I've been reading Not Buying It by Judith Levine quite voraciously over the last few days. In this book, writer Levine and her partner Paul eschew the purchase of all but necessities as an anti-consumerist experiment. They cut out restaurants, movies, Q-tips, clothing, all doodads, but seek out and include the offerings of the cash-strapped public library, free entertainment (they live half-time in NYC and half rustic rural Vermont), and organic homecooking. Questions explored include, "why do people think nothing of buying a bunch of crap while the public libraries and tax-funded arts turn into a pile of crap?"
Since starting this book, I have been hyper-conscious of everytime I spend any money. A Coke at the Hideout--did I really need that? Sure, it was only $1.50, but if I have something to drink at the Hideout everytime I go there (and I am there at least once a week), that's almost $100 a year. That adds up to a lot of consumerism.
THINGS I WILL DO WHEN THE LOBSTERIZING IS HEALED:
1) take Ashtanga yoga, the hot and sweaty kind. I can never take anything above Hatha beginners classes because I don't have the lung capacity, so I get out of breath and dizzy 15 minutes into class.
2) Hiking and biking!
3) Show off my rack, because I'll have a rack to show off. No rack at present. Frowny.
4) Guitar lessons. We have several guitars but we never play them. I need to get my rock star on.