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Put your money where your mouth is | A spiritual approach to less stuff

Every time we make a purchase, we make a statement.

zero waste challenge
Put your money where your mouth is | A spiritual approach to less stuff 6

Welcome to day 29 of the zero waste challenge!

Living a zero waste life isn’t going to save the planet from the climate crisis. But is it going to make a difference what goes to landfill? Heck yes. Tell your friends about the zero waste movement and show them how they can reduce the amount of waste that will make a huge difference.

Cooperations invented consumerism to keep us perpetually dissatisfied and addicted to stuff. We have the power to say NO. ~ the story of stuff project

The easiest way to say no is by buying less and if you do buy something, choose high quality. Here is an example out of my life:

I have lived in Australia for 12 years, and whenever someone asked me for my background, I proudly said that I was german.

Why was I proud of that?

Undoubtedly not because of our war history, no, the reason why I felt proud was that we are known to be reliable, hard workers, and we make quality products. Still to this day, german cars are known for their reliability. Many products that come from Germany are still made to last a lifetime.

Made in Germany = Quality

This made me proud. Owning something that, in the worst-case scenario, you can get fixed or fix yourself is fantastic. You have this item for years to come, which often comes with an emotional value (Grandpa’s watch, for example).

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In today’s society, we are so used to have something for a couple of weeks, maybe a month, and then we are told that it is not fashionable anymore and you will look more like yourself if you wear this or that.

Luckily, many of us are waking up to this BS that has been sold to us for years.

So this is just a reminder to whatever you buy, stop for a moment and ask yourself. Do you really need this? Or is this just something your ego desires because it feels small?

I know this isn’t going to be an easy question, mainly because the ego will be alarmed and will fight to stay alive while coming up with all sorts of ideas why you need XYZ.

To me, meditation has been the most critical, most impactful exercise to raise my awareness around everything in my life.

Now I am not here to convert you to start meditating every day for an hour, but I highly recommend it. I used to feel very lost in this world, and learning mindfulness really helped me find my center.

Here you can join me in my daily meditation routine.

Waking Up App

It is all about catching you at the right moment. We are conditioned in a way to So when you stand in the aisle of your supermarket, ask yourself: Do I need to buy the heavily packaged mushrooms, or can I find them lose?

Do I need another jumper? Why not just own 2 of your favorite jumpers made from natural fabric and preferably from a B corporation or a company where you can track every step of the production process.

Is this going to cost more?

Well, that depends on how you look at it. If you buy a handmade jumper from Peru made from alpaca wool, you will most likely pay more than your average jumper made from a big chain supplier.

However, you are also making a statement with your money. Support a small company that can really use the money, or supports a chain that perhaps even uses child labor. It’s so easy to close our eyes and save a couple of dollars right away. Nonetheless, in the long run, you are saving your health, the health of your planet, and your quality jumper is most likely going to last longer, or you will fix it since it has emotional value.

I prefer much more to wear my favorite clothes all the time than to change them around and to waste resources to make me feel good.

Look at Steve Jobs, the same clothes every day. Look at the Facebook guy, same clothes.

So before you buy, ask yourself, “Is this product supporting a big corp that treats their workers well?

You can use the donegood app to help you make those choices.

You can talk.

You might be thinking that it is easy for you to say, since you are currently traveling around Canada and live out of a backpack, and I have to admit, yes, it is definitely easy for me to say since that also means carrying less stuff with me.

But it isn’t something new to me. I have always preferred to have quality products over quantity.

This is a personal choice, and since the minimalism movement and the zero waste movement, it just has made a lot of sense to me.

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