If you haven’t yet determined your Consumer Wisdom score and profile, I’d suggest doing that first by completing the Consumer Wisdom survey. You can also read an overview of the six dimensions before doing a deeper dive on this page.
Below, you’ll find sections dedicated to each of the six habits (or dimensions) of Consumer Wisdom. This is a work-in-progress. At this point, I have posted lists of specific behaviors for all of the six habits of Consumer Wisdom. Within the first habit, Responsibility, I have expanded on each behavior in detail. As folks engage with this site overall, by reading and adding their own comments, then I’ll decide whether and how to expand on the behaviors within each of the other habits. I hope that what is here already serves you well and I look forward to your feedback!
Habit 1: Responsibility
- Take responsibility for making choices that promote your well-being
- Take responsibility for making choices that promote your values
- Don’t be influenced by people who don’t know you or genuinely care about you
- Appreciate and use your own power and influence
- Develop and use a simple budget and financial plan
- Be clear and intentional about the lifestyle that’s best for you
- Don’t waste your money or time (and keep things simple!)
- Adapt as your needs, values, resources, and situation change over time
Habit 2: Reasoning
- Avoid choices that lead to regret, guilt and stress
- When in doubt, don’t spend
- Focus on long-term value
- Avoid places that tempt you with bad choices
- Find places that help you make wise choices
- Make a plan before you go shopping
- Be patient
- Don’t obsess with always making the perfect choice or always saving money
- Understand the trade-offs between different ways of buying things
- Don’t be persuaded by irrelevant and misleading product, brand, and retailer information
- Really learn about the products and services that you are spending money on
- Get the information you need to make wise choices
- Consider multiple perspectives on big decisions
- Make decisions that support your own values and lifestyle
- Consider the whole value proposition before you buy
Habit 3: Perspective
- Remember how choices in the past made you feel
- Learn from your own mistakes
- Learn from the mistakes other people make
- Visualize what buying and owning something will really be like
- Consider product durability, repairability, and costs over time
- Try things out before you buy them
- Borrow things you want to buy to make sure you really need to own them
Habit 4: Purpose
- Take care of yourself
- Spend on new experiences
- Spend to gain skills and learn new things
- Spend on things that provide joy and awe
- Be grateful for what you have
Habit 5: Sustainability
- Support the local economy and small businesses
- Consider how your spending affects others throughout the global supply chain
- Care for the environment
- Care about other living creatures
- Spend in ways that promote personal relationships
- Spend in ways that promote a sense of community
- Spend in ways that help you connect with nature
Habit 6: Flexibility
- Take care of the things you own (and get rid of stuff you don’t care about)
- Grow, make, and fix what you can
- Rent or borrow instead of owning
- Buy used stuff
- Share your knowledge and skills
- Support individual crafters, makers, bakers, and builders
- Be open and creative about how you exchange value with others