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.

Books, art, clothes, cooking equipment, plants, electronics, toys, sport equipment, music, musical instruments, telescopes

These are essentials of being human

Decorating our homes, cave paintings, decorating ourselves, music, these all emerged almost as soon as humans.

I agree that sustainability should come first now because the planet faces bigger problems than the need for Easter door wreaths.

If we need something we check charity shops, second hand everything and only then buy new.

Saying this I won’t buy second hand cycling helmets.

A bigger percentage of people won’t buy this stuff in the not too distant, once people have paid their bills, food, pensions, investments for their kids, transport and all the other essentials, football boots say, the £20 Easter door wreath is not going to be worth it.

One thing we subconsciously taught our kids is if something breaks, strap on school bags, they always ask first “can we fix this” not “I need a new”
and usually yes we can fix it, 10 minutes with a very old hunk of a sewing machine and it’s stronger than it started off.

It wrong to judge others mind, because we are all guilty of unnecessary landfill purchases.

People like tat though. Always have done, always will do.

I don’t get it at all. But a lot of people’s lives are joyless and miserable (mine included), and buying shit fills a void for some people. I fill my void with watching shit on the Internet.

And some just like a lot of colourful shit and get enjoyment from decorating their houses. I couldn’t give two shits about the environment- I just like to live in a clean space with no tat.

if people want to brighten up their lives with bits of crap from Poundland, let them do it. Life is shit enough.

Well I don't have a lot of money but we still have a few local shops that sell locally made birthday cards for £2 which is only 50p more than the mass produced stuff from Tesco.

I have been known to literally buy someone a danish pastry from a local bakery as a birthday present - or a gingerbread man for a child, rather than the plastic tat if I've only got £2 to spend.
I've also bought second hand enamel badges on ebay, trinkets and bits and bobs over the year from bricabrac shops to save for Christmas.

People don't mind at all.

It can be done.

Completely agree. I live in quite a rural area. When I occasionally go into our nearest city, it actually depresses me seeing so many people buying load of crap they don't need which will end up in landfill. I've never been particularly materialistic but as I get older (nearly 50), I just want to buy the minimum stuff I actually need.

Yes agree.

I look at B&M, The Range, Homesense and the like as warehouses of tat that arrived here in shipping containers from China and will end up floating around in the ocean for the next 500 years.

And think of the seasonal tat, 'novelty' Christmas gifts, 'joke' secret Santa presents, children's party favours, fancy dress parties - which all encourage the one-off buying and binning of yet more shite.

We're doomed.

In fact, my coffee table is about 9 years old and from B&M.

That's fine, but the fact you think a table lasting 9 years is somehow remarkable speaks volumes.

I completely agree. I hate all those cheaply made fast fashion shops and they should be taxed and gone. I love buying more expensive clothes second hand online. It's more difficult to work out what will suit you sometimes, but I've got a some nice stuff that way. I also belong to a local swap group. Everyone gets together every couple of months, brings clothes they no longer want and catches up over coffee. Second hand shops, toy libraries, giveaways on street whatsapp groups, we can all do it differently and just as well.

Single use plastic is a real problem. I get very irritated by supermarkets who still give out plastic bags for fruit and veg for example. In France all those plastic bags are compostable. Why not here? I feel frustrated when I see people just buy a plastic bag for their shopping rather than bring one. So many things could be sold in paper bags and cardboard boxes.

I have family living in a developing country. Their house if full of second hand clothes. It's all donated from countries like the UK and they are drowning in the excess. It's not needed.

I always used to make my kid's halloween costumes. We used to plan it in advance and paint clothes with washable paint and make papier-mache masks. It was much more fun. I was so happy they weren't walking around in that burnable plastic tat.

I work with the soil. Theres SO much plastic disintegrating in the soil, degrading into micro plastic which is impossible to remove. It gets into our bodies, disrupts our endocrine systems and is now thought to contribute to heart attacks and strokes.

There are so many reasons to change and many of the changes are small, we just need to get on and make them.

why didn't you keep the ribbon?
Could have put it on your original wreath or next christmas get a bunch of small holly branches and tie them up with pretty ribbon/
Or use on a present.
Why binj it?

It's funny though that a "classic" piece of jewellery or watch that costs £1000s is considered acceptable because it will "last for generations" - yet presumably that will become landfill at some point in the future.
Items only become landfill is they aren't recycled.
Why is all this so called plastic "tat" not being recycled?

i think you're not quite understanding the thread ( or the world from the sounds of it 😀

People who follow need to decorate their homes to please SM can get a bloody life. Be yourself. Be unique.

One thing I heard was putting books on shelves spine inwards. Stupid idea

Honestly, this really isn’t an issue. I’m going to enjoy life, so yes I’m going to be buying (and throwing away to get new next year) all the Easter, Halloween, valentines decor going.

If you don’t like it, don’t buy it, but don’t try and make everyone miserable with you.

I often wonder if people who do seasonal updates, dispose of the items they're replacing? I find myself moving away from buying things, telling myself that I can't continually purchase stuff, as it's really not necessary.

I used to like tat but I just don’t anymore. Unless something serves a practical purpose I find myself not wanting it and I won’t replace anything until it’s completely conked out (and only then if it’s necessary). Something just switched off for me, I think it’s when I went through a very stressful time a few year’s ago and ‘stuff’ just seemed like a weight round my neck.

I always used to make my kid's halloween costumes. We used to plan it in advance and paint clothes with washable paint and make papier-mache masks. It was much more fun. I was so happy they weren't walking around in that burnable plastic tat.

I feel this way about World Book Day costumes as well. So far we've made them using a combination of things we already have, Vinted and craft supplies. It makes me cringe a bit that Jeff Bezos basically cashes in on WBD every year (and Halloween).

And before people come at me saying "oh but we don't have tiiiime to do that, we're just so buuuusy so we just haaave to but the polyester costume from Shein", I work for a City law firm and still manage to do this...

I don't disagree that living frugally can be done, I'm quite the expert at it myself. Whether there are enough of us willing and able to do it and force change is another matter. Marketing and data are the worlds most valuable commodities.

Greenwashing is one such thing. We change a habit because we are told it will benefit the environment, then discover it causes some other problem just as potentially damaging.

I admit to being a "professional cynic, though my heart's not in it" but I am quite world weary on many fronts.

Just gotta keep on keeping on and hope for the best I suppose.

It wrong to judge others mind, because we are all guilty of unnecessary landfill purchases.

Maybe let's stop thinking about it in terms of judgement and guilt, that isn't a useful way of looking at it. Instead think about what can we do as a human race to reduce the burden on the planet. We can all take action whatever it is, that doesn't need to involve judging others or making people feel guilty, every little helps!

My phone is pre-COVID so almost 6 years old. It's still going strong, I expect I will have to buy a replacement sooner or later when it completely konks out, but when you consider most mobile phone contracts encourage you to upgrade after 18months, that isn't bad going,

Thats one thing I do towards this problem, I try to look after things so they last longer.

That is so pointless, what’s it’s purpose?

They do - the cycle is buy, declutter, buy declutter (all posted about on Instagram, of course).

And the fact the world is drowning in crap?
I honestly can't understand your attitude.
Why do you want so much stuff in your home to the detriment of where we actually live?

I assume everyone agreeing and saying it's depressing has no decorations in their houses, just the bare essentials, only high quality basic clothes?

I don't get into the seasonal decorations and my house is fairly clutter free, but if I didn't have the bits I do have id be so depressed. It's the little bits of tat that make my house feel like a home.

As for fast fashion, I'm also short, disabled and plus size and online places like shein are the only affordable places I can get clothes that fit and keep me in style.

These threads are always about judging the perceived behaviour of others. I don't know anyone who keeps buying things, throwing them away and buying more, yet MN believes that everything sold in B&M will be in landfill by the end of the week.

Its also funny how it's acceptable for people to fill their houses with books, despite paper being incredibly energy intensive to make, store and move, also libraries or perfectly serviceable ebook alternatives being available. No-one needs actual new books.

If I opened a shop called:

’Rat A Tat Tat’

which was full of ‘tat’ from every season imaginable - so bat masks for Halloween, ‘baby I’m a Firework’ T shirts to celebrate bonfire night, big plastic Santas.

but this shop would essentially be a parody of the concept of tat currently produced for every season - and that would be the appeal.

If I opened on your local high street - do you think my shop would be a commercial success based on the novelty value?

Totally agree.

and I know the ship you are talking about and I thought the exact same thing. Even before I heard that they have “brand new stock every week”. I actually felt a bit ill when I felt that. Completely unnecessary.

Buy well
Buy once

Some of my Christmas decorations are over 100 years old
Wooden clothes pegs are 30 years old
Mixing bowls are 40 years old
Armchairs are 50 years old
Duvet covers are 15 years old
Mattress is 20 years old