Rethinking Consumerism During the Holidays
Do We Really Need MORE?
You will never find me waiting in line at a big box store on Black Friday or Boxing Day Sale. Not that I’m not interested in a good deal, but I hate crowds with a passion, especially aggressive crowds. Waiting out in the dark and the cold for hours to get a chance at a door crasher special (they are called that for a reason) isn’t worth it to me. I don’t need ANYTHING that bad! It just isn’t worth it to me.
Do any of us need anything that bad?
We aren’t talking about food or other essentials. Essentials rarely go on sale during these big deal sales.
Do you use Black Friday to start your Christmas shopping early? I’m guilty of waiting for it to buy my sons-in-law their annual socks for their stockings. I did it one year as a joke but was told by my daughters that the SILs loved it. They didn’t need to buy socks for the rest of the year! I drew the line at underwear. But what do you buy for those with everything they need and more? Do the gifts have to get bigger and more expensive each year?
My needs are becoming much more simple as I age. I’d much rather get rid of crap than collect more of it, except for books. Hoarding books doesn’t count. Marie Kondo and I have parted ways on the topic.
Where does the need for more come from? Where does it end? The planet can’t produce more stuff for us to throw away and pollute our environment. There has to be a change. Why don’t we provide for those that need the basics?
A shop called CHOOSE LOVE — Gifts With Heart is a shop that sells products that are donated to those in need, primarily refugees. You can donate items in someone else’s name, if you prefer, for that someone who has everything.
Let’s remember that World Vision provides specifically purchased gifts for vulnerable children worldwide, such as livestock or emergency food. Or you can sponsor a child year-round. This can also be done as a gift for that hard-to-buy-for person.
Salvation Army is closer to home and provides for those in need in your community. At least with them, you can see their work and not wonder if your donations made it to where you intended.
Then there is the Buy-Nothing Movement.
The idea of Buy Nothing was founded in the U.S. in 2013 by Rebecca Rockefeller and Liesl Clark, encouraging a gift economy where community members give away items for free so someone in their neighbourhood can make use of them.
There are a number of Facebook groups that give away items. There are even more that sell secondhand items. A lot of secondhand items are in excellent condition, and this helps keep them out of the landfill. My daughters buy and sell things like clothing, baby items, to furniture through these Facebook groups.
Can’t bring yourself to gift a secondhand item?
How about shopping locally? Small businesses are struggling to stay afloat since the pandemic made things very difficult. Meanwhile, the big box stores made a killing. My brother is an accountant for a large business that remained open through the pandemic. The owner told him it was almost criminal how their sales went up. They have just recently expanded their store by an extra 3rd in size. Even Canada’s top 3 grocers posted higher profits this year than the 5-year average, despite inflation.
Let’s make a statement about what matters to us by putting our dollars where they can make a difference.
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