#landfillcore...so depressing 😞

[Badvocthebad]

I've been irl shopping recently and, of course, ads all over SM...
The absolute tat being sold in all shops with an "autmnal theme"!
Pumpkin cushions, pumpkin mugs, highland cows (?) on everything from socks to pjs to blankets...
Its all mass produced, plastic crap, probably made by children in sweatshops. (Polyester is plastic for those who aren't aware)
The world is burning. Literally. The over consumption is killing us all slowly (some of us not so slowly..)
I'm not against buying things you need (although how much of what what we buy do we really need?) <just spent a year clearing out 2 relatives houses....trust me, you don't need 2/3 of what's in your home>
Just this week I've bought vintage 100% linen napkins and some dinner plates from vinted. All as new, but used. (I don't use plastic or paper napkins)
Cost me about £25.
Plastic tat is killing this planet, plastic grass is killing the pollinators (they die, we all die...)
It's just so...depressing. It's why I don't really do irl shopping anymore. Even clothes are all polyester/viscose/acrylic messes.
I'm currently in the process of de cluttering my house/loft. I don't want my kids to have to go through what I have over the past few years (this is the 3rd house I've had to clear in a decade)
By 2032, there will be the largest weather transfer in history.
The boomers are dying out and there houses and garages and sheds and lofts and cellars which are full of stuff which will be saturating the market.
It's a sunny Sunday morning here and- yet again - I'm going to be doing a tip run to give things to the re-home section.
I know some will say "well, its free will"
But..is it? Really? When we are now bombarded with ads and insta worthy houses and influencers flogging the latest highland cow merch from b&m?
Aren't we all just being played?
Sorry, bit of a rant for a Sunday morning 😬😕

I agree OP. I spent time in the US in the 90s and saw shops full of this crap, people changing their house decor every season (or often more regularly) and thought it was a consumer madness. But it’s crept into our shops and lives here. We need to think about what we’re doing more, if nothing else I don’t want to be convinced by capitalism that I need useless things, and the planet certainly doesn’t need it

Given that until very recently we managed perfectly well without these things, no, I don't think so.

Eta: switching your throw or cushion covers for handmade ones in seasonal colours is not the same thing at all.

Yep. You see it on mn. "Whats your Christmas theme this year?" 🙄
Same as the past 15 years and a tree with all the decorations my dc made when they were little.

I agree @Badvocthebad I try and buy my clothes from vinted and charity shops. I refuse to buy any haloeeen decor and the autumn stuff i have gets put in a box and reused year on year same as christmas. Now DC are older I refuse to buy crap tat for gifts and birthdays are usually a theatre show and a meal. If i need something for the house I scour charity shops first. Although I was talking to a family member about this recently who pointed out unless private jets stop becoming a thing whats the point! I get that but its good to do your bit

It's definitely something that's come over from the US imo.
When I was young (70s and 80s) Halloween just wasn't a thing. Maybe did a carved turnip but bonfire night was a much bigger deal...parties, bonfires, fireworks, penny for the guy etc but it was all homemade.
I really like Christmas but I'm starting to dread to run up. I saw christmas wrapping paper in next last month!
Madness.

They aren't wrong, but at least I feel I can look my kids in the eye and say I tried 😕

When we were kids (60s/70s) looking for conkers in autumn on the way to school was exciting. Our homes weren’t stuffed full of special tat to mark each season. We had Christmas of course but other than that…🤷‍♀️

@TakeAnyFormDriveMeMad
I've done that since my kids were older. We love a theatre trip 😊
When they were younger I got so many lovely toys from ebay and fbmp.
I'm not sure what to suggest this year. Possibly cash and some things they really need (dd needs new work shoes)
They are both saving for uni/moving out so cash is king in our house 😊

I’m over Christmas. Not buying into it this year. Food shopping in M&S yesterday & there was stacks of fat food everywhere “stock up now!” Madness… I’m planning to enjoy the actual day, the social aspect, family… We already have our festive tat from previous years.

What's weird is that is increasingly easy to buy things secondhand (FBMP, depop, ebay, gumtree, Vinted, Vinterior, auction houses, charity shops, carboot sales, even refurbished electronics). The stuff in shops is getting worse and worse quality but costing more and more. It makes no sense.

Totally agree OP!

Not everyone. I brought some in my 20's and still have them. Have added a few more over the years as I've moved to bigger houses and had space for a bigger tree. Christmas is the one time when you don't need to follow the latest designs. I have a set of traditional colours for one room and a 1980's multicolour fest for another. Have had to replace lights though.

With you on this. Every time I browse the next sale online it’s full of Santa toilet seat covers and pedestal mats, Halloween themed ornaments etc. Would love to know how many of each thing they made and why they order so much that it ends up in the sale.

It’s the amount of shit that comes out of China that infuriates me most - the sheer amount of pointless things that are available to buy on all the crappy platforms like Ali express, shein etc (constantly seeing adverts pop up for these websites). They need to be fined heavily for overproducing all this shit.

edited to add - did you see the recall on Asda handbags the other day? Severe risk to reproductive health from all the chemicals in them. Their country of origin was unknown - why tf are they ordering products they don’t know anything about and don’t even know where they originate? Madness.

I was pondering on clothes purchasing recently - 40 years ago, when I was in my early 20s I shared one double wardrobe with my then-husband - all our clothes fitted in there, plus we had two drawers each for socks and underwear. Now people pretty much buy that quantity of clothing every season 🤷🏻

This must be the minority, most people will reuse decorations every year and even have inherited ones. Cristmas is all about tradition.

I hate that argument re private jets. It’s like the way everyone starts pointing at China and saying anything they can do won’t make any difference because China. Nevermind that a vast amount of stuff we buy is from…China. I even had garlic from China recently; I was annoyed I hadn’t checked before I bought it. It had hardly any flavour at all, unsurprisingly. Managed to find some from Spain recently and that was much better.

Anyway, I digress, yes, a large proportion of people just start pointing their fingers at billionaires/China before wondering if they can actually do something positive themselves.

I don’t see my efforts as pointless. Firstly, they help me be able to look my children in the eye and say I’m doing my best. Secondly, my children have learnt from example and both factor in environmental issues when they are making decisions about buying things or using services. They buy all their clothes second hand from local charity shops, FB marketplace and Vinted. They’re still not very good re single-use plastic (thanks to their fondness for junk food 🙄) but I’m working on it.

I despair.

I didnt know about the world of beauty advent calendars until this year when I clicked on a link on this. I thought wow, 400£ worth of stuff for a third of the price. Then I looked at the content and thought look at all that plastic! Trying to get my kids on board with turning their back on this commercialisation. They, at 10, had way more skin care than me and not because I bought it - little girls turned up with piles of it as birthday gifts at parties.

I dont mind them having seasonal bedding as they do need lots of bedding changes so they get their uses.

I found vinted this week. Wow! Just need to get the drive to upload stuff - i dont think I will ever do that. But it will be my go to when I need things now.

Thanks for the post. Keeping it real.

It’s so depressing but I think life is quite hard for a lot of people and spending £20 in B&M gives a cheap, easy dopamine hit that temporarily cheers up their day. They don’t really think beyond that.

I’ve been guilty of it myself in the past but I’ve realised it doesn’t actually work and I don’t want to be part of that cycle any more.

On the other hand social media influencers encouraging people to decorate for Halloween in August and buy all manner of plastic crap can bugger right off and get a proper job.

I don’t mind a bit of seasonal decor eg I do decorate for Halloween but I use paper decorations & lights that are years old.

I don’t really understand why you need Halloween bedding or crockery & now it’s all autumnal stuff too. Where do people put everything though?

Totally agree with this. I’d buy something because “it’s Christmas” & I’ll enjoy the treat. But once the buying is done… I’m trying to break the habit this year. But I have bought a few nice things over the years that are still going strong. Quality nowadays is just terrible.

You're not wrong. I went in the Range to buy varnish last week and oh my god the stuff, those air blower dancing pop up ghost things, a skeleton DJ, all required electric too. The Christmas stuff was out too, even the staff were despairing.

I buy soy scented candles in clear glass jars, clean carefully and the glass is recycled. So I can still have a seasonally scented house.

Most people reuse things year in, year out. It won't all go to landfill the moment November or December hits.

I'm with you @Badvocthebad. I'm very cross about it all. Currently clearing out my parents' house and what i want to do is just get clearance in for the lot, but of course I won't because I am doing my utmost to get it reused or recycled. So I am tired and grumpy.
My house is full of other people's impulse buys too ( and I'll admit to a handful of my own)
I have got really fierce about what comes into it now, and my nearest and dearest know better than to buy me things for Christmas and birthdays. They think I'm a little odd but i honestly don't want them spending their money on landfill fodder, and not do i relish the inevitable guilt that comes with disposing of the thing.

Adult offspring occasionally try to palm off the birthday presents etc that their child receives ( parties seem to result in masses of the stuff) and I just give them 'the look' now. And all that nonsense I read on here about 'is this a big enough pile for dc to open'. Honestly it makes me weep!

And no wonder nobody's ever got any money!

Just the other day I was ranting to my DH about shops trying to get us to celebrate/mark Autumn. They need their sales, their profits. Where are people finding the money in this COL crisis?

The first principle of trying to live an environmentally friendly life is REDUCE.

My 2 DC (20 & 16) are both so jaded. They feel like they can’t do anything and that the efforts I make are just a drop in the ocean so “what’s the point?” 😢