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.

Yes... Just spent 100 quid in IKEA on bits & bobs. Why?!
Just because it’s there. I’m sick of owning so much stuff.

But you understand that any one time there will be people who have broken plates or are setting up homes for the first time? My crockery was an engagement present in 1993 and I won’t be replacing it either until it gives up the ghost (a few pieces have just cracked and broken recently so may not be long) but I’ve bought some for my daughter twice - once for a student house (most of which got broken or stolen) and again when she bought a house. People need new crockery.

I think if it makes you feel better (as it makes me feel better)- cracking. But we are privileged to be able to do that. And we have to acknowledge - really all we’re doing is making ourselves feel better on a climate/ environment level. I think we must try not to judge those who can’t prioritize or just don’t HAVE these choices in process.

You acknowledge it's shit for everyone. That is what I think needs changing.

I don't blame individuals for the "one bit" of tat that helps for a day.

As OP says, it's the entire shops making thousands upon thousands of that item available and encouraging people to toss out the last one, that needs to change.

It's not 4 million families having one sack or one item - I think that's what OP is trying to get at (even if the thread is filled with people knitting their own muesli).

Loads of people are decently off and still buy tons on temu and shein. It's the sheer volume of it!

I don’t want to get at you. Because us shouting at each other and us both just throwing up our hands and saying the other is wrong isn’t going to help, is it? That’s what they want too innit? We can surely agree that action at various levels is needed and my point is that for those who can, and I think there are a good number of us in this position, we should stop buying the shit. I also think that while you have a point about instant gratification etc it is also a little bit patronising and infantilising to imply that just because someone is poor they are incapable of thinking things through.

I saw someone going on about a family set of Easter pyjamas on YouTube the other day, it really felt like the end of days!

100% agree @SummerDaytoNight
I am trying to bring my children up to be less affected by consumerism but I feel like I’m fighting a losing battle. Social media is terrible for touting the latest crap that we don’t need. 7 step skin care regimens that are all packaged in plastic, wrapped in plastic and then shipped halfway round the world, aimed at 13 year olds… it’s awful.

The fast culture we live in to have it now and not covet and save up for. It’s depressing.

It's sacrilege to suggest books can be clutter on MN!

I am judging those who do not use the agency that they do possess. I think we all have a lot more agency than we like to admit because it’s easier to stay addicted. If someone is genuinely in that position fine but there are plenty who if they were honest would be perfectly capable of making do. And as long as we keep making excuses for ourselves nithing will change.

I agree, but people love shopping because its passive and easy and gives a dopamine hit.

Far easier to buy table dressing decor than to actually set the table and pack it away for next year.

I do like charity shops but the culture of buying stuff just to use for a season e.g. eastr, and then chucking it to the charity shop to store for a year is shitty consumerist behaviour.

Supermarkets have a lot to answer for, people are.always buying supermarket homeware on impulse. Buying a vase because they've seen one and think "oh that's nice" rather than needing a vase and shopping thoughtfully for one that will suit them for the flowers they buy, the room it will go in etc.

And finally, I wish reusable could also be linked to being suitable for purpose. Reusable plastic bottles are always being dropped on the school run and replaced; far better to buy a metal one, they aren't much dearer and there are plenty secondhand. It'll don't get why anyone would find that gross when people are happy to use restaurant cutlery and cups that've been used bynhundrend of people.

When I was piss poor I used to do this, just buy a bit of unnecessary glittery tat just to feel as if I was still part of the consumer society.

No need to be so harsh.

Agree. It's also the needless environmental harm of manufacturing and shipping all the crap we don't need from places like China. Huge container ships chugging pollutants across the ocean just to make some shite tat that will be bought,.clutter up a house and then be binned.

I used to have book cases groaning with books but to be honest they did become clutter in my eyes. I put them in charity shops and now I only get second hand or from the library. The second hand go back to the charity shops. I can't read books on Kindle as it gives me a really bad headache.

That’s not at all my intention. And im generalizing because the issue is general. Ofc there are lots of people on low incomes who are concerned about the environment and will make choices accordingly - even if they cause personal inconvenience or hardship. I’m talking at a macro level. And as I say, I lived it. My family, other families on the estate… I can’t say I knew anyone who was making consumption choices based in any way on environmental factors in the long or short term.

So how long do you need to keep something for it to not be considered wasteful?

I'm a maximalist, which means I like things! Living with only the essentials would lead me to becoming very depressed, very quickly.

That said, I am very mindful of what I buy. Anything I buy for the house is with the view of "will I want this forever". Most of my furniture is decades old. If I get bored of a piece, I'll upcycle it. I had a 30yr old pine dresser that I painted navy and put gold coloured handles on. Looks really nice now imo.

With clothing, again I don't really follow fashion. I buy what I like and what I know I will want to wear for a long time to come.

But I can afford to buy things that will last and are of good quality. Which as a pp said, is a privileged position to be in. I don't judge people for wanting to bring a bit of joy into their lives, even if it does come from temu and the like.

When I look at some of my possessions eg my clothes, rule of thumb is that some of the oldest 'vintage' ones are better quality and still going strong whereas more recent acquisitions look old & shabby in a short time or fall apart.

I have a skirt which has been worn frequently for 20 years, just starting to go a bit at the zip but still wearable, and a Jaeger cape/coat which I have had the same length of time and bought second hand even then (I took the 80s shoulder pads out). It still looks fabulous and really almost like new.

I do try to avoid cheap fast fashion & buy as little as possible new. But a pair of expensive 'designer' trousers I bought for my DS last year are unravelling at the waistband & not really fixable. And they haven't had a lot of wear (DS is in a wheelchair, enough said). So the problem isn't even with obviously cheap tat; it is as though nothing is built to last now so there are no guarantees of quality.

So that's that then? Simply nothing you can do about it?

What would happen if you just ... stopped?

Yep I bought all my cat food from there and cat litter as was cheaper than elsewhere. Wonder if that's allowed?

Wouldn’t bother me if those shops were banned. But that ain’t gonna happen. But as I said earlier it pisses me off that they are talking about banning the wet wipes that make the difficult task of wiping bums easier but allowing this kind of tat to be merrily sold. Again, perhaps a false dichotomy but it really does show you where society’s priorities lie.

Capitalism thrives on selling solutions to "problems". Once all the "problems" are solved, to sustain the system, we have to be introduced to new, invented problems and convinced that buying their solutions is a good thing
Very well said @MistressoftheDarkSide 👏🏻😁

Completely agree. Hate seeing the seasonal things binned so often. Saw it first in the US - Halloween bagged up and waiting for the rubbish truck. Then in the UK after Christmas - plastic trees with their lights still attached waiting for the rubbish truck. Also the sheer plasticness of it all.

Fast fashion was deeply concerning 25 years ago. How there haven’t been brakes applied is a political disgrace.

Yes! One of these days (hopefully a way into the future) someone will go through my things and bin 99%. I have no children, no relatives who would want my stuff so I have figured its best to stop the accumulation and slowly declutter. Its a liberating realisation.

I think one problem is that being frugal and economical takes discipline and planning. The more stressed and under pressure you are the harder it is to have the mental energy for discipline and planning.
Broadly speaking those with the least money are the most stressed and therefore the least able to be frugal and economical.

Yep . I agree. I avoid buying plastic tat but our house is full of tat from birthday party bags.
It's everywhere and it is shocking.