We live in a world where mass production of everyday household goods leaves our earth piled high with broken junk. Products lose their quality so that they are available cheaply. This creates a disposable society, a world full of unwanted items.
Once upon a time, families would buy household essentials with the intention of keeping them for life. Even as an inheritance, it is passed on to future family members. Objects have been carefully produced with quality in mind. In other words, they are built to last. Minimalistic lifestyles were the norm.
Today, in order for conglomerates to enrich themselves, dates are used in many of our daily products deliberately to force us to buy the same thing over and over again. It’s a paradox. conflict. On the one hand, we worry about pollution and increasingly worry about the future of our Earth, yet we fill our homes with more gadgets, (some completely useless), than we will ever need. We buy cheap gadgets, kitchen utensils and personal items with a very short life. This is due to the poor quality materials used in manufacturing. The industry has learned that people are more likely to buy a poorly made two dollar screwdriver, than a ten dollar Sidchrome screwdriver that will last for decades.
Take a moment and pull out the kitchen drawer. How many openers do you own? How many vegetable peelers? tongs? Need I say more? We are all guilty of this scourge. We’re fond of buying products we think we need, use them once or twice, and then sit at the bottom of a drawer for who knows how long.
Do you want our children and grandchildren to inherit a better planet? Then don’t fill it with junk. Next time you shop online or visit a mall, think twice. Good buy. Ask yourself:
• Do I really need it?
• Is it quality that will last?
Upselling seems to be another business standard. The old, “buy 2 get one free” trick. Who really needs a box of three vegetable scrubs? You just need a good one.
Two dollar stores are booming, and the Internet is full of e-commerce sites with page after page of picturesque decorations, trying to sell a slew of low-priced goods. We are easily convinced. We are full of offers from everywhere and on a daily basis. The media, the World Wide Web, and our phones. Very few websites are ad-free. There are tons of enticing calls to buy. The end result – homes full of broken gadgets.
Before this post gets lost in and of itself, I’d like to make a point. Buy quality. Spend an extra dollar or two and buy things that will last. You don’t need a house or garage full of broken tools and household items. You only need one good shovel, one good scoop, quality knives and kitchen tools, and well-made, long-lasting furniture.
Using the excuse that quality costs money is a poor plea for justification. Why? Since you’ll be replacing cheap quality over and over again, you’ll end up spending just as much on the trash anyway. Take an extra buck or two, buy it once, and don’t clutter your life.