✨
Buy Nothing groups
✨ Clothing banks
✨ Thrift stores (look for their sale days)
✨ Facebook marketplace (set max price to 0 or a few bucks)
✨ Clothing swaps
✨ Yard sales / Estate sales
✨ Ask your community for what you need
You do NOT need to buy new clothes or holiday decor this week. You do NOT need to buy new, period!
What if you challenged yourself not to buy anything new for the rest of the year—and nothing at ALL during the national economic blackout from today thru December 2?
@nat@kind.social buy anything except grocery, you mean?
@nat@kind.social When (if ever) did it become "normal" to buy all-new decorations for every holiday, every year? Part of the joy of the end-of-year holidays is putting up the same decorations we've used for decades; it's a hit of nostalgia. Why would you ruin that for yourself?
@nat@kind.social
But not Facebook. A cesspit full of scammers!
Boycott Franchise Food as they treat/pay workers worst and export all the profits.
Boycott things like "Black Friday" sales.
Capitalism has trained us to be ashamed of giving gifts that aren't purchased new. We're pushed to feel more obligated to give a gift than to ensure that it's wanted, needed, or won't end up in a landfill within 6 months.
This culture of obligatory gift-giving creates stress, waste, and immense debt.
@nat@kind.social a couple of years ago, I was a salesbunny in a store. It was a big store, and I was in the tech section. When Christmas arrived, I had people coming towards me, very obviously emotionally distressed, asking me to find something to gift.
I started to notice the same pattern repeating over and over again: people putting an immense strain on their mental health and their budget, because they felt like they absolutely needed to find something. To the point of just giving that up to me, a stranger in a store, saying they didn't know what they needed or what they wanted, "just find me something cool that I can gift."
I wasn't a fan of Christmas before that. But ever since then, every time Christmas comes around, I think back to these people, how mentally exhausted they all looked. Especially women. Come to think of it, it was a lot of women. Friends, sisters, mothers. Desperate to please.
I don't want any part of this, anymore.
So yes, buy secondhand... AND imagine what your rituals and traditions can look like outside of the capitalist pressure to shop. Because if you don't feel the shame or the obligation, you're far more difficult to manipulate.
@nat@kind.social I stopped buying Xmas presents for adults 20+ years ago. Family members got me stuff for a couple years, and then stopped. I get a couple little things for my kid.
@nat@kind.social a couple of years ago, I was a salesbunny in a store. It was a big store, and I was in the tech section. When Christmas arrived, I had people coming towards me, very obviously emotionally distressed, asking me to find something to gift.
I started to notice the same pattern repeating over and over again: people putting an immense strain on their mental health and their budget, because they felt like they absolutely needed to find something. To the point of just giving that up to me, a stranger in a store, saying they didn't know what they needed or what they wanted, "just find me something cool that I can gift."
I wasn't a fan of Christmas before that. But ever since then, every time Christmas comes around, I think back to these people, how mentally exhausted they all looked. Especially women. Come to think of it, it was a lot of women. Friends, sisters, mothers. Desperate to please.
I don't want any part of this, anymore.
So yes, buy secondhand... AND imagine what your rituals and traditions can look like outside of the capitalist pressure to shop. Because if you don't feel the shame or the obligation, you're far more difficult to manipulate.
@nat@kind.social I stopped buying Xmas presents for adults 20+ years ago. Family members got me stuff for a couple years, and then stopped. I get a couple little things for my kid.
@SordidAmok@mastodon.social @nat@kind.social same. I only buy gifts for my 5yo niece
@SordidAmok@mastodon.social @nat@kind.social same. I only buy gifts for my 5yo niece
Nat
