For over a decade now I’ve been (intermittently) banging on about spending consciously. I’ve created a model about it and everything (but that’s for another day).

For now, I want to talk about how to spend consciously at this very interesting moment in history.

For years and years my mum has spent thousands of dollars at the Eltham Bookshop. Every Christmas everyone in the family gets at least one book from there.

Clearly mum could get the books cheaper online, but that’s not the point. Mum loves Meera who owns the shop, she loves the experience of a real bookshop, and she wants to help keep it going.

One element of spending consciously is that when you spend a dollar, it’s like casting a vote for the thing you buy. You’re supporting it.

Right now is a good time to look at where we spend our money. To be more conscious. To stop wasting money. But if you can, keep spending money on the people and organisations that you want to support (and that you want to survive).

The Eltham Bookshop is still open for business. And even though mum can’t go in there anymore she can still ring up and get books delivered. Give them (or your local bookstore) a call if you’re after a good book. They could probably use the support more than Amazon right now.