Last Christmas we played a game with the family: everyone had to bring small presents which where randomly divided to the new owner using a dice game. Due to the low budget and the lack of wish lists, people bought the silliest things (varying from cheap picture frames to gift packs of men deodorant). The level of (useless) ‘consumoring’ was high. The presents you receive were either useless because you just don’t need them (like men deodorant for my grandmother) or useful only for a short time due to the low quality of the products.
Don’t misunderstand me: as most girls I like shopping new shoes, bags and other stuff. But there is this fine Dutch expression that says ‘goedkoop is duurkoop’ [you get what you pay for] that I am using increasingly more over the past years. Shops full of cheap products (like Primark, Xenos, Action and so on) seduce the customer to buy things you don’t really need or will break in few weeks (like the 10 euro shoes of the Primark that last a month at max). These cheap products start to irritate me and I notice that I nowadays buy fewer products for the same amount of money. A nice side effect is that I take better care of these expensive products, since replacing them is costly. I’m aware that the expression is not always right (the bananas of the Lidl are not lesser than the ones from Albert Heijn) and besides, all the different eco marks are more confusing than helpful. Apparently there is not 1 truth. For now I just follow my 'goedkoop is duurkoop' slogan till I come across a better one.
Bibliography
Duurzaam Ondernemen. (2014, 12 5). Certification en keurmerken - Niet als criterium, wel als uitganspunts. Retrieved 1 4, 2015 from http://www.duurzaam-ondernemen.nl/certificaten-en-keurmerken-niet-als-criterium-wel-als-uitgangspunt/