The escalator hums,
groups of girls that I like to call "Peaches" (as in, Peaches Geldof at the
height of her teeny-bopping, wild child, London party days)
are hanging out in every possible corner. Fashionistas browse the rails,
looking for well priced (but poorly tailored) synthetic items in this
autumn's shades of pale pink, burgundy, camel, and cobalt blue. Fumes from
newly decorated talons at Nails Inc drift past and mingle with the sweet scent
of Lola's cream cheese-frosted red velvet cupcakes. Three levels
of shoes, trousers, dresses, skirts, jumpers, hats, scarves, bags,
jewellery ... and everything in between. More apparel than anyone could
need in their lifetime. Enough to clothe a small country
perhaps... and perhaps clothe it for several years.
I
recently completed a 30-day challenge wherein I was not allowed to
purchase anything "unnecessary" in those 30 days. Unless it was an item
which I regularly used (and had actually run out of), or something
essential (food, transport, etc), no purchases could be made. Initially
this was difficult (on day six, one of my favourite designers launched
an amazingly well-priced collaboration collection with one of my
favourite high street stores) and there were lots of discussions about whether something that I regularly purchased (William Curly chocolates) were
indeed necessary (deemed so on only one particularly stressful and
exhausting day). But once I got into the hang of it, it was actually
pretty easy.
We
live in a society that values quantity over quality; success is
equated with size of salaries, size of house, and quantity of obtained goods. I recently read that we see the amount
of media messages in one week, that a person from the 19th century would
see in their entire life, so it is no wonder that we constantly feel the
need to have something new, something better, something more. Our
favourite fictional (m)ad man said it best...
“I can’t decide … if you have everything … or nothing.”
But take yourself out of this treadmill of advertising/shopping/
Mass consumerism contributes to excess waste, to the
stress of keeping up with the constantly changing status symbols, and
sometimes, even, discontent in life. When was the last time you said to
yourself "if only I had X, then a) I'd be stylish b) my life would
be simpler c) I'd be more productive ... or d) my life would finally be
perfect."
Ummmmm, newsflash: consumer goods do not solve these problems. By
taking a step back, removing yourself from the cycle created to increase
customer discontent and in turn, corporate coffers, you can realise
what is really valuable, useful and necessary. Does anyone really need
this many socks?
This
challenge made me think long and hard about what I was buying, and
stress purchases and impulse purchases were questioned. Every purchase was weighed -
is this a want or a need? And guess what I found out ... most were
wants, not actual needs. At the end of the month, I had a small but very
well-thought-out list of items that after 30 days of contemplation, were indeed deemed beneficial or useful (and after having thought
about them, I knew that would put them to good use, rather than shoving
them to the back of my closet and questioning my own judgement 6 months
later, realising that the tags are still on). I had extra time (no
longer browsing the online collections of my favourite stores, lamenting
the masses of items that I couldn't and shouldn't buy), and a bigger
bank account ... and you know what else? A sense of satisfaction, that I
can always be (for a short time at least) free of the consumer cycle
when I choose to be.
GG Rating - good for Spelt Supporters: a little discipline = big satisfaction
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