Buy Nothing Day is growing in prominence each year, especially as more of us push back against consumerism and the constant sales tactics of less-than-scrupulous retailers. An international event, the day spans countries and continents, particularly those where Black Friday has driven poor buying decisions and unnecessary spending.
As well as ensuring you don’t buy something you simply don’t need, joining in with the event can give you time to reflect on the impact excessive shopping can have on the environment. Over reliance on consumer items can affect the environment through poor practices when manufacturing goods, as well as higher levels of landfill as we decide we no longer want something and simply dispose of it.
Buy Nothing Day 25th November
It is easy to take part in Buy Nothing Day by simply buying nothing! Even if you’re tempted to look for a bargain, give yourself 24 hours to think about if you really need it. If you do, there’s always the option to buy second hand. With the help of Rumage.com you won’t even need to scour endless shops and websites. We can draw all of the results together in one search.
While the idea of simply not buying something is great, there will always be times that you do need a particular item. Big ticket items can be expensive, and sometimes you will only use them once. Think machinery such as power tools, jet washers, sewing machines. These might only be needed for one or two jobs, then retired to the shed.
Can you borrow it?
A great alternative is to rent these items. Sites such as RentMy.com enable you to search listings local to you where you could rent a piece of kit, use it, and return it. No big payouts to buy it, no need to find somewhere to store it, and no wastage. The environment (and your wallet) says thank you! It’s eco-friendly as the more we rent, the less carbon is produced from manufacturing and shipping.
If you want to make a few extra pounds? You can also use RentMy.com to loan out items that you already have. You’d be surprised at what people need, and how quickly you could recoup back your initial outlay. It’s free to sign up and list – you could make £200/month renting out your items that otherwise sit idle.
With festive parties coming up you might want that ‘little black dress’? There are sites that hire out clothes as well. HURR and By Rotation let you rent others dresses as well as rent out your own.
If we all adopted a different attitude to shopping, choose rentals or second hand, or simply bought nothing at all, we’d make real progress to end our society’s reliance on cheap goods, fast fashion, and the throw-away culture that is so damaging.
Cover Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay