To think Christmas has descended into a pile of landfill?

Which company made the shirt @HelloIcetime ? I’m trying to buy good quality / British wherever possible ( and only when necessary), so I’m trying to create a list of companies to use.

My friend and I swap the same fabric bottle bags that I sewed about 20 years ago back and forth, @taxguru. I crocheted a couple as well, out of leftover yarn from a jumper that itself was made from recycled denim cotton. They get passed around between the relatives.

I agree with all that. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. But we should be doing more to reduce and reuse and not just rely on "recycle" to justify our actions because recycling may make us feel virtuous but still uses an enormous amount of energy (causing pollution) and huge amounts of it isn't recycled at all and still ends up in landfill. So, we should all be doing what we can to reduce and reuse. Like you, we recycle our wrapping, gift bags and bows/tags, etc and that's nothing new, we've been doing it for decades before the environment impact became so mainstream - we did it to save money! Some of our gift bags must be 20/30 years old - it's become a family joke that they keep appearing and almost becomes a race to see who gets to the drawer first to get the best ones!

I agree with this. My parents used to do the same. Bin bags of cheap plastic gifts all of which have long since been thrown away. I would have loved to have just had one special present which I could have kept as a keepsake.

I voted YABU for not being the change you want to see in the world. Talk to your relatives and friends about it, just be mindful of what you're buying and why.

'Less but better' has been around forever. Recycled and recyclable wrapping can still be beautiful - for example, I've been using the same satin ribbons on presents for at least 15 years. My parents did the same.

Prioritising locally made things so the money goes to the local economy and stimulates jobs, trying to stick to natural materials where possible, and not panic-buying extra stuff because you think you should isn't that hard. It's just a shift in mindset.

@GivingUpFinally

While I completely agree. I also think what some (most I hope) see as cheap tat may be the only things that some can afford. For example my sister sees a bunch of cheap presents looks and may be feels better than one modest one for her dc.

That's what my mother did when I was a child and I hated it. I'd far rather have had one decent present than a sack full of plastic cheap tat but had to pretend to like it, play with it and be grateful. My DH was the opposite - his parents had no money either but they made home-made presents that cost virtually nothing along with one decent present. He still has some of the home made things that meant so much to him, such as a hand made fort out of scraps of plastic and cardboard that his father made and painstakingly painted which he spent hours playing with, other presents typically included hand made clothes!

@Katypp Have you located my offensive posts yet?

I think people like us are very much the norm and the armies of others buying mountains of tat, Christmas pyjamas to wear once and throw out and decorating the house then binning everything on Jan 1 are in the minority at least and more likely a figment on MN folklore, dreamed up to make posters feel superior about their new-found habits.

Agreed. It’s the born again anti-tat evangelists that seem to think the rest of us are laying prostrate at the altar of some rancid influencers wearing matching Shein pyjamas. Well most of us aren’t. We are dragging our old Christmas shite from the loft once a year and dusting it off. Lots of mine has been passed through my MIL and is donkeys years old, including the tree.

I am interested in it, I never said I wasn’t. Like I said, I’ve never bought into the whole thing. It’s the condescending tone of the threads I’m objecting to, not the subject itself.

They might not have seen any of the first nineteen, but just happen to be on MN when the twentieth pops up in Active.

For something you're not interested in you seem quite exercised by the subject.

This is exactly right. There are even a few on this thread saying they used to do it (I presume when they had less money to stretch further or children piling on pressure) but now they have seen the light, they need to share their new-found evangelism with others, dressed up as concern.
As you say, some of us have been doing this for years but just assumed it was entirely normal until the born-again anti-tatters came along to tell us we are unusual apparently as 'everyone else' buys mounds of tat and bins it within 24 hours. Apparently.

Good!

You think if the first 19 threads this week about the subject didn’t get through to them then the 20th might?

It's good it's being discussed at length.

Maybe some of it will filter through to those who need to feel they've been given permission to get off the consumerism merrygoround before they can actually do it.

Even I've been inspired to try to do more and I feel I already do quite a bit.

@GalaxyJam in the overall scheme of things it's not discussed much. Its still niche, the occasional thread, just a small percentage of the I hate MIL and all men are evil threads. This is something I believe propelled mostly by women and among the many many complaints about the patriarchy here is something women have control of but collectively don't take much responsibility for. That's just my own observation

I think it’s great that people are talking about waste and trying to shop more ethically. It’s about time!

Anyone who doesn’t want to read threads about the issue can simply avoid reading them. You can only feel like you’re being lectured if you spend time on threads where you think people are lecturing. And if you’re already making thoughtful choices about purchasing and waste then you aren’t the one being lectured at anyway.

Very little discussion? Are you kidding? Type ‘tat’ into the search and you’ll see just how often this has been discussed in the past few weeks alone.

Smokers, not smothers!

I agree OP. What really annoys me is the people who buy from halfway across the world and get it shipped, probably made by someone in unsafe working conditions, (possibly using cotton from slave labour camps) pumping god knows what into the ocean on the way and claiming they saved £5. It's nothing to do with affordability, the people I know use any savings as a means to buy two or three of something, not essentials. Then they complain the city centres are all closing down and dodgy and there is no employment for young people. Apparently pointing out the ridiculous irony makes me sanctimonious. Fast fashion is one of the biggest pollutants and completely unnecessary, excessive Christmas items are too, don't get me started on Halloween cheap decorations and wear once costumes. I just can't understand why we are all ok with it. As far as I can see it's mostly women buying this stuff and very little discussion on a predominantly women's website.

Exactly. It feels like being lectured by those who have ‘seen the light’ (ie they used to buy into it all and have now had an epiphany), when some of us have never brought into it, but haven’t felt the need to lecture others. It’s a bit like reformed smothers I guess. They have to tell other people about it as much as they can.
Apart from anything else, this has got to be the 20th thread in this exact same vein in the past week alone.

Sorry, who have I been offensive about? Can you point to the post where I’ve been offensive about someone?

I haven’t taken offence to what you’ve said. (I said I resented your post because I felt it misrepresented what I’d said).

This pretty much sums up my thoughts too.