Is There Such a Thing…

Are there things you try to practice daily to live a more sustainable lifestyle?

In the West.

I see other bloggers that do live a sustainable lifestyle, and that makes me know that our efforts are pitiful. We are trying, but it’s not good enough.

The West has moved far too far from natural.

A few years ago, about 7, we saw a programme and it was horrific. In the UK we threw away – in the rubbish – about ten thousand pounds worth of perfectly good clothes every single day. Clothes that could help others.

I used to do it myself. Don’t wear that anymore? Chuck it away. I had stopped before that though and donated to charity shops.

However, I now think three times about everything I buy, and buy as little as possible.

The one thing that annoys me though is how long some things last nowadays. They’re made to fall apart. At one time I thought that was about where they were made, but it isn’t. I now feel that companies are compromising on material quality for profits.

At one point I was spending over £40 on bras that weren’t lasting a month!

Much is made in China nowadays, and a lot of it is excellent quality. So the fact that some things don’t last five seconds has to go to quality of fabric chosen.

It’s not cheap to constantly have to replace cheap, that becomes expensive. It’s also costly on the environment.

Think about this, in one hundred years of the modern industrial age, we’ve severely damaged the environment to the point that if we don’t stop this planet won’t recover. Well not with us on it.

We KNOW what we’re doing and we wait for governments to do something. They’re trying to raise money to do far too much for us. That means we need to be buying stuff. Using stuff.

Let’s stop as much of the stuff as we can.

That alone will help.

I’m doing my best. Repurposing wherever I can. Not shopping.

A new experience

However, recently I had an interesting experience. I’ve been struggling to buy tops. I actually only have four comfortable tops for spring, summer, and autumn, and they’re all black.

I have others but they’re not comfortable. I bought them in sheer desperation. If you have a few tops you don’t always have the washing machine on.

A friend uses Temu, so I thought I’d try it. I was appalled.

Constantly bombarding you with very special offers, and they really are excellent offers, the choice of clothes is gorgeous, some of the most stunning tops I’ve ever seen. They are polyester but that can be okay nowadays. The most expensive top I tried was £8.

Their service is superb. I definitely recommend it if you can wear polyester, which it transpired I still can’t, sadly. The sizing is ridiculous though, a small fitted my husband who has a 40” chest.

That wasn’t the problem though. The offers encourage you to buy, buy, buy. You’ll get a huge discount if you spend £20. Within the next ten minutes. There’s beautiful stuff on there to tempt you. It made me feel sick.

They send regular free gifts, sometimes daily, to good customers. Things they neither want nor need. Destroying the environment when they go in the bin, cluttering up the house. They appeal to the Magpie within and it’s seductive.

Our relationship is at an end. I’m waiting for a refund and then we’re done.

Stuff, stuff, stuff. Cheap on purses, shocking for the environment. Good for economies, but I imagine a dead planet awash with polyester in the future, with the animals that have managed to survive wandering around hardly believing their luck.

Especially as they’ll have all those everlasting fabrics to use for comfy beds.

So my practice is to buy only what I need, don’t throw it away, recycle it somehow.

For example I bought a floor mop that was, frankly, useless. I thought about it, and realised how good it would be to clean the conservatory windows and inner roof, so I’m going to give it a try.

Waste not, want not, help a lot.

Buying is immoral when there is no need.

I’m off to try to expunge the excesses of Jeff Bezos’ imminent wedding from my mind. Emerging from a huge tent in Venice, which is dreading it, in an evening dress and smart suit when kids are starving and dying all over the world, and Venice is dying of tourism.

Just ugh!

Sorry, I’m not normally judgmental, but…

Off to meditate and tell myself off.

Best love

Have a lovely day enjoying the things that do matter, family, friends, pets.

Deb xx