Milan Noelle

In Black American culture, there’s a saying that goes, “We got food at home”.

Many of us Gen X and Millennial Black Americans, especially, remember hearing this plenty of times throughout our childhood when we’d see a McDonald’s during a car ride with our parent/s. We’d beg them to stop and get food there and 99.9 percent of the time they responded, “we got food at home” and drove right on past those golden arches. If this was your experience growing up, I hope you’re somewhere enjoying take out while those spaghetti leftovers chill in the fridge. Not all the time though. Lol.

Our parents definitely felt like fun snatchers, but they were teaching us important lessons about mindfulness and consumption. Making sure we utilized and appreciated what we already had and weren’t being wasteful of resources. Avoiding accumulating and spending money on things that we didn’t need is better for the environment and often decreases anxiety in our spaces. Amen.

I almost bought a nut milk maker

the other day. Amazon said it’d deliver to me between 5 and 8 am the next day. Bet. In my cart it went and I made my way to check out… until I paused. That pause ended up being 12 hours long. Within that time, I ruminated on where I’d put it. My kitchen appliances compete for storage space like products compete for shelf space in a Target store. During the rumination, I remembered that I already own a pricey, high quality blender and plenty of strainers to make nut milk with right now. I didn’t need a nut milk maker. WGFAH, sis.

Enthusiastic practitioners of conscious and more sustainable consumption, still get seduced to mindlessly or impulsively buy more stuff.

Many times I forget that I already own things that will meet my needs and wants. That’s why taking a pause to determine if what we’re considering buying is an impulse, a true need, or something we already have hidden in all our stuff.

I could’ve felt bad and frustrated that old consumptive behaviors still creep up when I’m not paying attention or moving fast. Instead, I laughed about how I almost got got. I also felt proud that I didn’t succumb to my, at times, impulsivity. I paused long enough to realize that I already possessed tools to meet my need. I wouldn’t have to play a game of Tetris in the kitchen to figure out where to put another item.

The American system is designed to keep us spending money and accumulating stuff. It makes it very seductive and easy to participate. Some days we get got. Some days we don’t. On this particular day, I didn’t: Milan – 1, the system – 0.