I am attending Buy Nothing Day 2009 on Facebook. All day Friday, November 27, the day after Thanksgiving, historically the biggest shopping day of the year, I vow to not be a consumer along with 2100+ others as of this writing.
When I was young and still living at home, I went shopping with my mother every year on the day after Thanksgiving. With cousins, aunts and uncles, we’d talk about what we wanted for Christmas at the Thanksgiving table, then we’d go shopping on Friday. Whatever you said you wanted on Thanksgiving day is what you got!
I am not a shopper. I tolerated this spree of my mother’s, but have never participated since growing up and moving out. I try not to go into a store after Thanksgiving at all! When I had kids of my own, the shopping was done before Thanksgiving, and the few weeks between then and Christmas were spent making things, sending out cards and baking. Read Creative Christmas Consumption for more on that.
But I’m here to talk about Black Friday.
True to form, I will not go shopping on Friday. If I do venture out for something other than a hike or a bike ride, it will be for groceries. This is the BEST day to buy groceries!
I do not set foot in a grocery store the three days before Thanksgiving for much the same reasons I do not shop on Black Friday – crowds, long lines, unpredictable stock, general insanity. If I am cooking, it’s all in place before today, the Monday before. I have not cooked over the past several years, because the kids’ dad comes to visit, rents a house and cooks. I go there to eat, and I bring home leftovers.
If I need groceries, Black Friday is the day to get them, because no one wants to think of food, the stores are quiet, shelves are being restocked, and it’s a relaxing experience. Everyone’s at the mall.
So, by participating in Buy Nothing Day 2009, I vow to not buy ’stuff,’ only groceries if I need them. If you are not cooking this year and need groceries this week, try and hold off until Friday. You won’t be sorry.
