It is the season for shopping (when is it not?!) or so the marketing and advertising would have you believe. Netflix even has a docu-series titled, “Buy” to highlight just how the human behavior has been analyzed and used, to sell more. The economy keeps going as long as there is transfer of money and assets/ services in return for the money. That is just the way it has been for centuries and will be for the foreseeable future. What has changed is the ease of making a purchase. A couple of decades ago, online shopping was not as popular as it is nowadays. Nowadays, there is hardly anything that cannot be purchased online. You see something and you want it, it is as-easy-as-…. to get it for yourself. In the early days, one had to have a credit card to shop online. I still remember the days when I had to borrow a credit card from someone to book an exam slot online. Nowadays, you do not even need to enter the credit card information any more. The phone has transformed into an enable-machine. It enables you to communicate, be entertained and to satisfy your needs and wants. It stores all your information and buying anything that you desire is literally just at your fingertips.
The temptation to purchase something/ anything is so strong that once a few days pass by where there has been no expenditure, be it even for groceries, it feels like there is something amiss. It is possible that this condition has a name for it. The discipline that one needs to maintain to avoid over-spending is hard to inculcate. I think it is similar to the craving that many have for certain food items. Or towards leading a healthy lifestyle. It does not come easy for everyone, just as staying away from this easy temptation of shopping for the random item that is available and desirable. The modern day human is spoilt for choice and we are lead to believe that there are specialized items for every need. Take shoes, for example. There are different shoes for walking, running, training, weight lifting and for each and every type of sport that one might want to play. If an average person looking for a well-rounded exercise regimen tries to incorporate different activities into their health routine, they would need some 8-10 pairs of shoes, or so the companies would have you believe. There are different pairs needed for dresses, for daily use outside, a pair for using inside, another for snow, one for hiking and then you get to the active lifestyle. Going by this simple count, you would easily end up with 8-10 pairs for an individual. This list is just for footwear. Now throw in clothes, electronic goods, furniture, cars, houses, etc.; the list is endless.
I like to follow the simple rule of maintaining a finite number of clothes in my wardrobe. Every time I make a purchase of an item, a similar item must go out/ be discarded. If it is difficult to make that decision on the item to discard, that makes it more pertinent for me to think about the need for that item the next time I am tempted by a clothing item. I have heard Sudha Murthy talk about employing this rule with her children in one of her interviews. I do not know if my inspiration came from her or from other sources, but that is my token of fight against my mind yielding to the temptations to purchase items that catch my whims. It does not make me popular within my family, especially when I ask the question – “Do you need it or do you want it?”. To be fair, it is not exactly the kind of question a 4 year old wants to hear or answer!
Mithun's Musings 