To suggest that people should buy less stuff

[Noras]

i just think that the mess we are in is because we get stuff from overseas that we don’t really need. People buy a lot of tat and junk eg cheap clothing, rubbish confectionary and artificial tat for homes. If we all just cut down on huge chunks of it we could cut out our balance of payment deficit.

Also people need to buy less from overseas owned companies. People need to check each and every company they buy from and go for smaller independents etc There needs to be an online list of stores to avoid.

I don’t need that sandwich from pret a manager.
As an oldie I find it amazing how much people spend on things like sandwiches, coffee etc when they are working! How hard is it to make a sandwich at home or make coffee at work? If people are happy to do it then go ahead but don't moan about the cost of living!

I think it's hard to get people enthusiastic about maintaining their clothes or repairing things or going down to their high street when these things are often very poor quality.

There's also a real opium of the masses element to buying cheap crap I think. Like I can't afford to change my housing situation but I can dress up my living room with some plastic flowers.

So would I. Interesting and thoughtful.
he runs Community Clothing, selling well quality clothes made on the UK.

Stocking filler gifts are the worst ☹️

Most washing machines can't be repaired. One German make is the only one I believe that has a reparable component. Read Vance Packard's book on designed obsolesence written at least 50yrs ago - in response to the car industry. Nothing's changed.

We've just had to junk a perfectly designed piece of hi-fi equipment that couldn't be repaired as it's two halves were glued together. So unnecessary!

Patrick Grant's book LESS is interesting on this subject. In the back is a list of British manufacturers. (Not sure why he missed out Denby pottery but there you go).

It feels like there ought to be a way to employ people in Britain at a sensible scale and wage, making things we all need and that are affordable because people know they are decent and last. And people would have decent jobs in those manufacturers. There would be factory shops as well and second hand options and not everything would be expensive.

Like PPs household item, things would be more expensive but it would not be an impulse purchase but something planned and kept for years.

I do try to buy British - or at least from a British based company.

I do but from Amazon, but after being caught out once - when something came direct from China and took a month to get here - I now check where it's coming from, if nothing else. Chances are it originated elsewhere, but at least my money is going into the UK economy to start with, not to Amazon then straight to China.

Ideally I would go to my local high street. But my nearest big town is full of coffee shops and clothes. Nothing sensible at all!

What I cannot and will not ever get over is the amount people spend on kitchens and bathrooms. In most of Europe kitchens are just functional spaces to cook your food and have dinner with the family. I’m dreading selling my house because everyone will want 15 grand off because ‘it needs a new kitchen’. But my 80s pine does a grand job 😂

Thank you. I dropped you a link in PM.
Luckily, I have multiple sources of income so I can focus on growing my business slowly and sustainably. But you are right, there are a lot of people in my industry who get disillusioned or simply can't out food on the table. I don't know what the answer is, really. I don't think tariffs on exports from China are... For now, I am just extremely grateful to every person who makes a choice to shop with me but I know that many more can't afford to.

@theduchessofspork I think house prices are one of the great evils - we would be so so much happier if they were a reasonable price, and that there was enough social housing for those who will never have the income to buy.

More social housing is helpful, but it doesn't help people like me who are not entitled to social housing, but will suffer financially once I do finally buy a house.

I dunno so much about car prices, but anyway you can get a good second hand one for lots less than 20k so I don’t think that’s such a pressing issue - and I also think cars need to be built better so they last longer, more than be cheaper).

The issue of overpriced cars is more difficult because it will require a cultural shift. People spend huge sums of money on cars because they are suckers for car adverts which persuade everyone to buy an ugly SUV (car manufacturers have duped people into buying SUVs because they are the most profitable cars). This increase in market demand for ugly SUVs means there is less market demand for small normal cars, which in turn, makes it more difficult for people to access small cars at a cheaper price.

So again, the only way to rectify this is a cultural shift and a greater market demand for small vehicles. More people buying Sanderos means more Sanderos will be manufactured, for example.

I only buy new things when I need to - I moved into this house over 15 years ago and haven't redecorated, have the same 2nd hand dishwasher that was installed already when I bought the house, replaced the sofa about 12 years ago when the seat finally fell through on the previous one I'd had for about 15 years. Got a new mattress recently as the old one was no longer supporting my back.

I have clothes I wear around the house I've had for years and years, and the only reason I buy new clothing is when the old clothes wear out - I'm not talking the odd seam or hem, I'm talking going very thin and threadbare or holes actually appearing. Though sadly clothes that I can afford seem to last fewer and fewer years over time. I'm also not fussed about the latest fashions or anything like that, I wear the same basic clothing items I always have.

However I still don't have the ready money to buy local or British made if it's more than a tiny fraction more expensive than imported stuff, and most of it seems to be much more expensive for similar quality. I just wish I had a salary that allowed me to buy better quality stuff that lasts longer, and local or British home produced stuff.

Agree and then it's all about decluttering ad nauseum . If I see another 'who wants to join today I've decluttered 50 pairs of leggings and 20 t-shirts thread..' Stop!
Buying stuff is not a hobby or past time.

I don't do fast fashion and I try to buy British, but the last thing I bought from a British company (Celtic and co) has in the label, made in Thailand. So much for buying British eh. I've had other stuff from them and that too is often "made in Pakistan" or India or Thailand.

As for kitchens and bathrooms, I'm a once and done for 30 years so I choose carefully, but still my bathroom tiles were from India iirc, God knows where my kitchen came from. Do b and q make kitchens in the UK?

White goods in my house are only changed when broken, but sadly not much lasts anymore. I'm pretty sure my mom had a washing machine for 20 plus years, I can maybe get 3 years out of mine. Same with fridge, my mom had a fridge freezer for my entire childhood, it moved house many times and continents, my last fridge was 8 when it went and was repairable but you know once you've repaired some part, within weeks another part will go. Cheaper to buy new.

It's very easy to say buy less, buy British, but I cant help manufacturers make better quality gear or make supposedly British garment makers make stuff in Britain.

Plus money, my boots often cost £300 and last years and years, I've not always had that kind of money so its been £8 boots or £7 trainers or £2 sandals to get me through. But £8 boots dont last you past one winter. And for damn sure £8 boots are not made in the UK.

I read recently that there are enough clothes in the UK to last for 30 years if they were repaired and passed on. Just imagine, no actual need to import any from Temu, Shein and the like.

I actually enjoy the challenge of seeing how long things will last. I darn socks, repair my knickers and have a bra in my mending heap at the moment. DH will replace buttons on his shirts but needs help with bigger repairs. He is good at repairing white goods and other household stuff.

Most things will last for years and don't need to be replaced. I have a photo of toddler DS eating from a plastic tub on a picnic. DS is nearly 30 and that tub is still in regular use. Some of our Christmas decorations were bought by my parents in 1957. For gardening I use a trowel belonging to my grandfather who died in 1934, long before I was born. Nothing from the garden centre is going to be as long lasting.

I avoid places like Home Bargains as they just depress me. So much stuff with the associated packaging, mostly shipped in from China. Junk for Halloween and Christmas is the worst although I imagine there will be Easter and Valentines crap at the moment. Ughhh.

I must say that it has never entered my head to buy anything from Shein or Temu.

Agreed. I've woken up to this the last few years.

Absolutely this. I’m an antiques and vintage dealer, there is just so much of everything in circulation, and the majority of it ends up in landfill. The thing that pisses me off the most is furniture. There are tons of solid wooden, well made furniture items, with decades of life left in them, literally being given away, but nobody wants them because they are brown. They would rather spend hundreds on some chipboard shite from Argos, that will be wobbly and scruffy in a couple of years.

Bodeganights Things really did last longer. My aunt had a fridge for so long it had a 50th birthday party. Perhaps it was not the most efficient towards the end but it still did the job.

Our washing machine broke down about 6 years ago and we had no money as we had recently moved so we bought a second hand one for £40 intending to get a new one when we had some money. It is still going strong!

I am pretty good about not buying stuff I/we don't need. I very rarely buy clothes and, when I do, I try and buy secondhand except underwear and shoes. I do buy quite a few books but, again, try and buy them secondhand or borrow them from the library

Almost all our furniture is secondhand. We did buy our bed new and last year bought 2 new settees after having secondhand for just over 40 years.

Some of us like buying stuff. The things I buy don't end up in landfill. I don't replace things unnecessarily. A lot of my furniture is decades old. I always put thought into my purchases. But I am not a minimalist and I don't want to live like one. It would make me miserable.

I earn my money and its up to me what I spend it on. I buy British if Britain produces the things I want. If it doesn't then I buy them from other countries (have never used Shein as it all looks like rubbish).

It annoys me a bit how every so often a thread like this will come up, where the OP thinks they've had some major revelation and needs to show us all the light. If you want to buy less, good for you. I will carry on as I am thanks!

Trouble is Op while I do agree with what your saying the reality of it happening is extremely slim.
The UK government allowed all skilled labour and manufacturing to be shut down and exported to the likes of china and other countries to build products for lower costs so that big companies could have more profit.

I tend to shop second hand for clothing on vinted/ebay.
I've never liked shien/temu or any cheap nasty fast made fashion clothing.

I also can't pretend that perhaps I've not been buying things that aren't ethically sourced because I'm sure I do own stuff that aren't like the majority of households here in the UK.

I have a few things that have made me happy and still do that I own that others might say totally unnecessary consumerism but so what they make me happy and I plan to keep them.

We have a 20 year plus sofa that was handed to us by my parents when they bought new sofa it's still going strong it's a bit tatty where the cats scratched at it in certain parts but it's still comfy and plan on keeping it until it falls apart before replacing specially when the kids are little still spilling drinks/food etc.

I've had vacuum cleaners that haven't lasted and broken and I've had to replace again no fault of mine just not fit for purpose with it all being cheaply made but high price tags for them.

Lastly the buy locally is all good and well but peoples salaries are constantly getting eaten up by household bills constant Taxes on top of taxes and when it comes to spending £50 plus for few items or £100 plus for a full weeks shopping most are going to keep buying from supermarkets where money stretches more it's just not realistic.

I am always astounded when I see what people class as essential tbh.
While prices are undoubtedly rising for essentials, such as rents or food or electricity, there are a lot of things we just don't need. That said, if we also don't buy locally made goods or shop less then it may result in job losses.

Well she obviously has more money than sense but to throw it all away is awful. It could go to a charity shop. So many people would be grateful for those items

I have two friends who both live in different parts of the country but in rather up market towns where there are lots of little shops with hand made items and a sprinkling of the better high street brand shops. They are both quite well off but make a point of buying from charity shops, just having a drink or a starter in the lovely little restaurants. One posts regularly on face book with comment about borrowing, buying secondhand or doing without before contemplating buying anything.
Do they stop to think for a moment that if everyone was like them all these little businesses would cease to exist? I try to be polite when, yet again, we are in a cafe and it is "Do have one of those lovely cakes, a glass of tap water for me please" comes out. I buy good brands of clothes with quality fabric and when I'm done with it I sell it on. I have never bought anything from a charity shop that has not given me instant regret, and not much from ebay or vinted. If we are to have jobs and pleasant town centres someone need to buy things.