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November 9th, 2006 by Deanna Taylor Deanna TaylorDeanna Taylor

Buy Nothing This Year

Segueway from Election Season to the Holiday Season:

It’s November and you know what that means:
The Christmas Shopping Season.

As we head into the frenzy of the season, consider the following (based on research I did a year ago):

  • Americans spend APPROX. $1,042 on holiday gifts
    (Annual per capita income of a Vietnamese citizen: $280)
  • Average number of months it takes a credit-card user to
    pay off holiday bills: 4
    (57% of consumers plan to pay for holiday purchases with
    credit)
  • Total U.S. credit-card debt: OVER $600 BILLION
  • Rate at which consumer debt is growing in the United
    States: TWICE THE RATE OF WAGES
  • Number of extra tons of trash produced in the U.S. each
    year between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day: 5 MILLION
  • Almost 52 percent of women, ages 35 to 54, said their stress levels go up during the holidays. By contrast, 40 percent of surveyed men in the same age bracket said their stress levels increase with the holidays.
  • Folks 55 and over expereince the least increases in stress at the holidays.
  • Forty-seven percent making $15,000 to $30,000 said stress levels increase for them during the holidays.
  • Forty-nine percent of working women with children experience elevated stress levels during the holidays. Forty-eight percent of working women without children expereience higher stress in the holidays. Homemakers, follow at 44 percent.
  • 46 percent from the West experience holiday stress-more than in the Midwest at 43 percent.

    • Each year many Americans participate in the Buy Nothing Day Campaign the day after Thanksgiving in shopping areas. The idea is to get folks to think about their buying habits and how the media impacts those habit.

    This year the Desert Greens has organized a Winter Coat Exchange on Buy Nothing Day. The concept is patterned after the Rhode Island Green Party’s event (now in its 10th year) and to contribute to the community while at the same time getting folks to think about gift-giving and consumerism.

    Some of my family members sent this to me recently about giving them gifts at Christmas:

    Consider making a donation to Food for the Poor instead of buying a material gift. We have so much and there are many in Latin America and the Caribbean who have nothing. Food for the Poor has a 96% fundraising efficiency rate, with less than 4% of donations going towards administrative costs.

    I hope that we all will give serious consideration this year to the state of the world and how we can do our part to improve our planet and life.
    Let me end by entertaining you with this tune:

    Consumer Wonderland (to the tune of Winter Wonderland)

    The TV’s on…..are you watching?
    Another product that they’re hawking
    One more thing that you need, to make life complete….
    Welcome to Consumer Wonderland.

    In the stores…..you will hear it,
    “Pricey gifts….show holiday spirit”
    That’s what they call it, to get to your wallet,
    Welcome to Consumer Wonderland.

    At the mall we can go out shopping,
    And buy lots of stuff we can’t afford
    We’ll have lots of fun with our new toys
    ’til we realize that we’re still bored—

    When you shop….ain’t it thrilling,
    Until you get the billing

    The money you still owe….the stuff broke long ago….

    Welcome to Consumer Wonderland.

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    This entry was posted Thursday, November 9th, 2006 at 6:07 am and is filed under Economy. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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