Sunday, September 25, 2011

life is not a competition

I'm just amazed at how many companies have got on the bandwagon of online competitions.  And they've made it so easy to 'win stuff'' just at the click of a button.

which sounds so appealing - two seconds and I'm in the draw to win a years supply of biscuits, or a new kind of deodorant, or a flat screen tv.  Who wouldn't want to do it?

Well, me for one.  In keeping with my ''simplicity'' mantra, I am making a deliberate decision not to LIKE anymore product pages on Facebook, and not to enter any of the competitions that come my way via email. (I don't get circulars in the letterbox so don't even know about the paperbased ones by default).

I figure that almost of the things we are being offered are just more stuff.  Sure some of it's consumable (like the deodorant or the biscuits) but most is just going to be new replacement stuff for the things I already have.  And realistically I don't need or want 25 packets of chocolate chippie biscuits in any case.

The idea of winning an overseas holiday is kind of appealing.  Or even a new car.  But again, the reality is that I probably couldn't afford, let alone justify, the spending money for a trip - and the insurance on a new car would be crippling (well I guess I could sell it....) - and besides the likelihood of winning those are pretty remote.

So, thanks but no thanks to the ipod, the makeup samples, the years subscription to SKY.

In the interests of simplicity, and as my own small move against consumerism, I choose to ignore the spam and concentrate on enjoying the things I already have.


4 comments:

Demandra said...

Yes! I used to get free samples through the mail until I actually thought about it. All that packaging for one tiny product that I really didn't want or need. I was getting it simply because it was "free." And then, of course, my name was put on mailing lists and I started to get a ton of catalogs and such. Best to just leave that mess alone in the first place.

Broot said...

I posted this on Facebook the other day. I think it works for competitions, too.

http://failbook.failblog.org/2011/09/26/funny-facebook-fails-oinkonomics/

Mummyzilla said...

Definitely the way to go. We just don't need so much 'stuff' in our lives.

susan said...

What really blows me away is how much stuff these companies are giving away...how can they afford it - I thought we were supposed to be in a recession...