Thanks to a German artist I’ve only met on Mastadon, I discovered the “no-buy year” trend. I had never heard of this before, but my gf tells me it’s popular on The Tok and The Gram and what have you.
[A quick note on socially conscious and ethical trends – they’re great! I’m glad people are thinking about these things. As a guy who takes his faith in God very seriously, I am simultaneously happy our culture is thinking of these things while being sad that the modern American church has no credible influence in these areas.]
Anyways…
The no-buy year experiment is a beautiful articulation of a feeling I’ve been having about 2023 in general – slowing down, looking around me, enjoying what I have. [See my 2023 reading plans for proof!] So, I jumped on board with the no-buy year without much planning but with much enthusiasm.
My rules are basically the same as everyone else’s, so I won’t include them here in detail. The only two interesting wrinkles –
- Giving is unlimited and emphasized.
- Per Paco De Leon’s advice, I’m keeping a personal catalog of things I *might* want to buy in the future. Most things fall off quickly.
How’s it going? So far, so great!
The main thing I’ve noticed is that my decision fatigue is much lower. Unbeknownst to me, I had been spending a lot of time deciding whether to buy something. And, if so, deciding which version of the thing to buy.
All that is gone.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that things feel…slower, somehow. I can sit with what I have (books, video games I never played, comics, my zettelkasten) and enjoy them more.
I’ll try and check in periodically with new observations.
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