So I think this whole frugal, simple living experience will be a lot easier and more enjoyable if I get my head around the non-consumer thing. I am trying to develop an awareness of money-making companies to persuading me to buy things I don’t want, the idea being that I can see their efforts for what they are – to boost their profits at the expense of my pocket – and become immune to it. Or even contemptuous of it!
Well, I was presented with such an opportunity this morning
when I dutifully went to pay off my monthly catalogue payment. Predictably, I
had forgotten my log-in to my account, and so re-set it. This email arrived
seconds later:
Thank you for choosing to shop at www.littlewoods.com.
Click here to change your password and start shopping.
Kind regards,
Online Customer Care
Well, actually Online Customer Care, all I wanted to do was
change my password and pay off my bill so that I am one payment closer to getting
out of your debt!
Once logged in, for the first time I really noticed the bombardment
of attempts to get you to shop:
I fell for this one last time, hence the reason I am now having
to log on and pay off my account. The problem being that 12 month’s time became
now, and I am now just as reluctant to part with my £37.24 as I was back then.
Funnily enough the lottery win/rich husband/unknown windfall didn’t materialise
and I am still strapped for cash, only now with this extra bill to pay.
Having paid off my instalment, I was reminded that my credit
limit had been increased to £600, and that I had £522 to spend today. What on? I
don’t need anything. Do I?
Oh wait, the holidays are coming up…I need to make the whole family look gorgeous!
Because it isn’t enough that they spend their time having
fun, they have to look gorgeous while they do it!
Once upon a time I fell for this attempt to sell me ‘good
times’ by posting pictures of young beautiful people enjoying themselves in new
gear,and launched a campaign every April to get ‘ready for summer’ – usually a
crash diet, frenzied exfoliation and a whole load of new summer clothes, which in reality only got
worn once as summer turned out to be about 3 weekends in August.
This year I will be wearing my trusty denim skirt and
scuffed old daps, £1.99 flip flops and stretchy tops. I will be
focussing on what is actually important – spending time in the countryside,
trips away in the camper, nurturing my allotment, having picnics and reading in
the sunshine. Wearing brand new clothes will not make any of these things more
enjoyable, nobody will notice what I am wearing anyway and in fact, knowing I am in debt because of it and thus further away
from my goal, would actually make me miserable.
But wait…
Father’s Day! My dad won’t know how much he means to me!
How do I demonstrate my filial affection?
An Iphone wallet? Hang on a minute…I think this might be
bullshit. My dad wouldn’t know how to turn an iPhone on, let alone require a
swanky new wallet to put it in. I am quite lucky in that my family don’t go in
for extravagant gifts, and I can honestly say, hand on heart, that my dad would
be more impressed with a bottle of real ale (£1.99). Or I could make him a
cake, or have the family over for lunch, or spend the day working in his
garden. Either way, I am absolutely certain that the only person who would be
delighted if I forked out £39 for an iPhone wallet this Father’s day is
Mr Littlewoods.
Yes, it’s working! Damn you Littlewoods and your cynical
attempts to guilt-trip me into buying stuff I don’t need. What a load of tosh - I ain’t buying!
