Spending and consumerism

I have been on hiatus with the blog - wow, since April 2008! Unbelievable.

I got to thinking about all the consumerism and how my morning paper is chock full of ads for all the retail places luring us into their "Black Friday" sales events, all the while we blissfully go along with the whole ritual. Not me. Am I special, certainly not. A lot of people probably ignore/avoid the madness and stay home. But, those deals are irresistible, aren't they? Perhaps, but are they really worth the wait and hassle of dealing with Black Friday crowds and lines? I think my time is also valuable.

More importantly, since when did we all lose our dignity to worship this annual ritual? And how could we as a people succumb to such a materialistic and empty existence, to base our shopping on the whims of retailers and their gimmicks to get us in with the promise of great deals, all the while they know that if we get out there we will also buy the normal priced items along with those terrific deals. And to think that the whole economy is based on our robust purchasing during this materialistic holiday hijacked by consumerism and retailers and the "I gotta have the latest gadget" generations of people.

I know I am rambling and probably not making much coherent sense in making my argument against all this madness. Am I immune? Certainly not! I want the latest and greatest items as much as the next person. I want that 40" 1080P HDTV. But, the price isn't quite low enough, and now that I switched to an all cash basis of doing my purchases, I can buy nothing without saving for it first. And I just don't have $1,000-$1,500 laying around right now. So, it will have to wait. But, then again, do I really need that HDTV? Is it really necessary? Probably not. My old Sony WEGA 27" SDTV from 2001 is perfectly fine. And I don't have to pay $10-15/month for the HD programming from my cable company either. So, think about it - when you commit to HDTV, then the DVD won't look as good, the standard def 4/3 shows won't look as good and you buy into a $120-$180 more each year going to the cable co., and a new Blu-Ray disk player, and now you have to start buying all those DVD's again in Blu-Ray format - which is more expensive than DVD format. So, add it up - it isn't a simple TV purchase. It lures you into more and more expense to do what? Watch TV. Plain and simple. Oh, did I mention that you will need the HD camcorder, because even with Mini-DV recordings being a little better than the old VHS-C, they still suck when viewed on an HDTV, right?

Okay - enough rambling about the HDTV lust I feel, and all the pitfalls - but how do we avoid it - the hyper technology based consumerism to keep up with the jones' syndrome. Do we really need a phone that will play music, search the web and whatever else they do? Do we really need 8GB flash drives? (They sure beat the old floppies, remember them?)

So, gone are all those cassette tapes, vinyl records, laser disks, VHS tapes, and now DVD's (soon enough), and in February, our old TV's won't even do what they were made to do - pick up FREE TV! not without that converter box. (Did you get your rebate coupon from the Gov yet?)

So, budgeting and frugality - will they win out this year? Well, we shall see.