I have two basic rules when traveling. 1) Beware of biscuits and gravy above the Mason/Dixon line and 2) Beware of Coffee below the Mason/Dixon line. In my experience coffee is best understood, appreciated and brewed by those in northern climates where it is less a luxury and perhaps borders on necessity.
Coffee has definitely made its way to the centre of Canadian culture, and if the proliferation of Tim Horton's franchises, merchandising and advertising is any indication, it remains at the centre of Canadian pop culture. I must admit, that coffee is big part of my day as well. Since my family started our Thirty Days of Almost Nothing challenge last week, I have been forced to consider what role coffee might play in our purchases.
For the most part, it hasn't been that big a challenge. I actually drink most of my coffee at home and don't go out to purchase a cup of coffee all that often. I also have a deal with my favourite local coffee shop (Cafe Deda in Milton) where I play music some Sunday nights in exchange for drinking coffee for free throughout the week. The challenge came, however, when we reached the dairy isle of the grocery store. What about cream for our coffee, was that necessary? Could we just use milk which we already have in the house?
At this point I must confess to the influence of Tim Horton's on my coffee habit. Over the years, Tim Horton's coffee lingo has become so influential that it has become part of the Canadian English lexicon and h
as in fact made it into our dictionaries. The term "double-double" for instance is in our dictionaries and refers to two cream and two sugar. The cream at Tim Horton's, and this is the part that has influenced me, is 18%. As I was beginning to drink coffee with some consistency, it was Tim Horton's and so I got used to 18% cream. Now when we get 5% or 10% cream from the store it already feels like a bit of a compromise. The thought of going down to milk then for me is, to say the least, undesirable. But although milk is undesirable is cream really a necessity? In reality probably not, but here is what we figured and how we made our decision:We had saved a lot by purchasing a less expensive brand of coffee, enough to more than make up for a carton of cream..so in the end we bought the cream and still had a net savings on our bill. We did really well in many other areas as well and so had a significantly lower grocery bill than usual.
Well that is what we did...we still saved a lot...but perhaps allowed for more "flexibility" in the necessity determination. What do you think? (feel free to comment below if you have a thought)
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Well Jay, This all seems like a very interesting project! I appreciated your thoughts on cream, but where it led me was to wonder at the necessity of coffee and of so many other things that we consume beyond what we need for subsistance. When I read Jesus' story, it would seem that He mostly lived in subsitance mode, but also took time to fast as well as to feast--to savour and enjoy and be led toward deeper thankfulness. So, my final thought on cream...I would encourage you to savour it as a 'feast' moment in the midst of your experiment of living on little.
ReplyDeleteThe other question I had about your September challenge was whether the goal was to spend as little as possible, or to buy as little as possible. The question that has been plaguing me every time I hear advertisements for low prices is 'who is paying the price then'? or who is absorbing the discount? While I may pay less, I'm sure the end goal of the producer is that I buy more because the prices are lower. The complexity of low prices and how to ensure the right people are benefiting if I willingly pay a higher price continues to haunt me. Coffee, tea and chocolate are the only items I find easily that are fairly traded.
I love reading your devo every week and hope you enjoy your cream--whatever percentage you choose!
In Christ, Jenn Burnett
Ok, so I am laughing because you saw through the smoke screen! The cream discussion was a true discussion we had in the grocery store, but I have kind of used it to distract from the other question that lies behind it - do I need coffee at all. I appreciate the thoughts about feasting. As much as my body has a chemical craving for coffee, I think I do enjoy it, savour it, and appreciate it as one of life's small gifts worth enjoying each morning...especially with cream!
ReplyDeleteAs for the purpose of the experiment, I think for Kim it came out of further reflections on our theme verse at Family Camp when it said to no longer "conform to the pattern of this world." We were thinking of some of the patterns of consumerism and were wondering what it might look like to try to not conform. We then took on the Thirty Days of Almost Nothing to see what we could learn about ourselves - what would be the challenges, what are necessities, where are we challenged to be unwise stewards with the resources God gave us. So yes, we are trying to spend as little as possible but primarily by purchasing less. We are trying to focus on necessities and eliminate some of the wasteful, frivolous spending on stuff we really don't need. We have also been trying to save on those things we do buy. We have clipped a lot more coupons, made a lot more things ourselves and learned to mend and repair. We also have become better at buying used stuff for the things that we do need to purchase (although we had been doing it before this month!).
Your points about low prices at others expense are really good as well. As we have been thinking about these things- consumerism and our role in it- it has also got us thinking about lots of other issues as well. Although one of our chief aims has been to spend less our main focus had been to do that by reducing what we purchase. In this way we feel like we are consuming less of the world resources, and contributing a bit less waste by reducing as well as re-useing and recycling. These ecological considerations have been an added feature we had not necessarily thought of at first.
By purchasing less, and paying more attention to what we do spend, we also hope to be more thoughtful about what we are buying, where it comes from and many of those issues about justice and fairness that our consumer decision impact.