To think there’s too much ‘stuff’

[autumnnightsaredrawingin]

This time of year is always bad for it, and I know one can ignore the endless marketing emails, the Christmas markets, the shops full of ‘stuff’, the Instagram ‘must haves’ and on and on it goes.

We are having a big declutter at the moment, and it really brings home home much stuff there is that we’ve accumulated, but also just generally how consumerism has really got crazy. I am myself guilty of buying too much stuff.

Eg: Christmas decorations. Why do some people buy a whole new set/colour scheme every year? Same for decorations for the house, there are piles and piles of different things in shops, so much. It surely can’t all be needed/bought.

Black Friday, yes it’s a good deal if you actually need the stuff, but often it’s not things you actually ‘need’.

I just find it all quite sad and obviously from an environmental aspect it’s terrible. I am really, really going to try to cut back on this stuff. Anyone else? Or are you already pretty good? I have added things to online baskets over the last few days and then cleared them and not bought them which is a start.

My dc are attached to our old Christmas decorations, the glass baubles which predate them both are getting fewer each year but we have lots of lovely wooden ones too. I searched for my mother’s ones when clearing the house but sadly didn’t find them, there were little angels made of compressed cotton wool with glitter and a china penguin and a couple of reindeer that always sat on the cake and I’m sure they’d have been v threadbare/chipped but I’d have kept them. It’s surely part of the whole thing? Thankfully elves on shelves - a really stupid/clever marketing idea - came too late for them. Their stockings are falling apart mostly because they got worn as socks at some point but I could never replace them

I was in Paris a month ago and noticed more and more stores selling second hand clothes & shoes. Some of the leather boots looked pretty good.

It's terrible that as a society we have become so wasteful.

Once you reach a certain age (I'm 57) you start drowning in stuff.

I think once that switch goes off in your brain, you just stop buying/wanting. I'm a recovering shopping addict. I just loved the buzz of buying something, even second hand, I wasn't fussy. It was the buying. Then having children and being a skint mum of two, literally not having any money, it forced me to reconsider my spending habits.
Just walked through a busy town full of Christmas shoppers and I think part of it is social conditioning. Do they know they could just not do this? Is shopping the 'experience'?

@Charlize43 Yes, I've noticed the quality in some second-hand shops in Paris is getting a lot better and there seems to be more high-end bargains as well.

Yes. I agree. I have come to really dislike it. It's a bit tough on children not to engage so I do, but the litany of stuff, disposable rubbish grates. I know that a lot will barely last six months.

To give an example, I don’t think buying, say, an expensive advent beauty advent calendar from Space NK is any better than buying a cheap one from look fantastic, nor do I think buying say, a Lindt luxury chocolate calendar is better than buying a cheapo one. In both examples, unnecessary and excessive packaging, in the case of the beauty ones, often things you’d never buy normally, and won’t use.

I’ve had the feeling of there being too much ‘stuff/crap/excess’ in expensive shops as well as the cheaper ones.

Can you suggest a Christmas Jumper swap day the week before. Our school did a costume swap before WBD and Halloween.

I can relate to that. I was also a shopaholic using the retail experience to make myself happy. I couldn't leave the house and not come back without something. I was buying something every day. I still have clothes and shoes with their tags and still in their bags. I have mountains of books and DVDs that I haven't read or watched, etc. Unfortunately, it has now reached the point where I'm verging on being a hoarder - I am drowning in stuff. I find it impossible to make the decision of what to get rid of... but I have reached the point that I know that I don't need any more.

But yes, it can get to the point where it is not about the item but about the 'shopping experience'. I read somewhere that the joy that buying something gives you, only lasts for around 5 hours and then another fix is needed. This is how it can become so addictive. It's so easy to forget to ask yourself if you really need it.

Don't they wear the Christmas jumper all over Christmas time, DS used to wear his for a month or two and on Christmas Day

The problem is, without our current levels of consumerism the world's economies will shrink.

We all saw what happened during covid lockdowns.

Look at the current hype about electric cars. They are made from lightweight crude oil materials. The batteries are an environmental disaster in the making as there isn't a safe way to dispose of them.

Yet if you buy one you are supporting the world's economy. If you buy 2nd hand you only support your local/ national economy...
Same with Christmas decorations, presents and clothes.

I'm on a roll now: Two things I feel as a society we need to know more about (and really interest me) are:

The psychology of acquisition and over consumerism.

Nutrition & diet and how it affects your mental health.

You only ever need a few things on life. Food, a roof over your head & the ability to pay bills, any else is totally irrelevant

We've moved to paper decs this year as our old ones have done ten years and all broken. I felt awful replacing with plastic so we are doing lots of paper chains, popcorn chains and craft from the DC instead. DC will mainly have books too. I realize the books are probably shipped from China and made from the rainforest but at least they won't clog up landfill.

Look up the De-growth movement - ‘The degrowth movement of activists and researchers advocates for societies that prioritize social and ecological well-being instead of corporate profits, over-production and excess consumption.’

I bought lots on Black Friday this year, but it was all presents from the kids lists and a few other presents I needed to buy for others. I wasn't as tempted to just endlessly scroll deals and didn't buy anything extra, like I usually do. The deals really aren't that good at all.
I'm making a big effort to cut back on stuff for stuffs sake. We have lots of Christmas decorations, more than most. But we've had them for years and use them all every year. I do usually buy a new one every year to add to it or replace a broken one (like outdoor lights) But we absolutely love our decorations and take care of them.

With the Christmas jumpers, I used to get away with brightly coloured jumpers when DCs were too young to understand. Now, age 7 and 10 it's much harder to convince them that a bit of tinsel stuck to the jumper would suffice. Our school does hold a Christmas jumper sale before jumper day but we've never had more than 8-10 jumpers donated (in a school of 500 pupils).

When my OH died, and I had to move house for financial reasons I had a massive clear out - both of his things and mine. Now when I am tempted to buy something I ask myself what my AC will do with it when I die and they are clearing out my home. If I think it is something they might enjoy having then I go ahead and buy it, if not then I do not.

Yes, I totally agree OP.

It's not just black Friday. People just seem to order so much unnecessary stuff all year - Amazon order multiple times every month (whilst complaining about cars on the road being environmentally unsustainable)

I don't think many people buy whole sets of decorations each year, people often buy a couple of new ones and invariably a couple have to go out each year, ours just go up in the attic each January and come down each December, if I saw a really nice one I might buy it but not a whole colour change, I have had a woodland theme for years

I agree; just a look on some threads about pile of gifts to open on Christmas day and stockings and Dec 1st boxes and Christmas eve boxes, it never ends, does it? I love the spirit and traditions behind all these, but surely things could be toned down?

What 'sheer pressure'? You're not at gun point, are you?

A lot of Amazon stuff is just consumables like you would buy in the supermarket, we buy a lot of general weekly shop stuff from Amazon if it's cheaper or hard to find.

I've moved house 8 times in the last 15 years and I thinks it's really taught me to stop buying so much crap that only gets used once.

Yes I am definitely buying less and trying to have a 1 in 1 out policy.

We had so many mass clear outs over lock down and had a other one yesterday and there is just so much 'stuff'.

A lot of what we cleared out yesterday was stuff that we had bought for crimbo last year to make up the pile of presents.

I'm not doing it this year. Also gets easier as they get older and no longer believe in FC