Day 154
“So, is this something you just decided to do, or is there a group doing it…um…I mean, uh, did you hear about it somewhere?”, the other mom volunteering at our school’s field day questioned from behind a smiling mask of slight confusion, and maybe a little revulsion after I gave her the quickie Simple Year elevator speech.
So, I replied in my cheeriest voice, “Well it’s funny you ask because….” And then some kid came up and wanted his shoe tied and that was the end of that conversation.
So, I’ll tell you.
I came up with this concept on my own. As I have said before, I hypothesized we could reduce our footprint, live simply, and learn some valuable lessons all while maintaining the same quality of life. Aren’t I clever inventing such a novel concept?
EXCEPT IT WASN’T
After starting this project and committing to writing three times a week about it (even when I’d rather be watching Burn Notice or Pawn Stars); I realized there are thousands and thousands of people that have practiced some version of not buying or simplifying.
There is a woman that hasn’t bought anything new in FIVE years- are you kidding me? Five Years? She has a blog and a Facebook group called the Non Consumer Advocate Group with over 2,900 people that in some form or fashion don’t buy crap, uh, things. There is a Yahoo Group called The Compact with over 10,000 members who have all pledged to buy nothing new for a year. It has been in existence since 2006, I’m unclear if they have been recycling the same people for the past six years or they get new Compactees each year. There are minimalist sites with a hundred thousand like-minded readers, people that live in houses the size of toll booths, families of four that only generate a handful of trash each year, and someone that lives in a hut and hasn’t used toilet paper in the last two decades.
For a while it was freaking me out, because they all seem to be doing it better than me. Except for the toilet paper people, I’m OK not entering that field of play. But, after I got over my initial self-doubt, I started to reach out to these groups and individuals and suddenly I had a peer group, of sorts, and as a result quite a few people started to read my story and offer all manner of kind words. So even though we are a group of less than one tenth of one percent of the global population, there are still a group of us. (I made that statistic up, it just sounded good, you probably shouldn’t quote me)
The goal of this blog isn’t to TELL anybody what to do, give you instruction or set any parameters. There are other avenues for that. It is merely to relate my story, which is hopefully somewhere between toilet paper guy and the New Yorkers that spent $250,000 on their dog’s wedding last summer.
But, I will say this (and then shut up about it). You might be reading this because you find me amusing, like say, a circus side show. I’m good with that. But, if you are reading this because you have been tossing around the idea of reducing your consumption in some fashion, I assure you, it can be done (at least for five months, I don’t want to get ahead of myself for the next seven).
Maybe your project is different, not cold turkey for a year– maybe a month? Or perhaps you decide you are going to get all of your books from the library this year instead of buying. Or maybe it is as simple as “getting by” with something you already own. (Can we say freakin’ frackin’ grumble, grumble- IPhone 5?).
Hey, we can always commiserate.
On an unrelated note, you may notice I changed the format for the blog. Mainly because people, and by people, I mean the 4th grade carpool crowd, thought the dark background made it hard to read on mobile devices. I agreed with them.