This morning, while walking Seamus and planning my day in my head, I started wondering how difficult it would be to get through a whole day without buying anything. Not a day where you stay at home and do nothing, but a day when you’re actually out in the world – going to work or play, going places, and doing things.
When I was first divorced, we had a lot of those days – mainly because we had no money to buy anything. I find it interesting that I look back on those days as some of the best of times. We did creative things for entertainment, and we never really lacked for stuff to do. We enjoyed each other’s company. We played games, many of which we made up. We drew up a checkerboard and used found objects for checkers. We created a festival for Annie’s dolls, and made the festival stage and activities out of cardboard. Being broke wasn’t easy, but it seemed to bring out the best in us.
And by the way, when I say not buying anything, I mean nothing – food, fuel, tickets to anything, drinks, clothes… nothing. No transactions, live or online, business or personal.
My initial thought was about getting through one day without buying anything. Now I’m wondering how many days in a row we could get through, and how we’d react. It might be worth a try.
How long do you think you could go? And how would you react?