Well, y'all can tell me if I'm wrong about what will follow. I'm totally okay with that
I really like the idea of this forum. Simplicity. I do not want more stuff. I do not want to waste (and for me it feels like a waste) to spend my time shopping. It is not something I either enjoy or value. I don't care for consumerism. I value simplicity. I do not need or want more stuff. For many reasons. And, I hate the manipulation of sales.
But, I do not participate in this forum because for me it has nothing to do with thrift. I have found - for me - that over the years when I focus on thrift I tend to accumulate more crap.
"wow, I have a $25 off coupon for Ann Taylor Loft. I wasn't actually thinking of shopping right now and I don't actually need anything, but I just cannot see throwing money away, so instead of not shopping, I'm going to go and spend money I wasn't going to spend on something I don't need just because it is on sale."
I have routinely found that the things that I have gone back and forth on, putting on hold, then reconsidering, but then never getting out of my mind until I go back and spend more than I actually budgetted myself are the exact same things that I have worn over and over and over again, but yet those things that I bought because it was a good deal (!!!) are the very things that become clutter.
So, I don't shop because marketing tells me I must. I shop when I have determined there is a need, have made my decision out of the stores, and just purchase the thing I need - even if it is spendy. Hence, why I don't hang out here. I feel that my approach/attitude is not included.
And, ultimately, who cares why one person choses to wake before the **** crows in order to shop black friday and why one person doesn't. Who cares if it is frugal or moral? What ultimately matters is what YOU (the generic you) value be it frugality or a self-moral position of non-consumerism. I don't think that one person is inherently more or less moral (or right) than another based upon their relationship with consumerism (so long as they are able to meet their finacial needs).