Think before you buy
Do you really need to buy that thing? Haven’t you already got enough things? This action says that you’ll start at least thinking before you buy something about whether or not you really need it (and we all know the answer it probably ‘no’).
Here’s the checklist:
- Think before you buy.
- Do you need it?
- Why are you buying it?
- Can you get rid of something at the same time (adopting a one-in-one-out policy!)
There’s never been a better time to try and make this a Generous action – in these credit-crunched times, when it makes sense to be spending less and being more careful with our consumption anyway.
It’s all ways round. It’s us reducing the clutter in our lives – and that’s got to be good. But it’s also the great machine of production being slowed just an infinitesimal amount, and so cutting the carbon required to produce all this stuff we don’t need just a tiny, weeny amount. But, as the Generous mantra goes, it all adds up.
Stats show that we only use 1% of the stuff we buy six months after we’ve bought it. Shocking isn’t it? It’s time to buy less stuff. And that starts with thinking before you next think you need to buy something.
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London, GB , 09 Aug 2009
If I could get the girlfriend to do this it would be a major achievement!
GB , 04 Sep 2009
I find the think before you buy mantra helpful.
do i really need this, could i borrow one, what can i pass on.
this year i want to work harder on a one in one out policy!
Sunshine Coast, AU , 07 Sep 2009
Quality is always better than quantity. Our past actions can not always be swept under the carpet. As we are are born is as we leave this planet, with nothing.
Hawick, GB , 11 Sep 2009
Hear, hear!
So much of our buying is because the producers want us to buy. We’ve even been sold the lie that we need to spend our hard-earned to help stimulate the economy back to health.
Using what you already have is more important than throwing stuff away (especially if it’s to make way for something new). Lending or giving it away are good alternatives.
The “reduce, re-use, recycle” mantra of the waste gurus is opposed by an unspoken “waste, replace, upgrade” message from the advertisers.
Watch the marvellous short film http://www.storyofstuff.com/
Luton, GB , 03 Oct 2009
And when you DO buy, have you considered the ethics of the product/producer? See www.ethicalconsumer.org – I use it to make purchasing decisions like my parents used to use ‘Which?’