20 Ways to Take Your Power Back from the Consumer Machine

We’re working our way through our summer prep course on how to prepare yourself to separate from the influence of the consumer machine. We are on our third five suggestions out of twenty tips that we love to try to help you to buy only what you need, spend less, live more and find the satisfaction of enough. If you missed the first ten tips, you can find them here and here. Today, we’ll be talking about some very hands-on ways that you can separate from the consumer pack, make a difference in the world and ultimately find that elusive goal of joy without associating it with the “stuff” that you own.

11. Get Crafty.

Crafty doesn’t necessarily need to mean homespun if that’s not your personal style. But you can reduce tons of drain from the pull of the consumer machine when you start upcycling and creating things yourself. Step away from the recurring shipping charges of shopping from your home via a huge online retailer. Avoid the questionable manufacturing processes of items bought at big box design stores. Learn to create things for your home, gifts for others and even some of your own clothing and jewelry items. One word of warning, however, crafting can actually become as consumer-driven as buying first-time items if you’re not careful. There are, after all, big box crafting stores and they exist for a reason. Remember that crafting began as a way to reuse items and give them a fresh life. We commonly refer to it as upcycling, but you can call it recycling, reusing or repurposing and we’ll be fine with that! The idea of crafting is that you buy less, not more. And if you don’t think you’re crafty – or simply know that you don’t have the time for crafting, we have another solution for you below!

12. Get on Etsy or a Similar Site.

If you’re not a crafty person or you have a schedule that, quite honestly, doesn’t allow time for crafting, you can still make a move away from the power of the consumer machine. Trust us when we say that there are hundreds of individuals out there who love to craft and whose small business your support would mean the world to. You likely know of the largest type of community for this. You’d be surprised how many items you can purchase from small independent retailers and crafters on Etsy.com. But Esty isn’t your only option. Consider I Made it Market as well as a variety of other smaller sites that feature crafts, arts, fashion and everyday useful items by independent artists and craftspeople.

13. Identify the Consumer Element of Certain Events.

One of the most effective marketing tools used by consumer and retail companies is “event driven marketing.” The most common example is Valentine’s Day, which has been largely labeled a manufactured consumer holiday designed to get you to buy chocolate and greeting cards (that’s not entirely true, but it’s certainly partially true). But marketers do grab on to the retail opportunities of any event or holiday. Obviously, the Christmas holidays are a huge part of this, but the cycle is robust and year-long. Think about the sales that happen every time that there’s a three day weekend. Is there really something about President’s Day that makes mattresses cheaper? Probably not. Those event-driven sales are designed to make you feel urgency around buying. In the worst cases, they are like Valentine’s Day and the Christmas holidays and they’ve been co-opted into an event that’s entirely about retail. You can’t control how marketers reach out to you and what messages they use at what times, but you can be wise enough to understand and more easily reject consumerism that’s tied to a specific date or event.

14. Get Organic (Really Organic).

We’re not suggesting that you only buy organic food and beauty products (though that is always, always a good thing!). We’re actually suggesting that you grow some of your own items. Consumerism touches every part of our lives, and that includes our grocery shopping. Every time that you walk into a store, you’re bombarded with marketing messaging about what food you need or want or crave or should buy just because it’s on sale. How can you control this? By growing some of your own food. We don’t necessarily mean that you need to create an entire garden. Most of America lives in urban areas which makes that a near impossibility. You can grow smaller amounts of vegetables, herbs and even some fruits indoors, as we recently covered. You’ll be healthier, have better control of your food and be able to take a little break from some of the grocery consumer machine. And if you absolutely do not have a green thumb, you can …

15. Embrace the Farmer’s Market.

Another way to avoid grocery consumer traps is to shop at your local farmer’s market. While it’s certainly a place where you are encouraged to buy, you won’t be bombarded with advertisements and sales at the same time. You’re also not buying into a mass advertising system of grocery shopping when you’re at the farmer’s market. As a bonus, at many farmer’s markets, you’ll also be able to buy items that aren’t food related from artisans and craftspeople. Next week we’ll complete our final five tips on how to take back power from the consumer machine. Hopefully, you’ll be primed and ready to go before consumer season hits in the fall.

Related Information

Why the Power Always Lies with the (Post)Consumer
Facts About Big Box Stores
What is Consumer Season?
Photo Credit: Becky Lai via Flickr

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