Consumer society or clearing the rubble
You may remember that when we returned from thailand, then I wrote that why do people need so many things, where they come from. We lived for half a year without really needing anything, and all our things fit into two large backpacks. Yes, of course, there was something in the rented accommodation, something else was simply not needed because of the climate. But even if you exclude these categories, all the same, the whole apartment is now littered with rubbish..
In my life there have been two moves from one home to another, and each of them is unfurnished, only things, equipment and so on. So the second time we barely crammed into a cargo gazelle. That is, for happiness we need a whole truckload of things. What a horror :)
The content of the article
- one People buy things to please themselves
- 2 Marketers are on the alert
- 3 Consumer society
- 4 How to start changing your life
People buy things to please themselves
A couple of years ago, I adopted such a rule - if a thing has not been used for a year, then it is given or sold, or, in extreme cases, thrown away. And despite this, the amount of rubbish is growing, I notice this by the filling of cabinets and shelves.
Do you know why this happens? This is the easiest and most affordable way to please yourself with a working person. I, too, when I worked in the office, could not travel, which means I had to somehow have fun. And so for many, shopping on the weekends is a cure for stress and a substitution of interests. Especially, this concerns women, just do not be offended :) The bag should fit the hat, you cannot appear at work in the same thing for two days in a row, as a result - a wardrobe for 100 people. It is clear that society imposes its own stereotypes, but we are part of this society. Isn't it boring to waste your life on clothes?
Marketers are on the alert
The most basic task of many companies is to make sure that goods are bought, even if they are not needed. Only an electric toothbrush cleans teeth correctly, new underpants are in fashion, the phone becomes outdated in a year, this and much more is suggested to us from TV screens and billboards. Any self-respecting modern person is simply obliged to keep up with these trends..
It is also not profitable to make quality things that will last a long time, because then no one will buy. Japanese foreign cars have been serving for only 5 years, and all household appliances begin to break down after 3 years. And clothes just don't need to be made good, you still can't take them down to keep up with fashion..
Consumer society
Everything would be fine, but this cycle of things in nature never ends: more and more items for comfort, more furniture for storage, more square meters for this furniture, and less and less joy.
At the same time, it always seemed to me wild that people did not at all think about the fact that natural resources, human labor, money and time were spent on this, and all this does not last long and for entertainment, and then is thrown away. Thus, a consumer society is being developed, which, consuming everything around, does not produce anything in return except tons of garbage..
How to start changing your life
More than once I have already come across different statements: «Do you want to let something new into your life, get rid of the old», «Changes in life must begin with cleaning the apartment.», «If you want to know what a person has in his head, look into his closet (on the balcony)». Although the latter, perhaps, I myself came up with.
Indeed, this is a global problem of humanity - the accumulation of unnecessary rubbish and suffering from materialism in general. And the more I live, the more I feel that I am burdened by the abundance of objects at home, and I want lightness. Type in a search engine «rubble in the apartment», and you will understand what it is about. The more a person has accumulations of rarely used things, or, even worse, not used at all, which supposedly will definitely come in handy for our children and ourselves in ten years, the more chaos he has in his head..
You cannot change the world, but you can draw conclusions for yourself. We decided for ourselves that we would not only thin out our things and rubble once a year, but also try not to create them in the future, and generally minimize materialism..
P.S. At the moment, we almost do not use household chemicals (except for washing powder, soap and toothpaste), stopped using the microwave, gave up the TV long ago, threw out all the souvenirs-dust collectors and stopped buying them as a gift, we do not use any cosmetics and creams, we replaced part of clothes and shoes for more functional.
A few questions to catch up:
Are you storing your wedding dress for some special occasion??
Why do you need 50 plates when there are only two of you?
You are not tired of dusting souvenirs?
Do you really need books on the history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union? They opened them for a long time?
TV in every room, it's so necessary?
Wooden old skis on the balcony when last saw snow?
You have old shoes that are a pity to throw away, but are unlikely to wear?
You can quickly list what you have on the mezzanine?