If there's one thing we know about life in lockdown, it's that you spent a lot less money. Most of us wound up April with minimal variable expenses. Being forced to cut back to the essentials was restricting, but in a way, liberating. I’ve often wondered at all the countless items in my home that I don’t use. Items that I handed over the money to fill other big corporations’ pockets. Who knows what I would have bought and spent money on had buying and selling not been reduced to essential items only. And the enlightening realisation is that my life is actually still pretty much fine the way it is without all those non-essentials. I’m talking about the impulse buys, the bought food, the cheap things that you buy because they’re cheap. None of them really added much meaningful value.
So this lockdown has provided many people with the opportunity to appreciate simplicity and minimalism. It is not all good though; the restrictions were a little too restrictive to feel normal, the government’s definition of “essential” varies quite a bit from some peoples preference, and quite frankly, we are longing for a bit of realism again in this world of virtuality. Lockdown is not all good though, the restrictions are a little too restrictive to feel normal, the government’s definition of “essential” varies quite a bit from some peoples preference, and quite frankly, we are longing for a bit of realism again in this world of virtuality.
I think more than anything though, it is prompting people to re-assess their spending priorities – what are the things that I really value spending my money on? Which companies am I glad to give my money to, in exchange for a quality, meaningful product? When we come out of all these 'levels' and are suddenly confronted with the temptings of consumerism again, why don’t we stop and think, what really matters in my life? Is it the smell of newly ground Ninety Six coffee beans? Is it the superior taste of that cup of coffee that can make my morning like no other? Only when we think about the products that really matter in our lives, can we truly spend our money wisely.
Kindly contributed by Alaska Smith, a Ninety Six drinker.