This year, let’s try to stop before we drop

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It’s December. The shopping season. I mean, the holiday season! The season of Advent, of comfort and joy. Carols are ringing through the stores, the display-window trees are trimmed, and the lights are twinkling. So pretty and heartwarming. And all in the service of one thing: getting us to spend our money.

Soaring inflation, high interest rates, the possibility of a looming recession be damned.

The pre-holiday frenzy can be powerful. The urge to shop is strong. Especially this year, when we can once again spend the holidays with people we love, safely. Giving feels great; so does receiving.

But there are reasons to perhaps reconsider our shopping habits. Financial, yes. But also environmental; and even in service of mental health. This might be the year to not shop until we drop – drop money we might not have, on stuff that might be dropped in the landfill.

According to Deloitte’s 2022 holiday retail outlook, Canadians plan to spend an average of $1,520 over the holiday season this year. That’s down 17 per cent from 2021 ($1,841), but 8 per cent higher than 2020 ($1,405). And $1,500 is a lot of money – especially for anyone charging the purchases to credit cards they won’t be able to pay off in January. By the time those bills arrive, Santa will be long gone, chilling at the North Pole.

There is also the environment to consider.

According to Zero Waste Canada, household waste can increase more than 25 per cent during the holiday season. Canadians use six million rolls of tape to wrap presents every year, and generate 545,000 tonnes of waste from gift wrapping and shopping bags. These figures are from 2017, but even with more Canadians toting reusable bags, it seems unlikely other habits have changed enough to make a difference.

And with more online shopping, there is all that cardboard waste now, too. In the Deloitte survey, 51 per cent of Canadians said they are concerned about the amount of packaging used for online purchases. But at the same time, 71 per cent of respondents said they are likely to use Amazon for holiday shopping.

This month, consider channelling your inner Marie Kondo. Ask yourself whether what you are buying – gift, decoration, whatever – will spark joy. Or will it just clutter someone’s home, then their garage, then a landfill somewhere? I know, bah humbug and all that. But hear me out.

I, too, have spent the holiday period panic-buying. And many of those purchases are sitting around my home, unused, stuffed into closets, cubbies and under-bed drawers.

I joke that I have thousands of dollars’ worth of LEGO in my house. It’s not that funny. Because it’s probably true.

According to the Centre for Mental Health and Addiction (CAMH), clutter can cause feelings of stress, fatigue and depression.

I have always been unsettled by clutter, but I have had a come-to-Jesus moment with it these last couple of weeks. I have been experiencing a slight plumbing catastrophe that has forced me to move many things away from their usual spots. As a result, I have been confronted head-on with a lot of stuff. Stuff I have totally forgotten about. Stuff I do not need. Stuff I did not need to move. And stuff I will now need to move back into place. This, I promise you, is not sparking joy.

I realized that I get nearly as excited when I get rid of something as I do when I buy something new. Bonus points when what I’m getting rid of goes to a good home or a worthy cause.

But it’s not always that easy to divest oneself of stuff. There’s an office move looming in my life and a lot of books to rehome, as space is going to be limited. I am trying to find a place that will take a large donation of books. It’s not as easy as I had expected. And my personal philosophy is that books should not be recycled. They should be read! Cherished.

Unlike most of you, I remember my first Christmas because I was an adult. I did not celebrate growing up, but had become a member of a family that did. I could not believe, literally could not believe, the haul I drove away with. Two garbage bags filled with stuff. Sweaters, knick-knacks, toiletries of all sorts. I might still have a few of those tubes of body cream somewhere, long since expired.

So before you pull the trigger on that pair of novelty slippers, Christmas Squishmallow or Weird Al Yankovic Chia Pet, ask yourself: Does the intended recipient need this in their life? In their home? Will it spark actual joy? (The Weird Al thing might.) Or will the comfort be fleeting, and the clutter lasting?

Here’s to a meaningful Advent.