christmas edition: impactful consumerism
While I'm not a part of the "cult" that minimalism has become— at least on Reddit/the Internet —I would say I'm a minimalist. I have always despised consumerism and waste, which makes any gifting occasion a great exercise of reflection for me!
I have some rules to help me choose a gift.
- Try to make the world a better place with this gift (more on this in a sec);
- When in doubt, choose consumables over something that can become waste;
- Don't buy any novelty items, like merchandise, without being sure it's something that the person will use. There's no point in offering a Taylor Swift pen to someone who doesn't have any interest in writing on paper;
- If everything else fails, have no problem in offering gift cards. In the past, I've offered Spotify and PlayStation gift cards, and even Lidl gift cards as a (pretty useful!) joke.
I try to follow the first approach most of the time, since it's the best way to appease the anti-consumerism demon/sustainability champion that lives within me. These are the kind of gifts that are useful and, at the same time, save a few of the Mother Earth's precious resources.
With that being said, here's a list of items within this philosophy that I can vouch for:
- Reusable coffee pod capsules.
- LastSwab. A reusable and sustainable alternative to cotton swabs;
- Menstrual cups for friends who are afraid of wasting money on them. So far, this has been a big hit!
- Good looking reusable shopping bags. If it's pretty, you're more likely to use it!
- Silicone reusable bags for the fridge or freezer.
- Cloth napkins.
While this time of the year might be stressful for those of us who are more environmentally conscious and frugal, I hope this post helped you in some way.
Feel free to reach out if you have any other recommendations!