I won’t have my parents anymore and I feel obligated to keep what they have given me. What if I give them away but then feel horrible for not having kept the items? But for now they just sit in a drawer, taking up valuable space.
Heidi says
Some of the things I did when I started this process a year and a half ago was first of all I had to throw guilt and a sense of obligation out the window. I also asked myself if I would expect someone else to keep something for an indefinite period of time that I had gave them, which has also made me think twice about the whole gift-giving process. I now wonder why I would ever want to burden someone with the obligation of an object that I assumed they would like as much as I did. I know longer give gifts that aren’t usable (my time, my energy, or maybe money or gift card) or consumable. most of the time I just opt out of gift giving all together. Another thing that I have done is explain to people how important minimalism is to me and that the stress of stuff had/has become overwhelming. I am simply tired of caring for things and I want my life to be filled with experiences that have meaning to me. So in order to do this I have to remove the “stuff” in order to make room for joy. I have taken the chance, when I feel it is safe, of offering some of the things that have been given to me, back to the giver. I thank them for letting me enjoy them for the time in which I have had them, but that I know longer have a use for them and thought that maybe they would want them back. Most things though I have just passed on to a new owner who can enjoy them and use them as they where intended to be used. I hope you can find peace and freedom on this wonderful journey we call minimalism :-)