Buy less.
“When I shop, the world gets better, and the world is better, but then it's not, and I need to do it again.”
– Sophie Kinsella.
THE LOWDOWN
Alain de Botton explains in his TED Talk that we don’t shop for the goods themselves, but rather for the emotional rewards we attach to those goods. This conditioning is so deeply ingrained in our society that despite all the studies that show how getting more things or money won’t make us any happier in the long run or can even make us more miserable, we cannot but believe to the core of our bones that they will. We are pathologically programmed to miswant.
Add a dopamine kick in anticipation of a new buy (more than the reward of the good itself) and hundreds of ads all around telling us that this is the only buy you will ever need to reach happiness and well... look at the results for yourself, it might seem that as a species we don’t stand a chance.
Luckily there’s a way out of this loop, because you can choose to buy less and more mindfully.
WHY IS IT GOOD?
Buying less and more mindfully has lots of benefits for you and for the environment. These are just a few:
You will appreciate more the things you really, really need or want (like when you used to save for a month to buy your favourite band’s latest album).
You will save money for things that will actually bring you happiness like going to see a show or travelling.
You will stop (or at least reduce) how you compare yourself to others, a great cause of stress in our times.
You will avoid wasting time and energy in a few years trying to desperately get rid of stuff.
You will have more time to do things you like.
You will spend less time cleaning.
You will have more space.
You will be helping the environment.
SOME IDEAS
When you’re just about to click “buy” or you’re holding the product in the shop, ask yourself: Do I really need this? Will I be using this in 6 months time? 2 years time? What else could I do with this money?
Get a “Useless Stuff I Didn’t Buy” jar and put the money you would have spent there. Use that money for something that will bring you happiness: donate it to your chosen cause, treat a friend/family member to a massage… Research shows that spending money on others promotes more happiness than spending it on oneself.
If you need something for a specific job (e.g. a jig saw), try to find someone who will lend it to you.
Follow The Minimalists.
EXTRA BROWNIE POINTS
KonMari your life!
Enjoy your free-from-useless-shopping week!
Vero and Enrique
What's your Kensho?
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