Consumerism

Tomorrow is the beginning of the Alexander family’s spend-free week. We are going to go Monday through Friday without spending any money. We won’t buy groceries. We won’t be eating out. We won’t go to Target or Wal-Mart or Sam’s or Lowe’s or the mall or anywhere that requires spending any money. We won’t buy one single thing. Not clothes or toys for the kids or things for our house.

You may ask why we are doing this? Well, there are a lot of reasons. To save money. To use what we already have. To think about what we are spending our money on. To think about others who don’t have money to spend. To reflect on whether we really need to buy something. To consider “consumerism” in America and how what we buy has implications around the world. On those who make the products. On those who trade the products. On those who sell the products. And even on us who buy the products. Our family is going to focus this week on NOT consuming. I don’t know if we can do it. We’ll see. But I do think God calls us to think about things like this. To consider those less fortunate than us. To consider how rich we are. To become less materialistic. We’ll see what happens and what change comes over us. Over me.

The urge to do something like this is the result of a long personal journey towards thinking more about creation, our world, the environment, capitalism, money, and God. I should have blogged about this journey throughout, but I didn’t really know I was embarking on a journey at the time. I only realize now, in looking back, how much my thinking and my actions have changed over the course of a year. I hope to write about these things in the coming days and weeks.