I said in my last post about how a culture of hating “fast fashion” is becoming quite apparent, but it isn’t just fashion that's easily disposable. Our lives are full of buying things for instant gratification and disposing of them quickly. What has a long shelf life anymore?? If we think about it, the high street is being praised for becoming more affordable, but becoming more affordable comes at a greater cost. It's not just throw away fashion that gets dumped. Think of all the cushions, blankets, bedding sets, curtains, chairs, books, toys, candles, picture frames (the list is endless). All of the things that fill our shops and then just disappear as seasons change. Where does it go? The items that get slightly damaged in transit, where does it all go? What's worse is this isn’t some kind of local issue, it's global. Our “stuff” either gets bought or dumped. Disposable Fashion isn’t destroying the world, our bad spending habits are. We think cheap is great, easy, accessible and we are not wrong. It is all of those things, and we all need those prices in our lives for certain things, but we have to recognise that the bulk of what we buy has to be meaningful. It has to be worth it. It has to last in our homes. It has to be sustainable. We need to spend money wisely. That doesn’t mean going for cheap knock offs. What I have learned is if you want something pricey; spend the money.
Recently Great Little Trading Company have had a big campaign on “Buy wood, buy once.” This is where this post started to formulate in my head as it is something I wholeheartedly agree. Now in no way is GLTC a cheap shop. Their prices represent the quality of the product and as you start buying from them that is reflected. A month or so ago they released a picture of their cotton storage boxes next to some very cheap, near identical copies. Another company had released a very cheap version. Now, we all love to create a similar look but a “cheaper version”, plenty of my previous posts have been like that. But, I have learned that actually only the original will do. So rather than spending money on look-a-likes, just purchase the real deal! I think when we spend more money on something it actually changes our mindset too. It is more valuable to us and actually it becomes less disposable. It makes us want to hold on to things for longer, to look after it better and even to be able to pass it on to someone else in a good condition as the quality has lasted. That is how I am trying to shop. And yes it is trying, because filling my GLTC basket with a dolls house and accessories for Etta for Christmas resulted in a horrendously high total which stopped me from clicking pay as I felt I couldn’t possibly spend THAT much, but every cheap house I have looked at in the supermarkets is just that; cheap!
We need to become better buyers. That means saving money, not wanting so much and watching out for great discount days!! The original point for this post was to actually share some shelves which we recently got from GLTC as we are so incredibly pleased with them but I think I will share that on another post because this isn’t about encouraging you to buy from a specific brand who I think are better; it is about buying better. Period.
Recently Great Little Trading Company have had a big campaign on “Buy wood, buy once.” This is where this post started to formulate in my head as it is something I wholeheartedly agree. Now in no way is GLTC a cheap shop. Their prices represent the quality of the product and as you start buying from them that is reflected. A month or so ago they released a picture of their cotton storage boxes next to some very cheap, near identical copies. Another company had released a very cheap version. Now, we all love to create a similar look but a “cheaper version”, plenty of my previous posts have been like that. But, I have learned that actually only the original will do. So rather than spending money on look-a-likes, just purchase the real deal! I think when we spend more money on something it actually changes our mindset too. It is more valuable to us and actually it becomes less disposable. It makes us want to hold on to things for longer, to look after it better and even to be able to pass it on to someone else in a good condition as the quality has lasted. That is how I am trying to shop. And yes it is trying, because filling my GLTC basket with a dolls house and accessories for Etta for Christmas resulted in a horrendously high total which stopped me from clicking pay as I felt I couldn’t possibly spend THAT much, but every cheap house I have looked at in the supermarkets is just that; cheap!
We need to become better buyers. That means saving money, not wanting so much and watching out for great discount days!! The original point for this post was to actually share some shelves which we recently got from GLTC as we are so incredibly pleased with them but I think I will share that on another post because this isn’t about encouraging you to buy from a specific brand who I think are better; it is about buying better. Period.
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