What I cancelled in January
In the last ten days of January...
I closed my Facebook account.
I cancelled our family's Netflix account.
I cancelled all streaming services through Amazon.
I refuse to shop at Target anymore.
I removed all my Google Maps reviews.
I closed extra Gmail accounts and removed all data associated with the accounts.
It's a good step in the right direction financially and morally.
Right now it is what I can do. While there are other actions I can take, I need to find alternatives and substitutions before I cut off more dollars going to the millionaires and billionaires.
So what do I have planned for February?
No spending except home, utilities, and debt service, plus groceries, auto, and gas. We are doing one last big spend tomorrow for groceries. This will give us a four month supply with milk and egg and fresh veg exceptions. My goal is to slash my monthly grocery bills to 25% of previous spending through April. It will be hard because grocery prices are expected to raise even more but given everything going on I chose 25% specifically.
So why aren't you cutting all the cords? Access, availability, convenience, and ease.
Facebook became a cesspool a long time ago. I was only on it for the messaging service and for Facebook marketplace. Occasionally I checked in with a local group for county news. No more. Peter and I message via another service. I don't need to buy extra stuff. A neighbor shares their newspaper when they are finished with it.
The day I received an email from Netflix about the price hike, I discovered they had record sign ups for new members. Any surprise? A lot of people want to avoid the news. And what was Netflix's response? Let's get more, more, more! No more! I say! No more, Netflix! Goodbye!
Amazon is something we use for things we can't get elsewhere, so I am changing my strategy. I am going to act in a way that costs Amazon extra money. I am ordering one thing at a time and waiting for delivery instead of ordering things together. Delivery will cost more. I will look for other alternatives when they become available. I am also going to discuss splitting a membership with someone else. What I could do immediately was use a free 7 day plan and cancel it. And I also cancelled recurring streaming from two other services through Amazon. I also updated my ad blockers so it's really free streaming too.
Target, the gayest gay friendly store, dubbed Tar-jay by the gay community for decades, has now turned its back on the LGBTQI community and also the black American community. Buh, bye, bitches!
I closed extra GMail accounts we had, removed data, and we're down to one each for personal info. I had a second required email account through my ISP for years and it was my default billing email. When service declined and data was capped, we transferred everything to GMail. It took months to move everything to GMail. I am researching our options. For now I remain on blogger until I can figure out how to deal with personal expression.
I also removed all my Google Maps reviews which had hundreds of thousands of views. You can read about it here. In short, why do the work for free, I asked myself.
The billionaires are ruining the world through their greed. Our family paid more in taxes than some billionaires and some of their companies. Yet we seem to have zero say-so in anything anymore. So in these small ways we are reclaiming our voices and taking back our dollars from the billionaires. We are only one small family but if others join us, we can have an impact. And remember that the effects may manifest in other ways too. Better mental well-being. Less influence over our decision making process. Less data collection. Fewer sales. Less dependence on these people that have built their wealth from the sweat of other people's labors.
