h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Buy Nothing Day - A78788074
Author: Happy Nerd - U8584330

Buy Nothing Day, a holiday from conspicuous consumption.

Today I have bought boots for my daughter.

How odd. There are a few easy Buy Nothing days during the year (sundays, holidays like Christmas or New Year -- aren't all shops closed today Lady McScrooge ). Do they count?

Most of the days I buy nothing except lunch and coffee at the workplace cafeteria. I'm not sure that adding a single day would change anything.

I am surprised that I have never heard of such a day, despite having lived in many parts of this country and associating with folks in atleast a dozen others. This does make an interesting read, and looks good to me.

If you're interested, Chumbawamba wrote a song in support of Buy Nothing Day on their album Un - http://www.last.fm/music/Chumbawamba/_/Buy+Nothing+Day

Toybox, I'm not sure which of your comments are directed to Lady McScrooge and which are ones for me to address.

Rev Nick, Good point. I've addressed that in a new paragraph.

Vip, I've added references to Chumbawamba's and The Go! Team's Buy Nothing Day songs.

Thanks, everyone for reading.


HN

I thought I remembered an Entry about this from before. There was, but it never made it through PR: A885602

I don't think there's really much in it that would be of use, though; yours is a much stronger Entry.

I can barely tell myself. I'm not even sure there was anything you shoudl address Let's do it again:


Nice Entry I didn't know about Buy Nothing Day (then again, there are so many This Day and That Days, you cannot keep track of all).


I wonder if BND actually makes much difference though, because several days are automatically Buy Nothing Days (usually because everything is closed, like sundays or bank holidays). But you point out that there is some awareness-raising events taking place, so these may have some impact.

My question for Lady McScrooge was: did you intend to go shopping last Sunday? Would anything be open?


And then I was wondering if buying lunch and coffee at work would make the Buy Nothing attempt null and void. Or bus fares to go to work, things like that. On the other hand, I don't see why not: "Buy Nothing" means "Buy Nothing", not "Nothing except items in the following list".

Must and post something in the Petty Hates thread now

My guess would be that the principle is to buy nothing of personal extravagance or pleasure that day. Transportations, meals, hardware to fix the toilet, they are all common. Buying that new and fabulous shirt, or a Wii game, ... Not today, please.

I believe it's aimed more at trying to change your thinking - *why* are you buying what you're buying? Is it because there is value in the items you are buying or is it because consumerism/media/peer pressure tell you that you should?

It's aimed more at high street shopping rather than every day purchases, I think.

What about a beer at the pub?

Avoiding luxury shopping makes more sense indeed. But it's not quite expressed like that. Maybe another message is that I should get better organised - buying a booklet of bus tickets in advance, for example, or preparing my own stuff to eat and bring it to work. Or not breaking the toilet

If your average day has you buying lunch, stopping for a sip at the end of the day, even playing the lottery perhaps. All normal things. I think this is more aimed at all of the things that people buy or spend money on during the 'festive' season that is beyond the ordinary

And being a well-qualified plumber's son, don't worry about the toilet. My rates are cheap, after you consider paying air-fare for me to get there.

I'd pay anything to get a cheap plumber

It's always gratifying, and occasionally entertaining, to find several responses on a PR thread.

KB, it's really too bad that Zarniroop, U132645 the researcher who wrote A885602, didn't polish it up and send it in to the UG or . It would have made a good 1st person perspective of being a Buy Nothing Day activist.

toybox, there isn't *one right and true way* of observing Buy Nothing Day. I listed several options in the entry. If the point is to rethink personal patterns of consumption, then it is up to the individual to decide how and when to spend money.

I can, however, tell you how not to observe Buy Nothing Day. Here's a news article link; it's about a family who started camping out Nov 19 in front of a Best Buy in Florida so they could be first in line for a Black Friday sale. Enjoy:

http://www.wtsp.com/news/topstories/story.aspx?storyid=157294&catid=250

Thanks, everyone for reading, commenting, and giving advice on plumbing.

But if that family didn't buy anything during their camping week, wouldn't it mean Buy Nothing Day has been successful?

Didja read the article, toybox?

Unfortunately I did

I guess it takes all sort. I've seen aliens on Star Trek which behave more normally

What bemused me most was that they were given an award