Christian Family Goes A Year “Without Shopping”

I posted about this family several years ago, but now they are pushing a book they wrote about their experience.

The Dannemillers wanted to “reconnect” with each other and with their children, Audrey and Jake, who were 5 and 7 at the time, and “live out their faith” by spending 2013 committed to living with what they had and not buying more “stuff.”

It was to be a “vacation from consumerism,” in which they could buy groceries and consumables, and spend money on travel and “experiences,” but no money could be spent on clothes, gadgets, electronics, toys, books, home decor, etc.

This doesn’t mean they went the entire year without making purchases, so their rules are below, and they only broke them twice for what I think are valid reasons which are stated in this article.

• “We can buy stuff that can be used up within a year, including groceries, gas, hygiene products. No clothes.

• “We can fix stuff that breaks. Unless the repair cost is greater than the replacement cost.

• “Gifts must be in the form of charitable donation or experience gift, with the idea being to build connections and memories by doing things like going to dinner, the zoo or traveling to visit friends and family.”

To a much lesser extent, I’ve started to only order water with most of my meals as it’s hard for me to justify spending $1.99 – $2.50 for tea or a coke.  I actually had a good friend (and I hope still reader of this blog) do that with his wife for an entire year and us

 

This entry was posted in Interesting, Spiritual. Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Christian Family Goes A Year “Without Shopping”

  1. The Donald says:

    Except for combo meals, I usually just get water – both as a cost-saver and for health benefits.

  2. Mr. Mike Honcho says:

    Mrs. Honcho is our self appointed enforcer of the "no-paid-drinks" rule when eating out. (And Mr. Honcho is the self-appointed bad boy who lets the little Honchos order drinks. When Mrs. Honcho is not present of course. 😉 )

Comments are closed.