While I was at the beach in 2013, I went to a bookstore in Buxton, NC, and purchased Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project, which chronicles her quest to improve her life. Over the course of her quest to find the secret of happiness, she did a significant amount of research on what made other people happy, then selected a number of likely contenders to incorporate into her life each month for a year. For example, in April, she tried to "Lighten Up", or take herself less seriously; she started off with playing an April Fool's joke on her kids, then she started singing in the morning (much to her daughters' amusement), attempted to reduce her yelling, and to acknowledge other people's feelings. In the book, she stresses that the contenders she chose were those she thought would personally have the highest rate of success, and that anyone else who attempted their own Happiness Project would need to select their own happiness factors to pursue.
A couple of her factors resonated with me, however. In May, she decided to try to start a collection and ended up starting two, but in the end, she concluded, "On the note of collections, I'm sure they're fun for others, but I simply don't want to store, clean, and maintain more things." In 2010, we moved from a relatively large house to a medium-small-sized house because we had rooms that were underutilized and it seemed like a waste to heat and maintain them; on the flip side, in our new house, our basement is full of stuff that we moved but rarely used; our bedrooms are similarly cluttered. These aren't collections (except in the loosest sense), but I understood what she meant about how our stuff can take up precious space. In July, her goal was to "Buy Some Happiness"; specifically, she forced herself to "indulge in a modest splurge". While I wouldn't consider myself an avid shopper, I have to admit, buying things does provide me with a small amount of pleasure; it doesn't even need to be something for me -- I derive satisfaction simply buying birthday gifts on Amazon -- but it is amazing how many items I buy for myself that end up unused on the shelf, in the closet, or even on the floor. I'm not a hoarder, but I'll buy something on impulse (a book, some nail polish) that I never have time to use. These two happiness factors in concert led me to consider: how much of this stuff do I really need?
One thing that has been a quiet (or maybe not-so-quiet) obsession of mine over the past seven years are environmental issues. My son has asthma, my daughter has allergies, so initially I was concerned primarily with the particulates in the air; I started riding my bike to work (to reduce emissions), using less energy (we live in an area where coal is the major fuel for providing electricity), and became more aware of the impacts of local industry. But when you are riding a bike or walking, you also start to notice other aspects of environmental corruption, such as water pollution, litter, and the impact of urban development. I started becoming more aware of what I was feeding my family and my kids, looking for organic and more nutritious foods. I even tried to develop a website to share some of the things ordinary people could do to improve their environment, but I never had time to make it take off. I also started following other environmental websites on Facebook, and created a page on Facebook called "Green-Eyed Jack" where my friends and I share environmental news we find on the web.
One item that I shared was a link to an article on the Mother Nature Network called "The Seven Stones of Simpler Living". The very first stone was "Reduce Your Consumption". As author Chris Baskind put it, "Anyone who thinks they can shop their way to greener living has been watching too much television. Sure, responsible consumerism matters. Every purchase is a choice. But the key to simpler, greener living is pretty straightforward: consume less." Baskind recommends a one week rule: if you want something, don't buy it on impulse; wait a week and see if you are as gung ho about that item, and only then consider buying it.
But then the thought crossed my mind: Could I go a whole year without purchasing anything aside from the bare necessities? If so, how would it impact my life? Of course, this also begs the question: how does someone discriminate a bare necessity from a useful want? And what impact would living like this have on my life?
I figured I would need to put together some guidelines, or I might quickly fail:
1. For now, this does not extend to shopping for others. Presents for birthdays and Christmas, donating to charity -- these are still acceptable expenditures. I could not, however, buy presents for myself.
2. Necessities encompass items we really cannot live without: food, parts for the car, medicine, etc.
3. Clothing is a necessity, but only if I am replacing something that is too ragged or ill-fitting for regular wear. When something new enters my closet, something old needs to go out.
4. Activities (like going to the movies, which we rarely do) are acceptable, provided that no material goods are acquired as a result of this activity.
5. Our planned renovation of the basement may require the purchase of additional things, such as flooring, drywall, and maybe some furniture. Although this should be done with as much reuse as possible, items purchased to help with the renovation are not included under this consumption ban.
6. I would write this blog to chronicle my successes (and failures) to keep myself on track.
Now, admittedly, we just celebrated Christmas, and next week is my birthday, so this resolution may not seem like a real challenge for a few weeks, but here, on the second day of January, it looks doable. And, maybe, as I get better at consuming less, I can start working on the other six "stones of simpler living".
References
Baskind, Chris. "The seven stones of simpler living", Mother Nature Network website, May 06 2010. http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/responsible-living/stories/the-seven-stones-of-simpler-living .
Rubin, Gretchen. The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun. HarperCollins, 2009. Website: http://gretchenrubin.com
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