Erikshjalpen, the world organization that my grandfather started as a kid, had an instagram post the other day about “White Monday”. Such a great thing!
So, on Friday it’s what’s called Black Friday. I had never heard of this until I moved to America. Apparently it’s a thing in Sweden now as well and probably in other countries. On this day, there are huge sales on products in basically any store you can think of. The lines to get in are loooong way before they open. People stand in line from the night before. When they finally get in, everyone just grabs whatever they can get their hands on, doesn’t even matter what it is, they just want it because it’s reduced prices. This is absolutely insane. Yes, if you are considering making a purchase, maybe something on the more expensive side like a cell phone, tv or something similar, then yes, waiting til this day and going online to look at deals can be a great way to save some money.
BUT! We are all already over consumer of everything. We buy new toys, we buy new clothes, we buy new phones, we buy this and we buy that…you get it. What Erikshjalpen wanted to encourage people to do is to visit a Second Hand store and buy used. In Stamford I’ve only seen two stores with older goods. One is for furniture where I saw a rocking chair this spring that I considered getting but the next day it was gone. And there is a vintage clothing store with what looks like old rich lady clothes and noone needs to overpay for any of that, especially not what looks like real fur. There’s a Goodwill here in Stamford as well and they might have a store there and not just a drop off.
I hate to admit it in this post cause I’m going against the purpose, but, I’m not a fan of used products myself. I hate germs and in my mind everyone else i full of it, so I prefer to buy new. But what I can do is to think over what I really need and not. My husband and I buy a lot of unnecessary crap we probably don’t need but we do keep our phones until they no longer work instead of buying the newest models every time they come out for example. It’s not much but at least something. We can definitely be better!!
In seventh grade we had do spend three days in a work place. I chose Erikshjalpen, part because I wanted to learn more but also because I could spend some time with my grandma. I got to see the organization in a different way other than through my family. I helped out with lots of different things like folding donated clothes and put in different piles that would be sent to countries where needed, or put together envelopes to send to those who donated money. One day I helped out in the only Second Hand store they had (today they have them all over the country). I’m not gonna lie, germs were in my mind. But when you see the bigger picture of what this does, it’s all worth it! Not only do people reuse products which is good for our world, they also do a good deed for those who needs our help. Same with Goodwill here in America.
Anyway. My point with this post is that I too encourage you to think twice before you shop a bunch of new stuff. Could you possibly buy it second hand? Or not buy it at all?