White Friday/Buy Nothing Day

Instead of falling into the trap of marketing and consumerism, The Pilot and I are celebrating White Friday and Buy Nothing Day. Instead of a day of consumption, we are at home:

1. Clearing the clutter: The Pilot and I are de-cluttering the house to not only simplify our lives but to also take pictures. We are going to attempt to sell my condo so we can move on to a home of our own.
2. Clearing the dirt: See above...in fact, I need to go mop the kitchen floor now.
   
3. Clearing the schedule: Instead of waiting in line outside of Wally World in the middle of the night, we went to bed relatively early and slept in a little later. We will be celebrating Thanksgiving with my family later today but we aren't rushing around like mad people to try to save a few bucks on some thing we don't need.
4. Clearing the debt: This was taken care of last week.
   
5. Clearing the mind: I think I'm having the most trouble with this today as I have a heavy topic on my mind but that may be a post of another day
6. Clearing the soul: See clearing the mind....but I am trying. I think a day spent at home with The Pilot is a good start to clearing the mind and soul.
   

I have participated in Black Friday twice in my adult memory. I hated it both times and while I did score one great deal on an item that I did need (and still get a lot of use out of), I have no desire to fight crowds on a day that could be spent chilling out or spent on the items listed above.

I'm not saying that I don't enjoy shopping or getting a good deal. I do purchase Christmas gifts and while I have significantly scaled back in the last 2 years (see clearing the debt!), I still enjoy picking out gifts for others. Instead of placing a higher dollar value on the gifts that I give, I try to put a lot of thought into those few gifts. This requires some creativity as opposed to rushing around, fighting crowds to find that top dollar electronic that the media is telling everyone that they need. I don't want to come across as a hypocrite, because I do shop and I do purchase things. I am just pointing out that I am trying to scale back and put less importance on things and more importance on spending time with loved ones and spending time improving my life, my home, my body and mind.

For those that do enjoy the chaos of Black Friday, have at it. I used to not judge because really, I don't care how others spend their day. But, when I see people on the news rushing the doors of a store and knocking over employees or fighting over the last TV that is on sale, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Are we really that absorbed in consumerism that we are willing to risk safety over a thing?