INTENTIONAL SHOPPING

By: Simran Khurana

With Black Friday and Thanksgiving behind us and a full Holiday season ahead, we wanted to take some time to talk about shopping habits. In our current day and age, with Amazon at our fingertips and only two clicks separating us from anything we desire, it is important to distinguish what we SHOULD buy from what we CAN buy. Especially at this time of the year, it can be extremely tempting to go on unintentional shopping sprees as the deals seem too good to be true: New hairdryer for 60% off? Give me one! BOGO deal at PacSun? Can’t pass that up! But let’s step back for a minute. As good as these deals may be, the majority of these items will go unused or a few times at best, and spend the rest of their material lives sitting in the back of closets. Not only is this a waste of money for consumers, but it takes a heavy toll on the environment. The first world habit of mass consumption is one of the leading causes of resource depletion, and the more we feed into this cycle, the more companies will continue to produce every year.  

The good news, however, is that with a little bit of self-restraint and self-reflection, we can shift away from this toxic consumption and learn to buy intentionally. Some ways to go about this are to write down things we want to buy and sit on them for at least 1 week before purchasing. This allows us to think about whether this purchase is for instant gratification purposes, or whether it will serve us usefully and often in the long term. Many times, I find that one week later I don’t even want the same items because trends shift THAT quickly. Another great method for shopping intentionally is to take account of the things we already have that we don’t use, whether this is in our junk drawer or even overflowing the basement. Reflecting on failed past purchases helps us to think twice in the future and ensure we don’t make the same mistakes. These are just a few techniques to help us all shop a little more purposefully this holiday season and be kind to the environment!