How Wishlists Help Save the Planet?

December 29 2023, by Lydia Grushevaia, 3 min reading time

We all receive unwanted gifts during holidays, which, in the best-case scenario, go to donation, and in the worst case, end up in the trash. But if you think about it, besides the gift giver's monetary expenses, each item was produced, and the majority of global production, in one way or another, harms the environment. After the item is discarded, its impact on global ecology increases, depending on the material and recycling method; harm to the environment is practically unavoidable (except for organic materials, which easily self-destruct or are easily recyclable).

All of this could be avoided if you were given a useful gift that you could use for several years. That's why those informed about the topic of mindful consumption have long created wishlists, which are literally on every platform that sells goods, and they can also be shared on file-sharing platforms before upcoming holidays: birthdays, Christmas, Mother's Day, and others.

Everyone benefits in such a situation:

• The gift giver is confident that they will make their loved ones happy (after all, that's the essence of gifts, isn't it?)
• The gift recipient will be 100% happy and will use the item, and it won't take up unnecessary space in the house, which everyone desperately lacks.
• In the environment, there is one less unnecessary item.

And if we dig even deeper? We're talking about mindful consumption in general.

Imagine if you had to get rid of half of your belongings for some reason and never had the opportunity to replace them. Would it be difficult? Yes.

It's difficult to part with them. But after some time, you'll forget about them. It's already proven that we consume much less than we buy. This applies not only to spoiled products that you bought but never had a chance to eat but also to things like another trinket on the living room shelf or the 10th set of bed linen (especially from unnatural fabrics!). Who loves to change decor seasonally? Instead of one set, you have to store 5-7. Is it worth it? Doubtful.

Perhaps someone will say now, "Well, the goods have already been produced, what's the point of worrying? We need to approach manufacturers and ask them to produce fewer goods." But no, it doesn't work exactly like that.

Production is not profitable to produce more goods than will be bought. So if production management is sensible, they probably control demand for their product. Based on this, one can conclude that only a decrease in demand can reduce the amount of production.

But production is part of the economy. We don't want to bankrupt companies.

In recent years, there has been a positive trend in the world towards the production of natural products. They cost more but last longer, and the experience of interacting with such products is much more pleasant.

I'll give you an example:

• With no names, there is a brand that produces very questionable quality clothing from very harmful (even to human health) materials that get damaged after the first wash. A dress from such a brand can cost $10-15 each and you can buy a dozen per order and spend $120-180. Considering how quickly they deteriorate, they will last a maximum of a year, then they will have to be thrown away.
• There is a brand, Lovestitch, which is featured on our website. The price for a dress is on average $50-70 with a discount. The quality of such dresses is much higher; you can wear them for several years. Let there not be such variety, because for the same amount, you can buy only 2-3 dresses, but these items will 100% capture your heart, and the consumption and goods that end up in the landfill will be significantly reduced.

The same applies to plastic dishes that you replace every year (not to mention the harm of plastic micro-particles), cosmetics, cheap household appliances, and other disposable goods.

We at Buying.live are convinced that now, more than ever, it is important to choose quality over quantity, and we stand by our position. Create wishlists for all occasions, plan your purchases wisely, let's together change our lifestyles for the good of the planet we live on.

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