In the long run, if you live within your means and limit your consumerism, it leads to a more stable economy. There will always be up cycles and down cycles, but in an economy where consumerism isn’t the main driver, there is less of a dramatic swing between the two. (And “economic stimulus” may not be necessary.) If you are ready to do what is right for your personal finances, and you want to boycott the consumer culture that surrounds us, here are two relatively simple things that you can do:

1. Join a sharing network: Instead of buying new, see if you can get what you need through a sharing network like Freecycle. You can also use Classifieds services to help you find people who want to exchange their stuff for your stuff. Instead of throwing something out, give it away if it is still servicable. The idea behind sharing networks, from book exchanges to local swap meets is that you can exchange goods without going out and buying something new. Even buying something on secondhand from a thrift shop reduces the consumerism in the world.
2. Make it yourself. You can also boycott consumer culture by doing some things for yourself. Growing your own produce is one way to do this. If you have other skills, you can make your own clothes (my mom did this for me and my siblings while we were growing up), make own your bread and other food items or even build some of your own goods. At the very least, making an effort to buy local food and other items can reduce the amount of consumerism going on and keep money in the local economy.

These are two of the easiest ways to reduce your consumerism. However, there are a number of other more complex and dedicated methods of boycotting consumer culture. These include participating in localized currencies and even going all the way with freeganism. Your level of participation in a consumer culture boycott is, of course, up to you. In the end, if enough people start living more frugal lives, and taking care of their personal finances, the economy itself will make a shift to something that is more sustainable in the long term.

Image source: Daylife

Post from: EveryJoe

Two Ways to Boycott Consumer Culture

I know we’re scaling back a bit in the gift department this year. We’re still giving holiday gifts to family and close friends, but they aren’t as expensive as they have been in the past. And, according to Weinstein, “The Ethics Guy,” there’s nothing wrong with that:

There are lots of ways to say “thank you” or “I value our relationship” to someone besides spending money.  How about spending time with someone? Making a small donation in their name? Writing–and I mean really writing, by hand–a heartfelt letter?

You have no reason to feel guilty for not giving holiday presents during our financially shaky times. Sure, traditional presents are great to give, if you can afford to. If not, it’s smart to avoid making a bad situation worse.  We can always be generous of spirit, even when our revenue streams have slowed to a trickle—or stopped flowing altogether.  (By the same token, of course, we should be understanding if we don’t receive the gift certificates or boxes of goodies we usually get from friends and colleagues.)

Return to holiday gift giving of days of yore?

I’ve been reading some literature from Britain and the U.S. (I’m talking 1500s to early 1900s), and I’ve been interested in the types of gifts that were exchanged. Most of them were hand-made to a certain degree and were more along the lines of thoughtful tokens of esteem rather than expensive expressions of consumerism. Perhaps we should take the lesson here:

It’s the thought that counts.

Sure, we’ve heard it. But in our consumer culture we haven’t really paid much attention to the thought — we’ve been too concerned about whether the price tag is sufficiently large. But perhaps now we can start thinking about the feeling behind the gifts.

What are your gift ideas in this economy?

Post from: EveryJoe

Holiday Gift Giving In This Economy