Underconsumption core

Last year in June/July time, I noticed my eye cream was starting to run out, so I went out to the shop and bought a new one. A couple of days ago, I finally used up the original tube of eye cream, nearly a whole year on from when it first started running low. While at least I’ve been prepared for this result for a while, this reminded me just how big the difference is between using something fully up and just moving on when things run low. For many of us who are so lucky, we already have everything we need to live a healthy and happy life. Welcome to underconsumption core ✨

If you’re not up to date with your ‘cores’, here is a brief description. In recent years, social media and the online world have been mainly trying to convince of us one thing: Our lives are not enough as they are and if we want to fix that we can do so by just buying more things. Online shopping has increased, low quality materials and products are the norm and ‘overconsumption’ – consuming beyond a person’s own needs – has become glamorised within society. As the quote by Jeffrey Hammerbacher goes: “The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads.”

But in the past year a new trend has emerged to counter this: underconsumption core. These posts present an alternative to constant consumerism, where people use what they have, reuse and repair their belongings and keep things in use for a lot longer, without romanticising constant extravagant ‘hauls’ or shopping. This idea also resists ‘influencer culture’, where we are constantly being sold lifestyles and products we must have to buy into them and keep in a spending spiral.

In many ways, this trend is absolutely nothing new. It is how the generations before us lived and aligns more with the principles of existing in balance with nature. We know that increasing waste and landfill is damaging our environment, and that financial pressures are increasingly high as well. Therefore, using what we have and stopping the cycle of overconsumption is an important behaviour all of us can learn and practice to live more sustainably. Let’s explore some practical ways underconsumption can be incorporated into our everyday lives…

• Using products up fully – This means squeezing all the way to the end of the tube or adding a little bit of water to liquid products like soap or shower gel to help pump out the final bit of liquid. You’ll get a lot more out of your products and won’t have to buy as many refills.

• Streamlining your products – Social media will tell you that you need 30 skincare products, the same top in every single colour, and new shoes as soon as they look like you might have even dared to wear them. But does anyone actually need three different moisturisers, or are they just wanting you to buy more? Having a core, small collection of products, clothes etc you actually use makes us feel a lot more purposeful in what we use, less wasteful and saves us money in the long run.

• Repair – If you own items you love, you’ll want to keep using them. Looking after our things, fixing them if they break, repairing them if they need it, keeps them in use a lot longer and prevents unnecessary items being thrown away. Also – it is normal for items to look worn and show wear and tear, it means you are getting use out of them! It is good to wear something so much that it needs some TLC! Get comfortable with a needle and thread or making friends with someone handy at fixing electronics and keep the things you love in your life for longer.

• Changing your shopping habits – If you make a habit of impulse buys and overconsumption, there’s a little bit of work to find out why you respond this way. Do you feel there is a certain standard you feel you are constantly chasing? Do you ever shop in certain circumstances, e.g. when you’re anxious or sad? If there is a pattern to your financial/shopping choices, you can start the path to trying to curb this. You might want to choose better when shopping, so that items are a higher quality and last longer. You might choose to unsubscribe from online creators that push a overconsumption lifestyle. Or you could choose to enjoy the things you already have and spend your money instead on other things, such as saving goals or experiences. This blog is in no way a place for financial advice! But because overconsumption is so integrated into multiple aspects of our lifestyle, taking a moment to look at your spending might help identify where you are consuming beyond what you need.

• Do the things you can’t buy – Those of us who are truly rich are rich in health, nature and happiness. Businesses want you to feel a high from buying their products, then return when the high wears off. But we can all get that feeling without spending money: A walk in nature, a swim in the sea, spending a whole day with friends, having a home free of clutter to enjoy the things we already own. There is no price tag on these things are yet they are the things we remember most.

Finally, here are a few things that are completely normal but that social media may try to convince you of otherwise…

• Repeating outfits (clothes are there to be worn more than once!)
• Having a simple skincare routine
• Owning and using items that you have had for years (and years)
• Using items that have been visibly repaired
• Buying second hand

Underconsumption is more than just a trend, it is a necessary shift away from the linear model of consumption that has contributed to some of the social and environmental issues we find ourselves in today. So before you buy new, shop your stash, reuse what you have and take a moment to really consider what a purchase would bring to your life when you feel the urge to shop. Businesses and advertisers want us to feel that buying into their product will drastically improve our lives, but more often than not no one product can do that – only ourselves. To repeat the idea from the beginning of this post: We already have everything we need. Now enjoy it.