10 Point Plan: 08 Put a stop to excessive consumerism!

8. Put a stop to excessive consumerism!

The latest wrinkle cream, the latest T-shirt, the latest mobile phone – the marketing is great and persuasive! Afterward, however, it’s just another cream that doesn’t work, another T-shirt that goes joins the pile with others and the phone, yes, that does not always work as promised.
Our society has developed into a consumer society, and the marketing is well designed to suggest the happiness and satisfaction one will feel by purchasing a product. But have you ever asked yourself:

"Does this item really add value to my life?"

Many of us have an incredible number of things that gather dust in our closet and that is never or very rarely used. We are often unaware that a lot of energy and resources have been used to produce these objects that will never be available to Earth again – and why?
It is worth rethinking your own buying and consumption behavior. How many creams, T-shirts and other things have you bought that are now just taking up closet space? Conscious purchasing behavior is the first step in protecting the resources of our world and preserving them for the future.
Among young people, this new orientation is becoming increasingly popular through the so-called minimalism movement, which is about possessing only the most important things. Things that bring added value to your life. For example, many women are trying out the 3-33 principle. That is, they attempt to wear a total of only 33 garments including shoes, jewelry and accessories for 3 months. Try it!
If you look around your home and find that there are things you don’t need or that don’t add value to your life, sell them, give them away, or pass them on to second-hand stores. In this way, you achieve a redistribution of resources that does not require any new ones nor any additional energy consumption, and maybe make someone else very happy with the T-shirt that is only gathering dust in your closet! So, think about whether you really need something and opt for long-lasting goods.
The second-best solution for the environment is to consume as many recycled products as possible. And you don’t always have to buy everything you need: Sharing can be a cheap and environmentally friendly alternative.