Society & Culture

Are you going to take part in the proposed month of no unnecessary purchases in October this year?

Society & Culture

Posted by: Raksha

22nd Sep 2011 10:41pm

I saw an item on the news tonight about having the month of October being a month of no purchases other than food cleaning and toiletry items. Apparently the idea is to reduce the amount of unnecessary items that we purchase and throw away every day.

Comments 5

Loopie
  • 19th Oct 2011 02:46pm

I didn't know this is new! I have been living this way for years now. Living on a disability pension certainly makes you think twice with every purchase, needed or wanted, the dollar has to stretch.

Gerry1945
  • 23rd Sep 2011 11:05am

No Way, the world is going downhill at a fast rate, if we do not buy people will lose money and jobs.

Raksha
  • 23rd Sep 2011 09:07am

I agree with you about not having the funds to buy unnecessary things but with the increase in our pension, you never know.......

The story that I saw on the news was from a spokesperson from the Salvation Army. He was at a local rubbish tip and was talking about the amount of stuff that is dumped there every day.
What didn't make sense was that the stuff being dumped was mostly food waste and he even remarked on the pungent smell coming from the area.

I think the point of the item was to get people to buy from second hand shops (recycling) instead of the main retail outlets for the month of October.

Can't imagine David Jones, Myers and Big W will support it.

keyane
  • 23rd Sep 2011 02:00pm
I agree with you about not having the funds to buy unnecessary things but with the increase in our pension, you never know.......

The story that I saw on the news was from a spokesperson...

I'd agree this is a great idea but have you seen the prices (some) op shops are charging for donated second hand goods lately? Outrageous! People on limited incomes could not afford to shop there anyway. You're better off buying new stuff retail.

mysteron347
  • 22nd Sep 2011 11:42pm

Oh,no! Another community message from the "everybody must" contingent. If you don't go along with the direction, then you must hate children and little furry animals, believe the elderly should be euthenased and you're an environmental vandal, too.

Who is the authority that determines "unnecessary?"

Is smoking "necessary?" Drinking alcohol? Lottery tickets? If you don't buy a new car every now and then, you're putting people out-of-work, and older cars make more pollution, so you're poisoning the earth and the kids and the little furry animals and the birds. If you don't buy imported bananas, all the people in third-world counties will starve. If you do, the local industry will be devastated by imported diseases.

(Repeat the last argument for pork, apples, pears, tomatoes... anything else you may eat)

Is make-up a "toiletry item" or an "unnecessary item?" What about people with disfigurements? What about hair-dye to reduce discrimination against rangas?

The whole "day of," "week of," "month of," "year of" or "...awareness" is twenty years beyond its use-by date and should be consigned to the bin that has all the things in it that end in "-thon".

I don't have any choice anyway. On a zero income, I can't make discretionary purchases. I have to go along with it - but unwillingly, I can assure you.

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