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The intent of my off consumption experiment is to spend an year without buying anything that is not a necessity.
Even though I have written down rather elaborate rules for what is allowed and what isn’t during my year of being off consumption, I have deliberately avoided defining what is a necessity. This is because one of the most interesting aspects of the experiment for me is to discover what I think of as a necessity and how it changes with context.
Perhaps the only fool-proof approach to discover what I think of as a necessity is to record and study what I actually buy, and how it changes over time.
So, here’s a complete list of everything I bought during week 1-2 of my experiment:-
9 dozen bananas: Rs. 180
1/2 kg grapes: Rs. 25
1 pineapple: Rs. 40
1 kg bell pepper: Rs. 80
1 kg capsicum: Rs. 50
1/4 kg mushroom: Rs. 20
1/2 kg spring onion: Rs. 25
1 coconut water: Rs. 10
2 corn-on-the-cob: Rs. 20
6 loaves of brown bread: Rs. 120
4 packets of Britannia cheese slices: Rs. 300
3 packets of Good Earth Honey and Dates toasted oats: Rs. 240
2 packets of Good Earth Diet muesli: Rs. 360
1 packet of Good Earth Classic muesli: Rs. 120
1 Colgate Advanced Whitening toothpaste: Rs. 48
Train fare to suburbs and back: Rs. 8
Auto fare within suburbs: Rs. 255
Taxi fare to suburbs and back (twice, to drop back my dates at 5 am): Rs. 915
Taxi fare from Cuffe Parade to Kala Ghoda (I was running late for office): Rs. 20
Taxi fare from Marine Drive to Cuffe Parade (I was tired after my evening walk): Rs. 30
Man’s World magazine (the issue with my article on Twitter): Rs. 100
Time Out magazine: Rs. 30 (yes, I broke my own rules; post coming up)
‘Reimbursed’ by my date: (Rs. 100)
Total: Rs. 2896
I’m sure you’ll have a lot to say about my definition of necessities, but here are my three top of the mind thoughts.
First, I’m sure that a lot of people survive on less than Rs. 3000 a month. In fact, I survived three years on less than Rs. 3000 a month. However, Rs. 3000 is less than what I would typically spend on a night out for two, before I went off consumption. So, whether Rs. 2896 is too little or too much is a question of context.
Second, most of the individual items on the list should be non-controversial as necessities, but there are some gray areas that I’m myself undecided about. I would insist that muesli and oats are a necessity, but what about cheese slices? I would admit that taxi rides for short distances are a slip-up, even when I’m tired or late, but what about pre-dawn taxi rides across the town, to drop my dates? I don’t have all the answers yet, and I’m sure there aren’t any black and white answers anyways, but I do sense that my list of necessities will become smaller through the year, as I learn how to make do with less.
Third, as I force myself to become aware of what I buy, I’m discovering that I’m a shockingly label-blind shopper. My preferred approach to shopping is to buy what I want without even looking at the price tag. So, I would enter a store, pick up what I want, sign the credit card slip, and walk out within five minutes. As a result, I don’t even know what most things cost, even things I buy regularly. For instance, even though I have been buying Good Earth muesli for months now, I hadn’t noticed that the Diet version costs 50% more than the Classic version!
What about you? What do you think of as a necessity? What is your preferred shopping style? Have you been label blind too? Do drop in a comment and let me know.
Comments (8)
Try oatmeal, not the quick cooking type, for breakfast. It’s great!
Combine it with some flaxseed, apples, cinnamon powder and yoghurt for a super start to you day!
If you have that problem of never looking at the price, here’s a tip: Avoid using credit cards. Well, minimize credit card usage. Carry cash, and you’ll see what difference it makes. Start with groceries. I can tell you this from experience, living in the US, we hardly carry cash. So you never care much about what you spend as long as you have balance in your card.
Hahaha, I too was a blind shopper till the credit crunch hit the markets.
When I realised the food price inflation (comparing old reciepts)
A Liter of milk at the super market has gone up to 64p from 53p (Rs50 from Rs 80, and yes I live in London)
22% inflation in a few months
And anyways I never have any cash on me. live on credit card (as it is a cheap financing at 0% save a months interest at 5% per annum on my total consumption)
Taxis & autos are a complete extravagance. Truely thrifty ppl use the bus. I kw many millionnaires in mumbai (who belong to the old school) who routinely use the bus.
@Blr Bytes: Heh! Breakfast for me is usually a big bowl of toasted oats, banana and honey along with half a carafe of green tea.
@Aditya: Actually, now that I’m neither driving nor shopping, I often leave behind my wallet and only carry my keys and some small change when I leave my house.
@Nirav: A litre of milk at Rs. 80 is expensive indeed. My wishes will be with you, my friend.
@Ana: I haven’t tried the Mumbai bus system yet, but the year still has 49 weeks.
Hi
I went through your blog after going thru article about you in TOI , Mumbai edition. Frankly I found the concept interesting though I am skeptical. Why ? You have included your grocery consumption but what about lots of other things eg rent (house),electricity: is fan and light essential and AC on high consuption list ? I mean their are so many question , eating out is least of the problem for most of the people in India .
Comments:
1. Muesli itself borders on luxury, but diet-Muesli!!! You paid 50% more to get less nutrition in terms of calories? Not a necessity at all.
2. Why shop for “Good Earth”. Numerous other brands are cheaper. infact unbranded corn flakes are much cheaper!
3. Take the train to Dadar and purchase your weekly supply of groceries from there. The prices you mention here are atrocious!
4. What is the difference between bell-pepper and capsicum? They look (in shape) the same to me. Maybe just different varieties of the same vegetable. So get the cheaper one!
Also, get the cheapest vegetables, not vegetables which you like as that borders on luxury.
5. I think having a south-Indian breakfast (idli sambhar or dosa or upma with coffee) at any of the udupi joints in cuff-parade would be cheaper than what you spent on breakfast here! So here, going to a restaurant for breakfast is cheaper than eating exotic stuff at home!
6. Try Margarine instead of butter / cheese on your bread. It is much cheaper and is available in most Indian supermarkets. Cheese seems a complete extravagance in India!
@Mayuresh: My experiment isn’t really about living on as little as possible, so my definition of what is necessity isn’t primarily based on price. So, icecream (not a necessity) is different from muesli (necessity), but a packet of Good Earth muesli (necessity) is no different from a packet of store brand muesli (necessity).
The intent is to buy only what I need, not only to survive, but also to experience joy.
The intent is also to discover how little you really need to experience joy.
But, perhaps, this explanation requires a full post.