A Report on my No-Buy Pledge

February 10, 2023 in orange desk

In early January, I made a pledge to buy nothing other than food, medical needs for pets and humans, gifts for others, and toiletries when they ran out. No shoes, clothes, accessories, magazines, books, notebooks, cards, stationery, household items, or electronics. Those were the conditions of the pledge.

How did I do during the first month of 2023?

I did so well that I surprised myself. I did buy a “Forks Over Knives: Plant-Based Foods” magazine at the grocery store a week ago, but at the time, it didn’t register that I was crossing the line with that purchase (I had forgotten magazines were on the list). I signed up for online fitness classes twice a week, but I count that as physical and mental health care. I have only read books available from the library (nine read in January!), I unsubscribed from all emails dangling shiny objects in front of me, I ordered nothing from Amazon, and I felt simultaneously virtuous and in charge. It’s an exhilarating combination.

Consumerism is such a slippery slope. Feliks and I talked on the way home from the barn one day about how much this culture is centered around shopping, as if it is a sport or the national pastime. “Going out” often involves shopping or buying food at a restaurant. If you just say no, you are outside the fold. And, I might add, beautifully so. There is a simplicity to this that I love, and crave. In a sense, the decision to buy or not buy has already been made for me, saving me the need to ponder it at all. My email inbox thanks me, too.

Emma continues to organize our house for us and it is clear that disorganization has prompted some of our buying decisions. Lost things replaced, but the lost things now found. When we are done, everything will have a place to live in our house, and everything will be in its place, eliminating this duplicative spending. DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR TWEEZERS ARE? YOUR SAFETY PINS? THE POST-IT NOTES AND SCOTCH TAPE?

I am continuing my pledge and will report back at the end of February. This is simplifying my life in an important way, and I am here for the learning.

BTW: The books I read in January from the library that I can heartily recommend are Ross Gay’s Inciting Joy, which I have mentioned several times this month, Ross Gay’s The Book of Delights: Essays, Ayad Ahktar’s Homeland Elegies, Geraldine Brooks’ Horse, and Tess Gunty’s The Rabbit Hutch. That last one? Whew. She is a brilliant writer with an unusual imagination. Stark and revealing and bizarre and pointedly brilliant. The writing. Whew.

About Patti Digh

Patti Digh is an author, speaker, and educator who builds learning communities and gets to the heart of difficult topics. Her work over the last three decades has focused on diversity, inclusion, social justice, and living and working mindfully. She has developed diversity strategies and educational programming for major nonprofit and corporate organizations and has been a featured speaker at many national and international conferences.