Buying Things I Want It But Do I Need It?

Submitted By itsBambii
Words: 1199
Pages: 5

I know I want it, but do I need it? This generation gets new things so easily so of course it won’t be hard to throw anything away. I know this from personal experience; once something doesn’t look right anymore or looks outdated I throw it in the trash. A lot of things that I end up throwing away are things that I bought out of impulse while in the store. It’s my disposable culture that I have gotten used to, which I am starting to notice become a problem. There are many ways to avoid buying things we want but don’t really need. In this day and age we appreciate things more than we appreciate our environment and others in it. While shopping around the grocery store I find myself asking my mom if we can get a cool item that I just found in just about every aisle. My mom and I try to go to Trader Joes more often than any other place. Its something about the way the store is set up, the healthy options they have to purchase, and the relaxed Hawaiian vibe throughout the store. It’s their advertisement that makes me want to buy everything. From their fruits that are fresh right when you walk in the door to all their frozen meals.as my mom and I go up and down all the aisles I like to walk ahead of her to see what other people are buying or a new product that they have since you could easily miss something along the greatly packed shelves. Once we have overfilled our cart we go to checkout and seemed to be stunned at the final price every time, even though we thought we roughly added everything to get a close estimate of our ending price were still surprised. A few days after our shopping spree at the grocery store I realize that I still see some of the products that I thought looked good in the moment were still in their packaging and haven’t been touched. My mom and I try not to waste anything as much as possible but if we do it always something that we forgot about and it expired on us too quickly. I never realize how much I throw away until I have to take the trash out and the bin is overflowing with wasted food products or the packing of a lot of pre-packed frozen foods. To me its normal to see a full trash can every week but to someone that regularly recycles I’m sure they would tell me I have a lot to learn about throwing things away in the correct colored bins and how to reuse products packaging so its not all a waste.
Disposable culture to me means that products come and go so quickly we don’t realize the full value of something. Some things that we go through so fast include clothing styles, newest technology, latest eating fads, etc. It has become so easy to replace a broken phone or to find a cheap one on the Internet that just help people be more nonchalant about their belongings. It is possible to buy a whole wardrobe without leaving your couch just by shopping online. It has become second nature to us that once something gets old, we just get rid of it without a problem and more onto the new and improved version of it. People whom live like this tends to be more carefree and irresponsible with their belongings like they don’t have any value or meaning to it. They just have a bunch of replaceable items. Disposable culture helps us really see how much we waste daily, not just with our personal belongings but with the fast-food we eat, the packaging of the new item you just bought, or the disposable coffee cup we just finished drinking. How all of that goes to trash when we are done with it. Media plays a huge role in the things we buy. There are advertisements all over, whether tis on TV, posters around town, or a big logo in stores directing you attention to it. This generation gets new things so easily so of course it won’t be hard to throw anything away. I know this from personal experience; once something doesn’t look right anymore or looks outdated I throw it in the trash. A lot of things that I end up throwing away are things that I bought out