|
This is a great thread. My parents taught me a lot of the same stuff that you all are talking about... basically BUY EVERYTHING USED and EAT AT HOME (and make your own lunch). The times that I am actually able to stick to this (still working on it) have saved me a great deal of money, and also help me feel like I'm fighting the evils of consumption.
To which I'll add, Wal-Mart is cheap, but it's also oppressive. Buying cheap isn't everything.
What I'm wondering, though (and because I study economic anthropology), is whether any of the people who respond to this thread are non-Western. I have a feeling that most of us are North American/European... and wonder if people from different cultures have different ideas of spending and saving. Unfortunately American patterns of consumption have spread around the globe, but I'd like to hear how other cultures fight this pressure to consume and own more stuff.
__________________
And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran
|