With the shops reopening this month and (fingers crossed) the light at the end of the tunnel in sight, we thought it would be a good idea to ask, “Do I really need this?” before heading out to the shops. Whilst we’ve all been quite restricted this year with non-essential shops being closed and having to stay tucked up at home, it might be tempting to head out on a shopping spree.
I’ve had a look online at “why do people buy things they don't need” and generally the first or second reason why we buy more than we need is because we think it’ll make us happy. Now, I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve fallen prey to the rabbit hole of the internet I ended up buying Gelli Baff. This should probably be embarrassing for someone who’s 25 and probably speaks volumes about how I was feeling at the time, but lockdown was boring and it brightened up my day #nojudgement.
The point of telling you that little nugget of my life was, although I may have felt pretty cool in my Gelli Baff bath at the time, it only lasted a hour or so and afterwards I was bored all over again. Plus it came in non-recycable packaging which obviously isn't good.
Now obviously the shops reopening isn't quite like Christmas, but it's very difficult to find stats on people throwing normal things they buy away. So, did you know... the UK spends roughly £700 million per year on unwanted presents! Now you might think you want something at the time of shopping, but if you go home and think about it, or more importantly DON'T think about it, you'll probably forget about whatever you picked up in the shop that you fancied. Do you really need this? Probably not. Did I need Gelli Baff? No, I didn't.
A final thing to mention (other than my embarrassing admission)... Remember the small business who we relied on for our flour, eggs and other essentials when the supermarkets ran out? They still need us to support them, and we still need them. Personally, I would prefer to support someone's dream, who's also trying their very best to reduce our carbon footprint, rather than help a millionaire get their 5th holiday home.
If Covid has taught us anything, other than that hand hygiene is super important, it’s that material things don’t bring us happiness, it’s actually our nearest and dearest and the experiences we share with them.
So, what will you be doing when all restrictions are over?Not that you’d be particularly interested in my plans, but I’ll tell you anyway as you’ve read this far... I won’t be heading to the shops, I’ll be throwing the garden party to end all garden parties!
Let us know what you're up to when lockdown restrictions are over on social media!
- Lydia
@eco.coachhouse
