To be bothered by how much we consume as a society...

[Cakelesswonder]

Don't get me wrong I love a retail therapy session but today just felt utterly gluttonous in the amount of ads for Black Friday, the 'deals, I couldn't move for emails offering me 20% off lots of things I don't need. I'm not suggesting everyone knits their own yogurt and lives like Mormons but I really feel we don't have the resources on Earth to keep consuming, throwing and consuming like we do. Everything is disposable, straws, clothes, we buy water in bottles then throw them away polluting the oceans and planet for ourselves and future generations. I have no idea what the overall solution is but it really got to me today .

I agree @ChardonnaysPrettySister. The retail year just seems to lurch from one event to another with no pause in between starting with Halloween and ending with Easter. I don't remember this as a child.

I suppose the key for all of us is to decide whether we want to participate or not and to what extent. I reuse Christmas decorations year in year out and personally will not be buying Easter decorations as I see no need. I can see how some get swayed into feeling they have too while the media portrays it all as necessary for a happy life.

Do people honestly buy new decorations every year? Surely not. Most people I know will buy a couple of new things each year as things get too shabby to use but thankfully most people I know use mainly the same things year in year out.

I can't imagine why you would throw out decorations you've only used for a few weeks and then buy them again in 11 months' time.

I agree @newtsSuitcase Part of the fun of putting up the decorations is unpacking the boxes from the loft and seeing those special decorations you only use once a year, have memories attached and forgot you had!

But people definitely do replace the whole lot, someone in my family did this last year in favour of all 'rose gold' I sincerely hope they will rotate their different colour schemes over the years.

Half of the fun is to lovingly take out the decorations and to talk about Yule pasts. The dc have chosen/or made a decoration each for the tree every year, the decorations symbolise the family past.

The through away mindset is disgusting, a real slap in the face for the 1 billion children that live in dire povety, no clean water, no shelter, no food. These children are literally staving to death.

I make Yule gifts for our family and friends, beadwork scarfs, a rag doll for our niece, preserves and homemade food for hampers. For the children that are in poverty I donate food, festive goods so that they too may have something.

There is a very good documentary series called 'the century of the self' well work watching. Once the scales fall they can not be put back.

Throw not through

I love our random mishmash of uncoordinated decorations! The tree itself is having its 30th Christmas this year; my parents bought it when I was a baby and although I don't think they spent much it is great quality and I was thrilled when they said they would rather I had it for my family. Lots of the decorations are from my childhood too and they are very special to me. We do buy new ones when we go to special places eg I have an ankh from an Egypt exhibition, and it's really lovely to remember all the trips we've had when we decorate the tree. Beats boring baubles any day IMHO

Made a Christmas wreath today with holly, ivy and assorted bits from the garden. It looks very amateurish but it isn't plastic and was fun to make.
I am bidding on a few second hand things from ebay to give as gifts and will be attending a black tie dinner this week in either my black dress (charity shop) or purple dress (ebay).

I don’t replace everything each year but just buy what I need to decorate the tree and outside the house. Lots of the tree decorations were mine from when I was growing up and ones that the DC’s have collected over the years.

DH is in charge of food and drink and seems to have ordered a huge amount but when I worked out how many people are coming for Christmas Day, New Years Eve party and the other days over the Christmas holidays it doesn’t seem too bad.

I like to put a new decoration for the kids on their stocking each year so that they have a stash when they leave home (obviously they will HATE them then ), but got this year's from the charity shop.

Love this and had to share with you all.

I've encouraged two people who are going away to get a real Christmas tree and give it to another family before they go away. Both families leave next week so plenty of time to enjoy the tree before Christmas.

This post has got me thinking. On my daily walk to school I noticed just how many cardboard boxes were outside for recycling. We are talking a lot about supermarket packaging but I think there should also be focus on Amazon packaging. They have managed to get food being delivered locally so for high density areas why not use the same bags, but padded, for the items you purchase? I know for our building of 3 units, two occupied by millenials who buy everything online, we had 19 boxes outside last night all going to recycling.

Yes to reducing Amazon packaging!

Yes, it would be great if parcels could be sent from Amazon (and other online companies) in cardboard boxes, which could then be taken to a central point where they would be returned to the company for re-use.

Boxes fold flat too so they could introduce a scheme where you return them to your delivery driver on your next purchase.

I have used my fake tree for about 12 years.
I've used the same decs and led lights for 8 years.
I use Aldi face cream, it has a glass jar.
However, my partner has tired of my purple and jade colour theme (my favourite quality streets) and has purchased new white leds and white tinsel with co-ordinating baubles. 🤔
It looks lovely but not necessary. He wants to redecorate the front room using white but I say if it ain't broke don't fix it. So the tree is his small rebellion, I think.
We are using up the last of the plastic straws and I'm not replacing them. My daughter doesn't know that. 😀
I make lunches, I always have. Reuse bread bags. Take my own metal carry cup. Use my own bags, cloth ones.
Generally now, I avoid replacing if I can reuse.
It's not much but I've seen many great ideas I can take from this thread. Great thread!

I got tired of the fake tree after I-can't-remember-how-many-years, and after giving some thought to a temporary home for tree-prunings, I realised that many of them could be painted white and tied into a tree-shape.

A friend planning a second tree for a child to decorate was happy to have my old lights, and I was happy to buy some fashionable and economical to run white LEDs, while packing away the old decorations for another year (or few).

My white tree-shape with lights etc. is usually admired, and despite my original re-cycling plans it's now about five years old and I've made a few more for friends, while keeping the back garden fairly tidy.

My son desperately wants a white Christmas tree. We have one fake one outside, a real one inside a small cardboard one the kids made with the Amazon boxes in the playroom. I'm thinking of making another cardboard one with him and painting it white!!!!

We have a lot of decorations up but we do things like popcorn and cranberries instead of lights and they are made by the children. When we are finished with them the string is removed and used for fixing things and the popcorn and cranberries go outside for the birds.

how's everyone doing?

I saw this today - I didn't realise the actual recycling of plastic involved so much faff, so unsurprisingly more will go to landfill now

www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/07/chinese-ban-on-plastic-waste-imports-could-see-uk-pollution-rise?utm_content=buffer3ff74&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

oh and thanks Rebecca for the Maslow buyerarchy, that's really good.

Just received my Boobalou order today - thanks to this thread - bamboo toothbrushes, coconut scrubbers and hanky books, delighted! And no plastic in sight!

OK well out of curiosity I tried apple cider vinegar as a conditioner and it worked beautifully - and my hair does not smell of vinegar at all. I went to the hairdresser today just after washing my hair and she said my hair was in amazing condition. I told her about the vinegar and she was v surprised, couldn't smell a thing, but said it felt fantastic. Go the vinegar! Just be careful not to get it in your eyes like I did 😫

Cheesey - ouch!

I have ordered some bar shampoo and conditioner from Funky Soap. I was going to wait till I wandered by a Lush, but I hate central London - even though I work there lol - and the only meeting I had near one was cancelled - however I'm sure the packaging will be recyclable, fingers crossed. Tbh I can't really get past the smell of Lush.

loving the Sodastream. We would normally use fizzy water as base for other drinks to make them less sugary e.g. just add a bit of squash to fizzy water, so I think that's going to save on a lot of plastic.

dontblameme, just looking at the boobalou website, all looks very good.

let us know how you find the toothbrushes.

Cheesy, it's such a long time since I first heard about ACV as a conditioner, but seem to remember it duplicates the chemical structure of hair, if that makes sense. So pleased it worked for you.
Will now look into Boubaloo, particularly for the items I can't make myself......

I have promised myself that I will do as much as I can to reduce the amount of crap I buy. Definitely in regards to plastic. Just chucked advent calendar in recycling and when I look at the plastic in it, makes me feel sick. Even going to the greengrocers, you get a plastic bag to put your stuff in. I'm 39 and the packaging from supermarkets was never as much as it is now. The government really needs to get supermarkets to reduce packaging, I don't know anyone who likes it.