How To Stop, Drop, and Roll away from Overconsumption

As a bit of a shopaholic myself, maybe I’m not the most qualified person to write about the dangers of overconsumption and waste in our society—but I think I also have an insider’s point of view when it comes to trying to resist the temptations of shiny and unnecessary material goods of the internet that might inspire fellow shoppers to do the same. After all, no one is completely immune to the propaganda of the internet or the dopamine rush that comes with buying a little (or not so little) treat. 

I know that a lot of people have already talked about the ridiculousness of things like the Stanley cup craze, which had people seemingly fighting to the death at Target, gladiator style, or the latest viral TikTok shop item (“run, don’t walk!”) that’s taking over the internet. Obviously, getting multiple reusable water bottles defeats their entire purpose, and it shouldn’t be normal to promote hundreds of dollars worth of shopping hauls weekly, whether someone can afford it or not. But I think we can all admit it’s not just social media influencers and chronically online shoppers that participate in overconsumption and mindless shopping to fill the void of existential dread and stress about the world ending. Buying things we don’t need is an easy distraction from other life problems, and the amount of advertising that surrounds our daily lives only makes matters worse. 

So here is my most tried and true tactic for limiting unnecessary impulse buys in my life in order 

1. Feel better about my environmental impact. 
2. Ease guilt about being a capitalist individual.
3. Save money.

Let It Linger

This method is named after the iconic hit single from Irish rock band The Cranberries. In it, lead singer Dolores O’Riordan pleads with her partner to let go of their unhealthy relationship instead of “letting it linger.” I try to apply this same concept to my relationship with consumerism, except I’m also using “lingering” as a potential solution to this problem, and the comparison starts falling apart pretty quickly. To be honest, I mostly wanted a snappy title and reference to a song that I like. My little hack for avoiding spontaneous purchases is pretty simple: if I’m not going to die without it, I’ll let it linger (haha) in my head for a bit instead. If I’m still thinking about it after a couple of weeks, then I’ll more seriously consider buying whatever it is, but most of the time I end up forgetting about it. I take that as a sign that I didn’t really want it in the first place. For most wishlist items, I’m never one hundred percent sure about needing it in my life and once that initial thrill wears off, I feel more secure deciding whether to go through with a purchase or not. This strategy has probably saved me a small fortune in the past couple of months I’ve been using it. Although it’s nice to treat myself every once in a while, it turns out I don’t actually need ten shirts in the same shade of blue or a thirty dollar mechanical pencil, even if it looks really really cool.