Don’t care for Black Friday? How about Buy Nothing Day?
Posted November 28, 2014 7:54 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – If you’re worried about debt and would rather not rack up any more of it, you can look at the Black Friday madness in a whole other way.
In addition to Black Friday, it’s “Buy Nothing Day,” and it’s all about protesting consumerism.
It’s been around here in Vancouver for more than 20 years and aims to challenge holiday shoppers to take a good look at over-consumption and over-spending.
It’s a chance to examine your relationship with money, and whether your spending is meeting your long-term goals.
Personal Bankruptcy Trustee Lana Gilbertson says the day is especially relevant now because we’re carrying levels of debt that are higher than ever, particularly here in BC.
“The other reason is there are more credit cards in circulation than ever before, tempting buyers. And also insolvency levels… that means a consumer proposal, a bankruptcy proceeding. Although they are lower than they were at the time that we had the recession in 2009, they still remain higher than pre-recession levels.”
“Black Friday is a particular temptation for holiday shoppers, and one piece of advice that I have is to set a budget for Christmas spending and stick to that budget,” she adds.
Gilbertson also recommends using cash when making Christmas purchases, saying it’ll be harder to lose track of what you’re spending than if you use a credit or debit card.
Buy Nothing Day was founded in 1992 in Vancouver. It used to be held in September, but has been changed to line up with Black Friday.
