Green living without consumerism

It is not always easy living green, we are so conditioned to be consumers that we have to take some serious steps to be green without the consumerism. I know that it is all well and good to recycle and buy green products, but do we really NEED all the stuff that we seem to accumulate on a nearly daily basis?

The mountains of trash we throw out every year are choking our waterways and landfills; and what about the floating trash islands in the ocean, we are not doing the Earth or ourselves a service by being careless consumers. We do not need to purchase new clothes to stay in fashion just as soon as a new trend emerges. We do not need to update our car on a yearly basis or keep up with the latest gadget. There is no need to wear sacks or be a Luddite about it, we just need to be smarter than the latest advertising campaign that tells us that we cannot live without such or such.

Let’s live being fashion by being just plain stylish, classic clothes with classic cuts always do the job and we will not have to be fashion victims.

Things we can do to avoid excess consumerism:

• Turn off TV, record your favourite programs and replay them without the ads, this way you may only watch what you want without the brain washing of commercial TV
• Have a budget and stick to it.
• Make a list of food you need and plan your weekly menus in advance. You will spend less this way and you will not let food go off.
• Buy a little less than what you think you need and stretch it.
• Only allow yourself one small treat a week.
• Learn to mend clothes and alter them, it is a lot more economical and less wasteful than always buying new. Become familiar with Ebay and snag yourself some amazing bargains.
• Check out garage sales or thrift shops, often you can find new or nearly new at a fraction of the price.
• Don’t buy new books, borrow from your local library or join a book exchange in your area. You could save a few trees this way as well as supporting great institutions like the local library.
• This goes to for the newspapers, read them online or at the library.
• Forget the car, ride on buses or get a bicycle, it is better for your health and fitness. Driving a car in the city is a major stress factor, by taking buses you get to know the city and you can relax.
• Buy your music online, this way you bypass the whole CD production, printing of labels and shipping. You will save a lot of resources.
• The same goes for movies, they are easy enough to purchase online.

Learn to see how you can buy less, when you see this really amazing bargain for yet another pair of boots you should get because they are 50% off Always ask yourself: “Do I absolutely need this item?”, you will find that most of the time you can easily do without..