Rebecca, Day 17

Day 17 is about limiting your materialism and escaping consumerism. The description links to this page and offers several suggestions. Let's see how I do here:

• Limit television: Check.
  
• Eschew the news: Check.
  
• Limit Internet reading. I need to work on this. (See you soon, Day 60.)
• Give up magazines for books. No, thanks. The magazines I read, I love.
  
• Don’t go to the mall or Walmart. Check. I never go to the mall without a specific purpose. And I have been boycotting Walmart for years now.
• Monitor your urges. When you’re online, or watching TV, or at a store, keep track of the number of times you want to buy something. No, thanks... This sounds like boring busywork.
  
• Use a 30-day list. If you still really want to buy something, put it on a list, and write down the date you added the item to the list. Now tell yourself you cannot buy that item for 30 days. Many times, our urges to buy something will pass during this waiting period. I kind of do this already. It's called my Amazon.com shopping cart's "save for later" section.
  
• Declutter. Check (see Days 9-13).
  
• Find other forms of entertainment. There are other things to do besides watch TV or movies or read magazines or newspapers or the Internet. Um, duh?
• Buy used. When you get the urge to buy something, and you’re convinced that it’s needed, try finding it used instead of new. Look in thrift shops or garage sales or flea markets or similar places. I totally already do this! I love buying things used. Often, older used items--e.g., furniture--are much more affordable and of a much better quality than new items.

While I'm in good shape by that list's standards, further down the page there are suggestions for "A True Path to Happiness." In general, I like the suggestions there and will see if I can implement some of them. (Especially the suggestion to exercise more! I used to be much better about this and would like to make exercise a routine part of my life again. I'll have to work up a schedule.)