How to Celebrate "Buy Nothing Day"

Buy Nothing Day began as a spoof holiday, a protest against consumerism, created by Ted Dave at the sometimes excellent Canadian political satire website AdBusters. And, to AdBusters’ surprise, Buy Nothing Day caught on as a serious protest event or holiday, if you could call it that, observed in over 40 countries on the day after American Thanksgiving--traditionally the U.S.’s biggest shopping day.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Visit Adbusters’ Buy Nothing Day web site. There are several ways to participate (or, more appropriately, non-participate) in a Buy Nothing protest event near you. Check it out. Also, you can join the Buy Nothing Day Forums at the AdBusters web site. Read through the posts to find out about group meetings in your area; and/or about creating your own local group or one-time-only protest event.
2. Think about all of the things that you regularly purchase in one day that you normally take for granted: your morning coffee, a fast-food lunch, gas for your car. The little things add up. Calculate how much you would save each month if you eliminated just one regular purchase like coffee. If you saved $1.50 a day for an entire year, you would have $547.50 at the end of 365 days.
3. For "Buy Nothing Day" avoid buying the little things you usually purchase. Make your own coffee in the morning, take your lunch to work, walk instead of taking your car short distances and make dinner from food you have stocked in your pantry.
4. Celebrate the day by holding a clothes swap with your friends. Here's how it works: You and your friends gather the clothes and shoes that you have not worn in the past year. Gather at someone's house and trade items. Let's face it--sometimes we buy things and only wear them once or twice before deciding it's not our favorite. This can be a great way to feel better about some of those past impulse purchases. Anything that doesn't get snatched up can be donated to local charities.
5. Host a movie night at your place. Instead of going out to dinner and a movie with friends, watch an old favorite from your own collection and have a private viewing. If everyone pitches in and brings something to eat or drink from home, you can avoid a trip to the grocery store for snacks.

Tips & Warnings

• Some demonstrations have included Credit Card Cut-ups (a la 70s bra burnings). A sign-wielding Los Angeles group targeted Santa Monica’s popular 3rd Street Promenade outdoors shopping street for a “silent walk” on Buy Nothing Day.
• As with all demonstrations, civil disobedience can have its consequences.