Re: [pf] Re work

>> At 05:37 PM 10/30/99 -0600, Arianna Light wrote:
>> >Many so-called
>> >struggling families would not be struggling if they realized they 
>> >don't need to buy, buy, buy.
At 14:27 31/10/99 -0400, tully wrote:
>>Let's try to narrow this down some.  What sort of things are we buying 
>>that cross over the line from "buying to support the family" and 
>>just buy, buy, buy?
>
At 09:47 1/11/99 -0600, Diane Fitzsimmons wrote:
>Reminds me of when I … tore through all of those "One Thousand Ways 
>to Save Money and the Planet" type books.  I would scratch my head in 
>puzzlement when I would read such tips as: 
>"Don't buy new towels every year."
>
**  None of us considers buying new until the old is so worn out, it not
only would be rejected if we put it in those clothes recycling bins, but
often is too ragged (in some parts) for us to always put it in our rag box.
We're still using towels (with small-to-medium holes in the middle) that we
took with us on our trip to South Asia in 1988. 

**  Yesterday late afternoon my daughter was telling me how hard she found
it to continue going out with a Swiss young man and his (gay) friend in
Beijing, the problem solely being that they were rich and wanted to enjoy
the friend's visit to China by not noticeably limiting themselves as to the
cost of what they wanted to do. 

**  The argument was (them talking to her) : "we enjoy your company so
much, if the cost would otherwise prevent you from going with us, we _want_
to pay for you!". Normally she would be paying all her costs, to avoid
obligation. 
    The MO (modus operandum) that worked well enough (except towards the
end) was that she'd pay whatever she reckoned she would if on her own on
that kind of date, and they'd pay the extra.


**  This was a little off topic. Back to tully's: 'What sort of things are
we buying that cross over the line from "buying to support the family" and
just buy, buy, buy?'

At 11:17 11/10/99 +1300, David wrote:
>**  We also have a shopping-list, and /only/ the things on it are bought,
>plus a handful of necessities (bread, milk, cabbage, carrots, 
>toilet-paper). This puts the responsibility of purchase onto the 
>person who will be using the item (e.g. hair shampoo).
>**  The upshot of all this is that we /buy very little/; the person only
>goes shopping when there is something /needed/; that person doesn't say to
>themself: "they might enjoy having such-and-such" whether they would or
>wouldn't, since the decision to purchase is made by the person who actually
>wants it, rather than by guess-work.
>
>**  We're all happy with this (old-fashioned, in my view) way of buying
>things; …
>**  This doesn't rule out gifts - you just ask first, to see whether they
>would really appreciate being given something; and if not the actual thing
>suggested, what would be better. …
>**  I'm sure probably more than half of what is bought these days is bought
>without any real need, and a big fraction of that is with the idea that it
>would please someone else, but without a prior indication from them that
>this /is/ so. Or even any thought that perhaps they should be asked first.
>

**  PS In about 50 minutes I'll be off this computer for the rest of the
day (probably), because others with higher priority will be on it.

David.
(David MacClement) d1v9d @ bigfoot.com (remove spaces)
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/3142/Pg1-AD11.html
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