Slow Consumerism

Learning the Goldilocks Middle

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

I’m a Post-Minimalist
aware that I can slip at any time
back into my careless spending
& collecting my favorite items.
Of course, I can also slip back
into minimalist patterns of
decluttering and buying less,
intentional of everything coming in.

For me, it has always been about
one thing: I hate overcluttered
things: schedules, commitments,
personal space.

Every year, I dread the questions:
What do you want for your birthday?
Oh hey, are we swapping Christmas gifts?
My answer is the same every time:
get me a gift card for something I need.
Auto-work, groceries, the hairdresser
(unless I decide to buy clippers instead).
I’ll purchase my own subscription box.

I hate the churn and burn cycle:
buy-discard-buy-donate.
I want something less throw-away.
So I limit myself to one category for
impulse spending: books. I know
most of them will stay.

Thank you for your time today. I enjoyed writing this part-poem part-rant, especially this close to the holidays. I hope you enjoyed reading it. This poem was inspired by Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她)’s poem:

Juuuuuuuuust Right

For more of my poetry, please consider reading:

New Year, More Dedicated Me

The Next Step