Curb your consumerism

How to change your patterns of consumption

Photo by the blowup on Unsplash

Working on a presentation about living small and sustainable that I gave earlier this week¹, I found myself circling back to the idea of our relationship to consumption. Living small is essential to living sustainably, and living small often involves decluttering and getting rid of excess (which it is important to do responsibly). But more important still is to change how you consume. 

To keep your closet from filling right back up after you’ve edited it down, you need to stop buying more clothes. To prevent the kitchen from overflowing, you must resist the urge to buy another cute tray or tea towel at a home goods store. To avoid food waste, you mustn't overbuy at the grocery store.

Consuming less is the most essential thing you can do to live a more sustainable life. But our patterns of consumption can be hard to change, especially in this time of frictionless online shopping. I’ve put together a list of ways to help you shift out of your habitual patterns to consume less:

Distance yourself

Unsubscribe from just about everything that tempts you to consume. Here’s how:

• Start with all the retailer email lists you’re on (with the email open use ‘Control F’ to find the word “unsubscribe” which is often hidden). 

• Tear the back pages off of all the catalogs that arrive at your home before recycling them; once you have a stack amassed, spend 15 minutes calling and emailing to ask to be removed from their mailing list.