When George Osborne delivers his autumn statement tomorrow it is expected that we will be encouraged to start borrowing again, to carry on spending and, of course, remember that ‘we are all in this together’.
Quite the opposite of what many across the country were doing this weekend...
This Saturday marked the annual Buy Nothing Day – the day that we are encouraged to ‘spend a day not spending’.
This isn’t a protest, more of a movement. ‘Shop £€$$, Live More’ is the slogan. And the idea is not to suddenly stunt our economy or raise a silent, non-spending middle finger to the bankers and politicians, it is to simply stop and think about the way in which we consume and how frequently.
It is no coincidence that it falls on, what is for most, the weekend after the last pay day before Christmas and the first big Saturday for Christmas shopping.
Much like the festive shop displays it draws us in, taking some of our favourite slogans – ‘Free!’, ‘No Purchase Necessary!’ and turning them on their head for its own means.
Instead of Buy One Get One Free people are encouraged to Buy Nothing and Do Things That Are Free.
Bake a cake. Make someone a present. Feed the birds. Help someone out. All suggestions on the Twitter - @BuyNothing Day.
The day is one of the many brainchild’s of the AdBusters movement (of Occupy Wall Street and Occupy St Paul’s fame) but it was established in the UK by Michael Smith, a web designer who wanted to stop consuming and take on a challenge back in 1996:
“I was in my twenties when I began this, I consumed every day. When you’re in your twenties you want the clothes, the commodities, I was like that but I wanted to do work that benefited other people too.”
“I realised, consuming is damaging,” he said. “If we want to use the world’s resources in many years to come then it’s good that we do this, it can make a big impact.”
The website explains: “It is a simple idea, which challenges consumer culture by asking us to switch off from shopping for a day.
“The day is celebrated as a holiday by some, a street party by others - anyone can take part provided they spend a day without spending!”
While Buy Nothing Day does nods towards its ‘sister’, the Occupy movement, Smith assures that this is not a protest.
“We’re not protesting, we’re just saying that we’ve chosen not to shop. It’s a personal challenge. The whole thing of thinking I’ve gone 24 hours without consuming is weirdly liberating,” he explains.
Of course this isn’t a one day challenge. It asks us to “make a commitment to consuming less, recycling more and challenging companies to clean up and be fair”.
Student Josh Luscombe, said the experience certainly made him rethink the way that he consumes:
“It made me think about how much money I waste on crap every week and why I’m always broke when it comes to end of the term,” he said.
“I've probably spent over £50 on fast food since September and now I’m skint. I’m just going to cook so much more now, it means I’ll save a hell of a lot of money and I’ll be so much healthier!”
Although he found Buy Nothing Day to be a bit of a revelation, the idea certainly isn’t new. In fact the scheme is now in its 15th year, and almost anywhere you look on the web, from blogs to Twitter to websites like moneysavingexpert.com it seems many have been proponents of no spend days for some time:
“Once or twice a week have a day where you spend nothing other than budgeted-for things. Quite often just spending once can break the cycle for the rest of the day,” advises economic expert Martin Lewis on moneysavingexpert.com.
The internet is perhaps the only place you will see adverts for the day. buynothingday.com works quietly and conscientiously through the year to build momentum for the day. And rather than using non-environmentally friendly posters and flyers to publicise the day, Facebook and Twitter are awash with advertisements.
#buynothingday managed to trend on Twitter earlier last week, while on Facebook users left statuses, comments and posts imploring other to observe the day or sharing how they would be “celebrating”.
One Facebook fan commented: “The end of the month, don’t get paid till Tuesday... easy!”.
This was perhaps missing the point, but it’s the taking part that counts, surely.
Morris Bryant, a freelance web designer, marvelled that taking part in not spending idea was novel. “It’s pretty amazing that they need a day for this. I do it regularly,” he said.
Organisers admit it can be difficult to gauge just how many people are participating though:
“We can’t put a figure on how many people participate but worldwide, probably, naturally more people will not spend than spend on Saturday.”
What tips would Smith offer to first time Buy Nothing Day observers? “Stay away from the shops! You could go out without your wallet or purse or if you want to go to extreme lengths you could freeze your cards in a block of ice!
“How you get involved is up to you - that’s your satisfaction, that’s for you. All sorts of people participate for different reasons. It’s like a self fulfilling event.”
Student Stefanie Zuber participated purely out of curiosity: “I have to say I found it easy and enjoyed it. I even went on a night out and I didn’t buy a drink till midnight! It was like New Years Eve when it turned 12pm.
“There are so many things even around the city which are for free. It saves you money and lets you appreciate the things which are already there more.”
Unlike sales figures, how successful it is for all that participate is nigh on impossible to measure. “I can’t really gauge how successful it has been, other than emails I get from participants. Every year is different, it’s never the same,” said Smith.
He is surprised by some of the organisations which have come out in support of the movement over the years, but hopes more will join the movement: “Obviously organisations like Friends Of The Earth are very supportive, but about five years ago the retail consortium came out in support of what we are doing, basically when it really became evident that people were spending beyond their means and getting into a lot of debt they agreed that people had to change their habits.
“The ironic thing is that Buy Nothing Day will be more fun when the economy gets going again.”
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