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| Junk mail from letterbox on Sunday |
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| Junk mail from letterbox on Monday |
Here in Australia we celebrate Fathers' Day in early September. I thought that after FD, the quantity of junk mail should lessen for a short time before the 'onslaught' on the build up to Christmas. Well silly me!!! As you can see from the photos...there's no let up in the pile of leaflets and sales brochures and catalogues in the letterbox. On closer examination I noticed that the supermarket chains are urging people to buy snack foods and soft drinks for when people gather in front of TVs to watch the semis and grand finals of the various codes of football. Not to be outdone, the electrical stores are urging people to buy wide screen Tvs and various other electronic gadgetry on which to watch these games. But the electrical stores are focussing on consumers who will watch all the games in the Rugby World Cup which is naturally a separate competition from all the Australian (and some NZ) finals and I guess a heap more games to watch!
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| This is where my junk mail ends up... |
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| I love the cover of this book by Shannon Hayes! |
This week this book became available from the council library. I first heard about it on someone's blog and when I found it in the library catalogue, put a 'hold' on it. I can't remember whose blog I was reading but the blogger was enthusiastic about this work by Shannon Hayes. The message that I've got so far in my reading is that people have become viewed as consumers (hence all that marketing through my letterbox) instead of being seen as producers. Many of the blogs I follow are written by people who are rejecting this consumerism and are growing food themselves, some are raising animals such as hens and many are cooking from scratch, preserving food themselves and turning their back on mass produced, preservative laden pre-prepared foods. from my little corner of the world, I've started a similar journey and in particular I'm concerned with how in the 'western world' we waste resources especially with the built-in obsolesence factors with electrical appliances. I now find myself questioning 'how and where was this item made' and the obvious...'Do I really need this?'
Spam is one of those things I look at a lot and think 'there really SHOULD be something I can do with this stuff'. You can't burn it (It's useless), you can't line cages with it because it wont absorbe liquid. I don't wanna use it in the garden because it's all chemically treated...
ReplyDeleteIt'd have to be something arty...
Maria where I live we are not subjected to all that junk thank goodness! Looking at that pile makes me shudder.
ReplyDeleteHave read "Radical Homemakers". Love it!
Cheers, Karen near Gympie.
The best thing when one is embarking on living a less consumerist lifestyle is to put one of those "no junk mail" signs on the letterbox. The peace is wonderful and gradually that subconscious nagging subsides so that you can hear yourself thinking "I don't actually NEED anything"
ReplyDeleteAs i have a PO Box I receive very little junk mail.
ReplyDeleteAsking your "Do I really need it" is just as we are getting older we start to declutter.
Hi Maria, most junkmail goes straight down the path from the letterbox to the recycling bin at my place too! I live in a small country town and the junk mail has multiplied exponentially since we arrived here seven years ago. It was practically non-existent when we got here!
ReplyDelete