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| Want to work less and have more time? Then buy less stuff | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Britain has fallen behind most of Europe when it comes to consumption, but it shouldn’t be seen as a negative; we could be at the forefront of a positive trend for more thoughtful purchasing. | Britain has fallen behind most of Europe when it comes to consumption, but it shouldn’t be seen as a negative; we could be at the forefront of a positive trend for more thoughtful purchasing. |
| Recent data from the Office for National Statistics shows the average person is consuming fewer resources than they were a decade ago, recording a fall from 15 tonnes of material in 2001 to 10 tonnes in 2013. We also use less material per person than any other European country bar Spain. | Recent data from the Office for National Statistics shows the average person is consuming fewer resources than they were a decade ago, recording a fall from 15 tonnes of material in 2001 to 10 tonnes in 2013. We also use less material per person than any other European country bar Spain. |
| While this may not be what the chancellor George Osborne wants to hear – after all, consumption is king when you’re trying to balance the books – consuming less is no bad thing. | While this may not be what the chancellor George Osborne wants to hear – after all, consumption is king when you’re trying to balance the books – consuming less is no bad thing. |
| Related: UK consumes far less than a decade ago – 'peak stuff' or something else? | Related: UK consumes far less than a decade ago – 'peak stuff' or something else? |
| Part of the reduction is due to the digitisation of books, CDs and DVDs, and that we’ve ditched our resource-heavy desktop PCs and video recorders – but there is also a growing movement of people who are fed up with spending and consuming, myself included. | Part of the reduction is due to the digitisation of books, CDs and DVDs, and that we’ve ditched our resource-heavy desktop PCs and video recorders – but there is also a growing movement of people who are fed up with spending and consuming, myself included. |
| One Ikea boss dubbed it “peak curtains” – the realisation that we can no longer carry on buying stuff at the same rate and in the same volume that we did before, and recently there has been a trend for decluttering, thanks to professional organiser Marie Kondo. It may all be a reaction to a world that tells us more is better, where we’re dazzled into buying the newest and shiniest item on the shelves. It’s a system that encourages us to drag ourselves into work for eight hours a day in order to earn money to buy more things, and then tells us the stuff we bought isn’t shiny enough and we need an upgrade. So it’s back to work we go. | One Ikea boss dubbed it “peak curtains” – the realisation that we can no longer carry on buying stuff at the same rate and in the same volume that we did before, and recently there has been a trend for decluttering, thanks to professional organiser Marie Kondo. It may all be a reaction to a world that tells us more is better, where we’re dazzled into buying the newest and shiniest item on the shelves. It’s a system that encourages us to drag ourselves into work for eight hours a day in order to earn money to buy more things, and then tells us the stuff we bought isn’t shiny enough and we need an upgrade. So it’s back to work we go. |
| Maybe we’re beginning to realise that constant consumption is like running on a treadmill – we’re getting nowhere fast, often being chased by credit cards and overdrafts. In the 1930s, John Maynard Keynes predicted we’d all be working a 15-hour week, with people spending plenty of time on leisure activities because all their material needs had been met. Somewhere along the line the goalposts shifted and the material needs – or should that be wants? – ballooned, meaning a 15-hour working week for all seems almost laughable, particularly with the high cost of rent, property and utilities. | Maybe we’re beginning to realise that constant consumption is like running on a treadmill – we’re getting nowhere fast, often being chased by credit cards and overdrafts. In the 1930s, John Maynard Keynes predicted we’d all be working a 15-hour week, with people spending plenty of time on leisure activities because all their material needs had been met. Somewhere along the line the goalposts shifted and the material needs – or should that be wants? – ballooned, meaning a 15-hour working week for all seems almost laughable, particularly with the high cost of rent, property and utilities. |
| Related: Why I'm buying nothing for a year – no clothes, no holidays, no coffee ... | Related: Why I'm buying nothing for a year – no clothes, no holidays, no coffee ... |
| Of course, part of the reason consumption has dropped is the lack of money available to spend. Thanks to the rising cost of living, zero-hours contracts and a puny minimum wage, there are those who don’t have enough to cover the basics any more, let alone the extras. If Keynes’ vision were to be made real, we’d need a wage that people could actually live on while working just 15 hours a week and at the moment many are struggling to survive working double that. | Of course, part of the reason consumption has dropped is the lack of money available to spend. Thanks to the rising cost of living, zero-hours contracts and a puny minimum wage, there are those who don’t have enough to cover the basics any more, let alone the extras. If Keynes’ vision were to be made real, we’d need a wage that people could actually live on while working just 15 hours a week and at the moment many are struggling to survive working double that. |
| However, those who have the basics covered could still take a leaf from Keynes’s book; if spending is scaled back, we wouldn’t need to work as much, and we could win our leisure time back from employers and the shops. Instead of working more to buy stuff we don’t need, we’d spend less, work less and have more time. I know which one of those scenarios is more appealing to me. | However, those who have the basics covered could still take a leaf from Keynes’s book; if spending is scaled back, we wouldn’t need to work as much, and we could win our leisure time back from employers and the shops. Instead of working more to buy stuff we don’t need, we’d spend less, work less and have more time. I know which one of those scenarios is more appealing to me. |
| It wouldn’t mean stopping spending completely and darning socks for all eternity. Part of being a careful consumer would mean buying fewer items at a fair price that are of better quality rather than multiple cut-price disposal items of dubious origins. We’d be purchasing what we needed instead of everything we wanted. | It wouldn’t mean stopping spending completely and darning socks for all eternity. Part of being a careful consumer would mean buying fewer items at a fair price that are of better quality rather than multiple cut-price disposal items of dubious origins. We’d be purchasing what we needed instead of everything we wanted. |
| When it comes to the UK economy, the consumption figures may not be music to Osborne’s ears but for our household economies, consuming less and having “just enough” rather than always “more” could be a huge boost. | When it comes to the UK economy, the consumption figures may not be music to Osborne’s ears but for our household economies, consuming less and having “just enough” rather than always “more” could be a huge boost. |