Money Musings 💭 80% Holidays
Linda Scott is an economist, Oxford Professor and author of The Double X Economy. She’s brilliant and in her book makes the case for the epic cost of excluding women from the world economy.
Side note: I can’t tell you how excited I was to interview her for my book. And I can’t wait to tell you more about everything we discussed. It was 🤯🤯🤯
Something we talked about that’s actually very timely is her 80% holidays boycott. Let me explain…
Women control more than 75% of consumer spending. In the US, this consumer spending accounts for 70% of GDP, and more than a third of it happens in November and December because of the holidays. Holiday shopping touches so many areas and includes food, beverage, hosting, travel, gifts, and more.
Linda has a vision where women pledge to spend only 80% of what they spent last year on whichever holidays they celebrate. She shared “that it will not take anywhere near a 20% reduction to have a big impact” but she chose 80% because it’s close to the 81% pay gap that women on average face.
This would start with Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chanukah and Kwanzaa at the end of the year, meaning women who celebrate those holidays would spend 80% of what they typically spend. Then it would include the Lunar New Year, which is the biggest holiday in the world. It would continue with Ramadan in the spring and Diwali in the fall.
If there’s a holiday with spending, women can join the boycott and spend 80% of what they normally would.
For those of us in the U.S. we can start with Thanksgiving.
Linda suggests tying this 80% boycott to a desired outcome or goal. In the U.S. specifically, she recommends asking for the end of forced arbitration contracts (more on them here).
The idea is that Congress would receive pressure from companies experiencing reduced demand (or even hearing about the threat of reduced demand). If the outcome or goal is met, women go back to shopping as usual for holidays the following year. If the demand is not met, we double down. 80% of that 80% - 64% is our new budget.
While the main requirement of the movement is to try to spend 20% less, it’s better if those with privilege can still use some discernment when deciding where to spend their holiday money.
If you can, choose companies that fit your consumer activism criteria so we’re not spending less by switching our shopping from small businesses to big box discount stores.
What do you think of this idea? Hit reply and let me know.
PS Shana Tova to the Jewish Fiscal Femmes! 🍎
MONEY MOVE OF THE WEEK
CELEBRATE YOUR GOAL MILESTONES.
Motivation is key when it comes to sticking with habits that move you toward your goals. Two things that make a huge difference:
Frequent reminders of your goals (and how achieving them will make you feel)
Getting to “win” or make progress on those goals (i.e. like the satisfaction of checking off something on your to-do list, ✅ but better)
You can do both of those things by turning your goals into “art.” I use the word art 🎨 loosely - I’m by no means an artist but you’ll want to create some kind of physical representation of your goal(s). Have fun with it.
That might look like a bar chart you color in as you hit different milestones or post-it notes you rip off (and rip up) as you tackle another $500 of debt. It can even look like tracking the numbers in excel (this is my art lol). The important part is that you get to see and celebrate your progress along the way. I’d love to see what you create to track your goals! Please send me photos. 🤗
YOU GOTTA SEE THIS
NATIVE WOMEN’S EQUAL PAY DAY
Today, September 8, 2021 is Native American Women’s Equal Pay Day. Native American Women earn $0.60 for every $1 a white, non-Hispanic man earns. That means Native American Women have to work nine additional months into the year to earn what a white man earned during the previous year.
Closing the tremendous pay gaps and wealth gaps BIPOC and women face will take major systemic changes. Changes that come from policy, leadership and our institutions. These changes start with our vote! So even if there aren’t any elections coming up, make sure you and those close to you are registered to vote.