This Wacky Bag Was Invented to Keep Your Credit Card Spending Down
We’ve all been there. You went out to buy just one thing and end up coming home with six things, not to mention a tasty latte and your weekly budget obliterated. And with holiday season upon us, budgeting gets even harder with all the gifts we need to buy (for others and ourselves). In fact, the average person spends $802.45 during the holidays, a major increase from 2009 when it was just $681.83.
Enter the Excuse Me? Excuse You bag. It was dreamed up by Leanne Fischler and Rebecca Smith at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design at the University of Dundee in Scotland as a school project. From the outside, it’s hard to differentiate the bag from a normal leather handcrafted messenger bag, except for the perforations on the front panel for a small speaker inside. It’s when you reach inside to remove your credit card that you can tell this isn’t your ordinary tote: The bag literally starts voicing things out loud, like “Do you really need this?” and “You’re already in your overdraft.” The voice gets louder and more theatrical each time you take out your credit card, which will certainly make you think twice before an impulse buy.
“We are interested in design activism – making a point through design,” said Leanne Fischler, one of the inventors of the bag. “The project aims to make people consider whet they already own and whether they need to buy more.” She also added that the bag is a one-off project and not something they plan to sell.
We honestly hope they reconsider though, because our bank accounts need this.
What do you think of these students’ project? Tell us in the comments below!