Most shops are just landfill waiting to happen.

[SummerDaytoNight]

I mean, all are to a point, but I’m talking about the non essential ones.

Our society is engineering its own collapse. We only need food, health, house basics and clothing. And I suppose, technology.

Fast fashion could go. Housing should just be the essentials.

My friend took me into a shop called sostrene grene. It was lovely, but nothing was essential. Most shops are like that.

The horse has bolted, but I wish we could limit the unnecessarily stuff and just have the basics. Im not talking Amish level, but there’s no need for all this waste. It would be so much better if only the essentials were produced.

At the point of production, it’s already basically landfill.

I completely agree. I guess everything we own is doomed to go to landfill in some form, but at least if you get decades of use out of it and then it's biodegradable that's better. No, I'm not perfect, but more and more I'm saying "no" to increasing the stuff I own, and trying to buy second hand rather than new.

As for plastic, yes it's useful, but I wish it had never been invented. It's a blight on the planet.

It's quite frightening though when you see how some biodegradable stuff, like Roman shoes, has survived for thousands of years. All our crap will still be there in many thousands.

I look at all the rubbish piling up everywhere and think to myself we are all on borrowed time.

Flying tiger has to be the worst dishonesty for plastic tat ever! It’s full of Easter crap now.

I believe it is Danish for ‘sisters Grene’ named after the founders mother and aunt. Their last name is Grene. It explains it in the stores from memory!

I agree with you. I feel it's so wasteful to change things for the sake of it. We deliberately bought our furniture/soft furnishings to last (and, in the case of soft furnishings, there's nothing that can't be stripped and machine washed, as we have young children).

When decorating the nursery for my (now) 6 year old, we deliberately chose a curtain pattern that wouldn't feel too babyish as he grew up, so that we wouldn't have to replace. Same with furniture - we didn't opt for a "nursery size" small wardrobe - we obtained a solid wood full size option secondhand, which we'll keep hold of indefinitely.

I feel similar about Christmas decorations and the trend for buying new themes every year... such waste. I've owned some of my decorations for decades (and part of the joy of Christmas, for me, is unboxing my old favourites!).

I try to buy mostly second hand but sometimes that isn't possible, I like to celebrate different seasons/events but have stuff that I reuse every year. I have wooden Easter tree decorations that my Dad bought me from Germany over 35 years ago. I don't see a lot of what's in the shops as necessary but it may give some people the chance to build up a collection that they reuse every year to bring them joy, I am aware that not everyone does this.

It's very easy to be 'holier than though' but, how many of the people saying about plastic tat and the like don't own a car or don't fly abroad for a holiday? I do what I can but I certainly wouldn't want to preach about anything when I'm not perfect myself.

I've had some great things from FT! All of which I keep and use. They're ceramic and metal stuff, though. I'm not as drawn to plastic stuff.

Though has lots of wooden stuff. Have a wooden tree with metal bells and a train ornament (Christmas) which I paid £4-5 each about 7 years ago and everyone loves them.

I take them apart for storage and storage the boxes are 1cm deep

Have to admit I have fallen victim to buying tat on occasion but does it really count if I’m also a bit cheap and therefore keep it forever. Some of the plastic crap in my loft is Halloween decorations from the mid 00s that my mum used to put up 😅 I suppose the difference is that I won’t add to it every year because it is all so naff I just refuse to spend any money on it. I do own things like Christmas bedding and Christmas cushions and yeah I can completely see how that is an issue but again I use the same set every single year.

I dno who these people are that are buying all the stuff ? My living room hasn’t changed In well over a decade. Curtains/sofa/lights/furniture all the same.

I think there’s some legitimacy to the snobbery surrounding this issue though- if I think of the homes of old school friends who are not particularly comfortably off… yes. I know for a fact that their homes are full of this type of “tat” referenced in this thread. I can also recall the piles and piles of plastic toys stuffed in corners and how often I’ve seen them replace everything. These are the also the friends who head to b&m every Xmas and fill up a mountains worth of plastic toys into their trolleys for gifts.

my friends in better financial shape buy a lot less stuff.

I honestly think it’s a serotonin hit. When life is hard and you don’t have much- you just want to feel good.

I know people who have to have matching toaster and kettle. If one breaks, they buy a new of both. I don’t care as my kettle is black, toaster is white with stainless steel bits and combi microwave is white!

we have both a Sostrene Grene (posh downstairs at IKEA type tat) and a Vinegar Hill (up a poshness level... porcelain "stones" with "remember you are loved" type tat)

oh, and a John Lewis.

I'm 60, I have a 3 bed house full of a husband, 2 uni going women, and a dog. No room for tat.

Genuine question - what was stuff like toiletries, bleach, cleaning products etc packaged in before plastic was the go-to packaging?

I do agree with the sentiment that there is way more "occassion" type stuff available (in all types of shop, not just the cheaper ones) I don't remember people decorating their homes at Halloween or Easter when I was a kid (80s/90s) - then there are all the bits and pieces for hen dos, baby showers, bride/bridesmaid dressing gowns, advent calendars with lego/smiggle/harry potter stuff, christmas jumpers, whole families - and pets having matching Xmas pjs etc. I saw a birthday hat for a dog the other day
Of course they are all optional and people will insist they wear their Xmas pjs again and again, but do adults actually need a new pair every year. (I can't imagine a dog gets a lot of wear on enjoyment out of its halloween/christmas/birthday hat!!)

Completely agree.

Watch "Big Shop: The Shopping Conspiracy" on Netflix. It seriously changed my shopping habits.

I admit I got tempted by the Sheins of this world but i've deleted my account for that and I am so much more careful with buying things on a whim. I got rid of the Amazon app on my phone (I still have an account but much less likely to do an impulse buy if I have to wait to be home and get my laptop out).

The waste part of the documentary is particuarly scary. Its a ticking timebomb. Amazon were awful with returns and also not reselling brands. There is footage of them destroying perfectly good designer luggage.

Since watching 'Buy Now' on Netflix I've basically sworn off new, high-street clothes, and trying to only buy off Vinted or new only from smaller labels that won't have massive, wasteful runs of clothing. The stats on how many new lines places like Shein or Boohoo (which fortunately I've never bought from, though have definitely bought from almost as bad highstreet names) launch every single week are astonishing - the vast majority of it can only go to waste.

I'm also trying to stop using Amazon - for the waste but also for the sucking up to the current American regime.... you do get a bit hooked on being able to get stuff next day but I've lived without it before and will live without it now.

I'm sure others have already replied, but:

Aluminium cookware is being linked to Alzheimer's and dementia.

I'm not a scientist, but it's a softer metal than stainless steel so it makes sense that it leeches into boiling water and foodstuffs.

Vinegar Hill (up a poshness level... porcelain "stones" with "remember you are loved" type tat)

You call that posh? Sounds like typical garden centre tat to me!

Glass, tins, or it wasn't available to buy. People would use much fewer products, so mix soap flakes (from cardboard boxes) and hot water instead of having different products to clean crockery, clothes, hair, floors etc.

We crossed posts about the documentary. It was so interesting.

I need to tell more people about it.

For the millionth time, no one is saying people shouldn't be able to decorate their homes. Just that the constant cycle of plastic tat and replacing g things for social media likes is bad for the planet. Places like B&M are emblematic of that sort of attitude because of the "hauls" on social media, but the issue would be the same if people were going to John Lewis every season to buy new seasonal decor and chucking out all their existing stuff.

A Bosch washing machine should definitely last more than 5 years. How come they couldn't fix it?

Thank you, I went to a design museum.last year and remember seeing toothpaste in a tin but was racking my brain trying to think how shampoo or shower gel was packaged. I guess people used soap or bath salts instead of liquid

A PP asked about what to buy for children's birthdays... This year, one of my DCs has stated they don't want a party, and I am relieved. Every year they have a party, they come home with nearly 30 boxes of plastic toys. Whilst we're utterly grateful for people buying a gift, it does quickly turn into clutter. Our playroom is ridiculous and I am constantly having to weed bits out to take to the charity shop.

It made us really consider what presents we buy for DCs' friends, usually vouchers for local experiences, or books.

In terms of seasonal tat, we do buy seasonal goods - things that last. We have a celebration ring which we use to decorate either a table, or a windowsill in the house with the seasonal changes. It's wooden and will last for years and we've repaired one of the wooden pieces. We haven't bought new Christmas decorations in years, although definitely know people who change their themes every year.

I grew up in a DA household, which had frequent breakdowns. Quite often, all of my possessions would be binned, and my DM would have to rebuy everything again. I do have a slight hoarder tendency, and now I'm trying desperately to declutter, the thing that's holding me back is house to declutter responsibly.

I think survival of ancient artifacts only occurs in certain conditions really. It's just as well that archaeologists have such good imaginations.
There is some talk about mining landfills when there's profit to be had https://elfm-network.co.uk/ .

Oh I totally agree!

I only meant I also have "eclectic" taste and scour second hand/vintage places for anything I need to get a unique-ish piece. The rest of that post I disagreed with completely, iirc.

I'm grateful for the Netflix documentary suggestions. Will watch them.

I don't do fast fashion - have never bought from Temu or Shein - but my everyday "uniform" gets so much wear that I do have to chuck it eventually. I wear the same two pairs of Marks jeans and Boden V-neck jumpers every day. Eventually, the jeans look so worn that I'm sure no charity shop would take them. I have rubbed holes in them before where the thighs meet - but I have sewn them up. The dye gets very faded. The jumpers last longer - maybe 3 to 4 years of being worn every other day.