Something a lot of people could do with learning is that if someone likes something, buy them that. For instance, my brother-in-law likes beer, so we buy him beer. Other people buy him beer-themed aprons and tea towels; beer-themed cakes, books or ornaments; beer-themed puzzles. He doesn’t like or use any of that. It’s beer that he likes, not stuff. I remember when someone bought my best friend, who loves chocolate, a set of mugs with chocolate bars on them. That person knew that my friend didn’t like hot drinks. It was pointless (he already had mugs for visitors). I like cats, and have to grin and bear a lot of cat-themed tat. I know it’s the thought that counts, but a little more thought would be useful.
It’s quite ironic because I’m sure they don’t like the gifts they get either. I think we should scrap tit for tat gifting. Just give to those you truly know and even then why does it have to be at Xmas? Often people don’t need stuff then but throughout the year.. Xmas should be for children in my opinion and everyone else just enjoys good food and company (if you are lucky)
People no longer know the difference between a want and a need…just because you want it, doesn’t mean you need it🙄. Thanks for reminding everyone how much stuff out there is actually useless🥰🥰🥰
Advent Calendars never used to have product in them. They were just pretty calendars counting down to christmas with little doors for each day with a picture inside.
And when was this dearie? People before your time look down upon your mass produced toxic ink advent calendars that added to the forever chemicals poisoning our waterways. Before your horrid time of only pictures from factories employing slaves, people harvested from nature and poured their hands and heart into making it into something useful for their kin and whole community. I guess it's all a matter of perspective and self-referential folly.
@@selah5792 In Germany some families still observe the tradition, but then those are little gifts or sweets that are not bought in one go. I don’t think there are many of those families left, though.
I live in Finland and I feel like that is still the most common type of advent calendar here :) Of course calendars including products are also available, but I think the picture calendars are still the ones that most people get.
I personally love microdosing cristmas. But I usually go for chocolate advents when I can get it and I get them form local chocolate shops. That said I have friends whose family have reusable advent calenders. My German family have little wooden boxes they reveal every day. And my best friend had a felt book that had personally chosen treats in them. I do agree though most advent calenders suck. Unless you are doing something easy like chocolate it is just mindless consumption
Microdosing Christmas, great way to put it! I have less of an issue with chocolate/coffee/food advent calendars, it's pretty easy to actually use everything in those. Plus those aren't usually the kinds that we see influencers excitedly opening online. We do have a reusable calendar with drawers for little chocolates, for the young ones over here
I got myself a coffee advent calendar. I'm using 100% of it daily except for the cardboard box, which i will recycle. I'm enjoying it. I'm with about the BS gifts no one needs though. I would like to come to an agreement with my husband's family to focus on the kids and not do gifts for adults anymore, unless the gifts are at least practical. We don't need anything. It's just stressful to choose things, pay for them, then figure out what you are going to do with the ones you get.
@RandomJane104 That's what we did a few years ago on my husband's side with his siblings and spouses and it's been a huge relief. Us adult kids don't need more stuff.
@@emilyjensenius4289If you stopped consuming as adults, eventually you would die. Food is something everyone needs and no one has a lifetime supply stored away. I wonder if people complaining about exchanging gifts simply just don't enjoy the process of considering others and choosing something appropriate to give to them. It's not "we don't need anything". That's hubris. It's more that you want to take care of yourself and not engage in ritual gift exchange with the outside world. It's a social choice.
The advent calendars of coffee, tea, chocolate etc. are not the ones I typically see influencers opening online, so not the ones I really had in mind here! I can see the fun/utility of the advent calender where each daily "surprise" is actually used and doesn't result in a collection of 25 new little things that weren't intentionally selected.
Millions of years ago, when the Earth’s crust was starting to cool, I was a child. Back then, advent calendars didn’t have gifts, just pictures. I think it was the mid-1970s when ones with chocolate started to appear, and of course we children nagged and begged for them as much as we could. It wasn’t until the 80s, I think, that other stuff started to appear, and companies realised that they could make a packet from samples and a lot of plastic. We used to get really excited about the little pictures.
And before the 1970s things were also better and simpler and your ancestors looked down upon you smh /s. Are you seriously complaining that advent calendars have "things" in them? Those pretty pictures you looked at were printed with toxic ink that ended up in our waterways. Thanks a lot. See? It can go on forever. You're not any better for being old. There are kids today with handmade natural gifts in their advent calendars that their parents sourced from the woods with all organic elements that would put your toxic mass produced pictures to shame.
@ but of a reach from you there. I’m protesting the plastic. There were terrible things back then too - let’s start with child abuse being dismissed as a fantasy - but it’s fair enough to lament the increase of plastic used in the advent calendar industry, isn’t it? No need for you to jump to ageist conclusions about me.
When I was a child I had actually never heard of an advent calendar - I first saw them as a teenager when British "influencers" started to be a thing on youtube. And then when we moved to New Zealand I saw them (the chocolate/candy ones) in the supermarkets. I'm not sure if that was just my family or America in general, where it wasn't such a big thing until it became another consumerist phenomenon...
In Canada, you can put up a sign saying "No flyers" and it is illegal for the companies to leave it in your mailbox if you have this sign up. Not sure how it is in the US.
@@palkramona It was like that in the Netherlands for many years too. Now you need to put a ‘Yes’ sticker on your door if you DO wish to receive mailers. Otherwise they are not allowed to put them in. If you receive one, you can complain to a special authority and the sender may be fined if there are multiple complaints.
Is that for mail delivered by the postal service? Most of our junk mail comes as bundles delivered by the US Post Office. They send the same ones to everyone en masse. In these modern times, it’s more than half the mail you receive and probably represents a huge chunk of postal revenue. No one but us poor consumers has a reason to stop it.
@@mwedzi It could be through the postal service or by "paper boys". Either way, if you have the "No flyers" sign up they can't leave it in your mailbox, and if they do you have a number that you can call to complain.
It seems like stocking stuffers by definition are often gifts that no one necessarily needs or asks for. We never did stockings in our family, just presents under the tree, so maybe some people put useful or highly anticipated gifts in stockings, but when I think of stocking stuffers it's usually small, cheap, trinket gifts for the sake of gifting. Similar with gag gifts, except the joke is that the person doesn't have a use for the item. We normalize these things as fun or traditional, but at the end of the day they're extra presents we didn't have to buy.
“Santa” (aka my mom), used to fill our stockings with very practical things, which we all would laugh about but actually it was great! There would always be a toothbrush, deodorant (once we were teens), hand lotion, chapstick, a gift card, and a ton of candy. Looking back, this was brilliant, rather than getting a bunch of useless stuff.
@@claritykat Good that it was useful stuff and not just extra stuff. I got chapsticks and things one year, but my mom put it in a box instead. I may have mentioned in passing that I needed some, not that I meant for anyone to buy it for me, so it was funny to unwrap a box with a few Burt's Bees products inside.
Hopefully you aren't using the Royal 'we' as there is no need whatsoever to 'normalize' a longstanding tradition like that of the real, once living Greek Saint Nicholas who filled shoes/boots/stockings with gifts for both children and adults alike. That tradition was passed down through generations all the way to me and my family in contemporary America. Seems like a shame to erase that because of some potential "excess packaging".
@@thedepthsofrepair I'm not talking about packaging. I'm talking about how holiday time can incentivize people to purchase things like filler gifts and gag gifts outside of the gifts they normally buy, extra purchases just because something is inexpensive or funny. I think you're talking about a whole 'nother thing.
We also do the "practical stocking stuffers" at our house, in the realms of toothbrushes, candy (which is actually often the most exciting part for the kids) or other consumables. Either things that are "needs" or "quick consumables" is our stocking go-to... as an adult now I'll sometimes have a small makeup product in mine, my husband might have a replacement of the cologne he likes, so sometimes it IS more expensive, or something that could go under the tree in our case. But we organize it this way so that we can all participate in the stocking tradition!
Yeah, I've felt like I could be easily sucked into the Advent calendar trend. A tea calendar sounds nice to try different teas, but there is so much extra packaging.
Love this video! Thank you. I just called Talbots and ask them what is the best way to stop receiving catalog in the mail. And at least for Talbots I was told the best things to do is call customer service rather than do it online and have them to stop mailing. I was planning to do this forever. So I guess I’m just gonna attack one catalog at the time. Update: it took 3 calls and 12 min to get to a person who said he will cancel the mail🤣🤣
It takes a while but I no longer get any junk mail - I have a no junk mail sign, but I have managed to get rid of all of the addressed catalogues as well. In part that is because most companies here in Australia are moving to digital pamphlets and then you can easily unsubscribe. The only junk mail I received this year was about 3 small election leaflets (they bypass the junk mail laws, which I continue to take up with them!).
That sucks! I will have to figure out how to stop my DWR and Ulta mailers. There’s a “click to unsubscribe” rule now that supposedly makes it less complicated to unsubscribe from a service.
I recently found your videos and they've already been really helpful to me as an additional tool to remember when I'm tempted to buy something. I'm determined to keep extraneous spending to an absolute minimum next year; I cut spending on clothing significantly this year, even thrifting, and I think only purchased two items secondhand. However, while I was stressed a lot with work, I started watching more makeup UA-camrs and it's very evident how much that does contribute to consuming; I've bought a lot more makeup this year than I actually need. The one area where I'm okay with spending is books, because that ties into my work. (Also really enjoying the carol snippets every day; you play beautifully. And hello from New Zealand! :)
I'm with you for next year - I think I might actually share more budget goals in order to keep accountable and make more progress on that than I did this year. Hello in New Zealand, or Kia ora, rather 😉
I laughed so hard…some of your commentary on the uselessness of useless products was so on point. Kind of a “ I should have had a V8” moment. ( an old commercial for a tomato juice drink implying. ‘ boy was I dumb!’.
I love your videos so much!! You really made me laugh when you said the gift to someone who has everything is….. nothing..😂 too funny maybe it’s the way you said it, so unexpected!! You have a great sense of humour, you are smart, talented and very entertaining. I love your deep thinking, perspective on things and I would listen to you for hours. Great channel. 😃
My local Walmart is filled with "ugly" Xmas sweaters. Like, more than people are gonna buy. Tons of polyester destined for the landfill, or I guess getting dumped on some developing country. Here ya go, hope you like the Grinch. Bleh.
I don't have any objection to the quality ones, but the cheap polyester ones are awful environmentally - I don't know that it would be viable to produce a good quality ugly sweater... would people actually pay $100 for a bit of a joke item they got to bring out for one month of the year for the next 30 years? I own a couple (regretful purchases) that I bought several years ago and will be using those for life now.
@racheljames9187 yeah for me it's not just the mounds of acrylic but also the commercialization of what was originally a fun way to get some use out of goofy stuff people likely already had. The fact that brands glommed onto the idea and started churning out these things is just so obnoxious, matters of aesthetic taste aside 😅
@@emilyjensenius4289 Yes, I remember years ago growing up in NZ and the UK, Christmas jumpers sort of started to become a thing, but it was more of an affectionate joke about slightly homely handmade jumpers that people got from their nans, etc. I think it's such a waste as well to see shops all over the world filled with cheap acrylic pieces that will likely be worn once if that and in most cases end up going straight to the tip.
Yes! We also know that they won't have the same designs next year, so they definitely aren't saving extra inventory that doesn't sell for next time. It's kind of infuriating actually
This is a thing we never consumed. I think it the past, many southern Baptists did not even celebrate Advent (or so Google tells me), so maybe this is why we never did. It just wasn’t a thing. We still don’t do or buy anything for it. That catalog you got is garbage, lol. I remember thinking some years ago that the difference between rich and poor families was that poor families used one item for many tasks, and rich families had exact tools for every possible variation of an activity. For example, my mother used a fork for a bunch of stuff. Then we moved to a fancier neighborhood and when I went to their houses, they used large tongs to turn their cooking food, and whisks to beat their eggs, and wooden salad tongs to get salad out of a bowl. I don’t know if it’s really true that the difference there is really rich vs poor, but it does remind me that there were things I didn’t know I “needed” and got along fine without.
Here’s the true meaning behind the song: • The Partridge in the Pear Tree is Jesus Christ. • 2 Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments. • 3 French hens = the theological virtues (Faith, Hope and Charity) • 4 Calling Birds = the 4 gospels and/or the 4 evangelists. • 5 Golden Rings = the first five books of the Old Testament. • 6 Geese A-laying = the six days of creation. • 7 Swans A-swimming = the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments. • 8 Maids A-milking = the eight beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12). • 9 Ladies Dancing = the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit. • 10 Lords A-leaping = the 10 commandments. • 11 Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles. • 12 Drummers Drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle’s Creed.
@ lol I have it written down as my kids use the book each year. In addition to it we create simple crafts that will help them learn and remember the meaning. This is the book we use in case someone is interested: “The 12 Days of Christmas: the story behind a favorite Christmas song” written by Helen Haidle.
@JehanineMelmoth that's what the classicfm article I read in this video said, that wasn't a proven theory...but clearly for some people it does carry that meaning whether written with that in mind or not! I actually hadn't personally heard this carol in a long time, but decided that the title worked for my series...and then I realized I had no idea what it was actually on about 😅
I think a good in-between solution for advent calendars is ones with chocolate/tea/coffee etc, because you still get the surprise element, there usually isnt that much waste involved, and you can easily consume each day's treat!
Agreed - I can get behind advent calendars that are consumed and don't result in 25 little "things" to use up over a longer period. I just don't usually see influencers opening up the coffee/chocolate/tea calendars on social media 😅
5:45 I’ve been trying to apply this more with my social media browsing habits too, to actively search rather than get served recommendations (currently just IG and UA-cam). I just find myself being recommended the 20th “finding my personal style” or “room makeover” video which was not as good as my favorites. I do have a Watch Later playlist for ones I was interested in, but didn’t have time to watch!
A helpful UA-cam video I watched referred to AI as a 'child' that needed to be trained, rather than a threat per se. I thought it was a helpful analogy. Since then I have been actively training the algorithm on FB, hiding posts and reporting posts rather than just scrolling past if I really don't want to see that sort of content. Generally I don't get shown anything on FB that is even remotely tempting, the few that break through are art supplies and that sort of thing. UA-cam seems to be a bit different as if they're trying to tailor ads they really don't have me pegged at all... bit hard to gauge where to hit someone who follows makeup, art, minimalism, conscious consumption and environmental content. The sorts of things I do buy are the sorts of things they never seem to actually advertise... they might actually get me if they were advertising new artistic media or books on conscious consumption :P
Yes! I'm thinking about trying a radical "break" from social media in January just to see how I feel coming back to it, what I actually miss the most, whether I can actually prioritize my preferences rather than "surfing the algorithm" so much...
There are some theories about the 12 days of Christmas gifts that the gold rings refer to yellowish rings around a pheasant’s neck or to “goldspinks,” an old name for a goldfinch. And that it’s someone trying to woo their lover by supplying things good for a feast/wedding (poultry, dairy, music, dancers, etc.). So I try to think of it that way, that someone’s “true love” is paying for a special Christmas social event.
Growing up, my father had an old advent calendar made of wood, so he would put small pieces of candy in each box himself and reuse it every year. My siblings and I loved it. I can't imagine buying a single-use/novelty advent calendar, not just because it's often wasteful, but because products marketed around "surprise" or "mystery" are almost always low-quality. I don't want to buy even one item without knowing exactly what I'm paying for, let alone 12 or 24. A year or two ago I remember watching a UA-camr open a Disney Swarovski Crystal advent calendar that cost over $1,000. All of the items were cheaply-made with generic designs, some were misprinted, and one even fell apart during the video. Nobody would pay even a tenth of the price if they saw what they'd be getting up-front. Obviously that's an extreme case but it just goes to show why I avoid these sorts of gimmicks like the plague.
We have a wooden reusable calendar in our household! You're right on that it'd probably be a lot harder for people to walk into the store and spend even $50 on the bunch of little things that comes in an advent calendar, and they're often much more expensive than that! (Like the Swarovski $1,000! Yikes!)
Advent calendars are on a par with subscription boxes. Seems like a great idea but half the stuff is something you don't need and/or will never use! Kits too, full of garbage items, make your own from quality products. I'm all for consumable products and/or homemade. I don't have a huge Christmas list, but I made jewelry for two gifts and with the one, I included several good quality skin lotions. I'm so tired of junk. First world problems folks.
I‘m always very excited for the advent calendars but when I really get to unpacking them I really quickly get overwhelmed with the sheer volume of „gifts“ which I kind of have to get every day now. After the advent calendars frenzy there are so many items at my home that I can’t use quickly enough that many end up being untouched for a year or sometimes even for several years. Just a consumerism catastrophe which I‘m getting myself into almost every year. I promise myself that this year is the last time I‘ve bought into the advent calendar marketing again. 🤦♀️
If you're coming from a place of multiple advent calendars during the holidays, I might even suggest that you make a goal to just choose one next year! Baby steps - I'll be talking about this more after "vlogmas" but my first no-buy year here was pretty unrealistic for me and full of "failures". So I recommend thinking about what a really reasonable goal can actually be, in everyone's individual journey towards more conscious consumerism.
1. I stepped into Marshall’s for cleaning supplies, and boy is it especially stocked up, more than usual for Christmas! 2. We can DIY a garden rock with a drill and a rock, no?
I love advent calendars... one day I hope to get my family to make one for me as a birthday and Christmas gift (works with my birthday timing) :) I used to buy myself a lego one, but I haven't liked them as much in recent years... there are good lego ones and less good ones. They have improved their packaging to make it compostable now. If my family built an advent for me they could include things they know I'd like (from liquid eye liner with a brush tip to variegated cross stitch floss, kneadable erasers and salted macadamia nuts) and not everything would need to be in the same category, and they could thrift things for it as well. I'm not a fan of the food advents or food hampers... I find things hard to use as a single person before they spoil, and I don't eat much meat so rubs and ingredients for marinades and fancy cooking oils are wasted on me. I asked Mum to get some cordial when she went on holiday to Queensland and she brought back 10 bottles. It took me seven to eight years to use up, and I got tired of the flavour very early on (I was raised not to waste food, so being given anything I don't actually like is really not good... I have to suffer through it for ages!). Personalised gifts are usually a very bad idea environmentally... they're impossible to sell in a thrift store, so people need to keep them forever basically (I feel the same with wine glasses for 18th, 21st, bride to be etc... why?). Most of those kit style things are a waste - better to spend the same money on good quality kitchen items rather than the cheap ones they usually come with.
I know that when I used to volunteer in a charity shop, the one thing they really didn't mind with personalisation was if it had been inscribed or embossed with first and last initials for someone, because you'd almost always get someone else with the same initials coming in within a week, and they'd always pick it up and would usually buy it.
I got my kids the most useless advent calendars from Amazon after last Christmas. A daily puzzle and rocks. My kids hate them 😅 I’m just getting chocolate moving forward. One the other hand, I got my husband a cool cannabis advent calendar from a local vendor ☺️
@@Alexas.nobuyyear Google search "junk mail opt out" and you will be presented with a few options. Calling is better though. At least call the ones that send you the most junk mail.
There are some interesting charitable offerings around this time of year: Heifer International lets you pay for parts of farm animals ( live ones!) to be given to people in need. In Arizona there is St. Mary's Food Bank, also St. Judes and the Salvation Army ( red kettles and ringing bells).
Maybe ( due to CEO murder) you have been handed a topic that almost all of the US people seem very involved with. I don't think too much expertise is needed to connect the American way of life (over consumption, greed, waste, lobbying, bad healthcare and law enforcement) to the internet. Your topics seems to be broadening organically anyway.
Gifts are mostly symbolic, and not practical. Many stupid commercial products are annoying and dumb. Keep things in perspective, though. 99.9% of humanity throughout time will find most of the material aspects of your life useless and stupid. It seems like you're veering into the category of hate commentary rather than constructive thoughts. You're loving to hate, and I'm not here for that.
In order to be a symbolic gift, it has to be some symbolical meaning. Gifting junk just to say 'I had to gift' is not cool. Gifting something that has a meaning for them would be symbolic - be either something material, useful, funny, pretty, a card, whatever. Also, she's comparing the habit of giving material stuff to the song. I don't think you're right on this one.
Sure! I just wonder if the symbolic aspect of the gift could be replicated in ways that aren't as potentially wasteful, through time and attention, or a written note that can more meaningfully convey the symbolism that we are trying to share through the gift! I appreciate your feedback, but I feel like there will usually be a mix of possible "hate" and "constructive thoughts" within even these videos of direct criticism or cynicism. Finally, I do make an intentional effort to convey with my titles and thumbnails when a video is going to be more "hate commentary"-style, and if that bothers you but you would still like to see some of my other videos, it should be relatively easy to avoid these ones. If you skip the ones that say "this makes me mad" or "I regret these" or any other kind of more emotionally-charged title. It's also possible that this season of "vlogmas"/daily consumerism-critical videos during this season that's supposed to be festive and maybe warmer and fuzzier, is not your vibe (I'm sure there are others out there who are also not here for it), and I can understand that too!
Something a lot of people could do with learning is that if someone likes something, buy them that. For instance, my brother-in-law likes beer, so we buy him beer. Other people buy him beer-themed aprons and tea towels; beer-themed cakes, books or ornaments; beer-themed puzzles. He doesn’t like or use any of that. It’s beer that he likes, not stuff.
I remember when someone bought my best friend, who loves chocolate, a set of mugs with chocolate bars on them. That person knew that my friend didn’t like hot drinks. It was pointless (he already had mugs for visitors).
I like cats, and have to grin and bear a lot of cat-themed tat. I know it’s the thought that counts, but a little more thought would be useful.
It’s quite ironic because I’m sure they don’t like the gifts they get either. I think we should scrap tit for tat gifting. Just give to those you truly know and even then why does it have to be at Xmas? Often people don’t need stuff then but throughout the year.. Xmas should be for children in my opinion and everyone else just enjoys good food and company (if you are lucky)
@@Xenia-h7c Good food and company is probably the best gift we can give each other anyway.
This! It seems kind of thoughtful, but it actually isn't going far enough in a practical sense.
People no longer know the difference between a want and a need…just because you want it, doesn’t mean you need it🙄. Thanks for reminding everyone how much stuff out there is actually useless🥰🥰🥰
Advent Calendars never used to have product in them. They were just pretty calendars counting down to christmas with little doors for each day with a picture inside.
Or at the most a little tiny piece of meh chocolate 😂
And when was this dearie? People before your time look down upon your mass produced toxic ink advent calendars that added to the forever chemicals poisoning our waterways. Before your horrid time of only pictures from factories employing slaves, people harvested from nature and poured their hands and heart into making it into something useful for their kin and whole community. I guess it's all a matter of perspective and self-referential folly.
@@selah5792 In Germany some families still observe the tradition, but then those are little gifts or sweets that are not bought in one go. I don’t think there are many of those families left, though.
I live in Finland and I feel like that is still the most common type of advent calendar here :) Of course calendars including products are also available, but I think the picture calendars are still the ones that most people get.
Having grown up in Germany I still (re)use my Advent Calendar with the little pictures inside. I love those Christmas memories.
I personally love microdosing cristmas. But I usually go for chocolate advents when I can get it and I get them form local chocolate shops. That said I have friends whose family have reusable advent calenders. My German family have little wooden boxes they reveal every day. And my best friend had a felt book that had personally chosen treats in them. I do agree though most advent calenders suck. Unless you are doing something easy like chocolate it is just mindless consumption
Microdosing Christmas, great way to put it! I have less of an issue with chocolate/coffee/food advent calendars, it's pretty easy to actually use everything in those. Plus those aren't usually the kinds that we see influencers excitedly opening online. We do have a reusable calendar with drawers for little chocolates, for the young ones over here
I got myself a coffee advent calendar. I'm using 100% of it daily except for the cardboard box, which i will recycle. I'm enjoying it.
I'm with about the BS gifts no one needs though.
I would like to come to an agreement with my husband's family to focus on the kids and not do gifts for adults anymore, unless the gifts are at least practical. We don't need anything.
It's just stressful to choose things, pay for them, then figure out what you are going to do with the ones you get.
@RandomJane104 That's what we did a few years ago on my husband's side with his siblings and spouses and it's been a huge relief. Us adult kids don't need more stuff.
@@emilyjensenius4289If you stopped consuming as adults, eventually you would die. Food is something everyone needs and no one has a lifetime supply stored away. I wonder if people complaining about exchanging gifts simply just don't enjoy the process of considering others and choosing something appropriate to give to them. It's not "we don't need anything". That's hubris. It's more that you want to take care of yourself and not engage in ritual gift exchange with the outside world. It's a social choice.
The advent calendars of coffee, tea, chocolate etc. are not the ones I typically see influencers opening online, so not the ones I really had in mind here! I can see the fun/utility of the advent calender where each daily "surprise" is actually used and doesn't result in a collection of 25 new little things that weren't intentionally selected.
Millions of years ago, when the Earth’s crust was starting to cool, I was a child. Back then, advent calendars didn’t have gifts, just pictures. I think it was the mid-1970s when ones with chocolate started to appear, and of course we children nagged and begged for them as much as we could. It wasn’t until the 80s, I think, that other stuff started to appear, and companies realised that they could make a packet from samples and a lot of plastic.
We used to get really excited about the little pictures.
And before the 1970s things were also better and simpler and your ancestors looked down upon you smh /s. Are you seriously complaining that advent calendars have "things" in them? Those pretty pictures you looked at were printed with toxic ink that ended up in our waterways. Thanks a lot. See? It can go on forever. You're not any better for being old. There are kids today with handmade natural gifts in their advent calendars that their parents sourced from the woods with all organic elements that would put your toxic mass produced pictures to shame.
@ but of a reach from you there. I’m protesting the plastic. There were terrible things back then too - let’s start with child abuse being dismissed as a fantasy - but it’s fair enough to lament the increase of plastic used in the advent calendar industry, isn’t it? No need for you to jump to ageist conclusions about me.
When I was a child I had actually never heard of an advent calendar - I first saw them as a teenager when British "influencers" started to be a thing on youtube. And then when we moved to New Zealand I saw them (the chocolate/candy ones) in the supermarkets. I'm not sure if that was just my family or America in general, where it wasn't such a big thing until it became another consumerist phenomenon...
This is a fantastic deinfluencing video, I loved the sass :D
😁
In Canada, you can put up a sign saying "No flyers" and it is illegal for the companies to leave it in your mailbox if you have this sign up.
Not sure how it is in the US.
And for PO boxes, you can opt out of receiving them at the post office.
Same in Australia
@@palkramona It was like that in the Netherlands for many years too. Now you need to put a ‘Yes’ sticker on your door if you DO wish to receive mailers. Otherwise they are not allowed to put them in. If you receive one, you can complain to a special authority and the sender may be fined if there are multiple complaints.
Is that for mail delivered by the postal service? Most of our junk mail comes as bundles delivered by the US Post Office. They send the same ones to everyone en masse. In these modern times, it’s more than half the mail you receive and probably represents a huge chunk of postal revenue. No one but us poor consumers has a reason to stop it.
@@mwedzi It could be through the postal service or by "paper boys". Either way, if you have the "No flyers" sign up they can't leave it in your mailbox, and if they do you have a number that you can call to complain.
It seems like stocking stuffers by definition are often gifts that no one necessarily needs or asks for. We never did stockings in our family, just presents under the tree, so maybe some people put useful or highly anticipated gifts in stockings, but when I think of stocking stuffers it's usually small, cheap, trinket gifts for the sake of gifting. Similar with gag gifts, except the joke is that the person doesn't have a use for the item. We normalize these things as fun or traditional, but at the end of the day they're extra presents we didn't have to buy.
“Santa” (aka my mom), used to fill our stockings with very practical things, which we all would laugh about but actually it was great! There would always be a toothbrush, deodorant (once we were teens), hand lotion, chapstick, a gift card, and a ton of candy. Looking back, this was brilliant, rather than getting a bunch of useless stuff.
@@claritykat Good that it was useful stuff and not just extra stuff. I got chapsticks and things one year, but my mom put it in a box instead. I may have mentioned in passing that I needed some, not that I meant for anyone to buy it for me, so it was funny to unwrap a box with a few Burt's Bees products inside.
Hopefully you aren't using the Royal 'we' as there is no need whatsoever to 'normalize' a longstanding tradition like that of the real, once living Greek Saint Nicholas who filled shoes/boots/stockings with gifts for both children and adults alike. That tradition was passed down through generations all the way to me and my family in contemporary America. Seems like a shame to erase that because of some potential "excess packaging".
@@thedepthsofrepair I'm not talking about packaging. I'm talking about how holiday time can incentivize people to purchase things like filler gifts and gag gifts outside of the gifts they normally buy, extra purchases just because something is inexpensive or funny. I think you're talking about a whole 'nother thing.
We also do the "practical stocking stuffers" at our house, in the realms of toothbrushes, candy (which is actually often the most exciting part for the kids) or other consumables. Either things that are "needs" or "quick consumables" is our stocking go-to... as an adult now I'll sometimes have a small makeup product in mine, my husband might have a replacement of the cologne he likes, so sometimes it IS more expensive, or something that could go under the tree in our case. But we organize it this way so that we can all participate in the stocking tradition!
Yeah, I've felt like I could be easily sucked into the Advent calendar trend. A tea calendar sounds nice to try different teas, but there is so much extra packaging.
Love this video! Thank you. I just called Talbots and ask them what is the best way to stop receiving catalog in the mail. And at least for Talbots I was told the best things to do is call customer service rather than do it online and have them to stop mailing. I was planning to do this forever. So I guess I’m just gonna attack one catalog at the time.
Update: it took 3 calls and 12 min to get to a person who said he will cancel the mail🤣🤣
It takes a while but I no longer get any junk mail - I have a no junk mail sign, but I have managed to get rid of all of the addressed catalogues as well. In part that is because most companies here in Australia are moving to digital pamphlets and then you can easily unsubscribe. The only junk mail I received this year was about 3 small election leaflets (they bypass the junk mail laws, which I continue to take up with them!).
Ugh! So much time on the phone, and hopefully it actually works and is cancelled rather than your request somehow slipping through the cracks
That sucks! I will have to figure out how to stop my DWR and Ulta mailers. There’s a “click to unsubscribe” rule now that supposedly makes it less complicated to unsubscribe from a service.
I recently found your videos and they've already been really helpful to me as an additional tool to remember when I'm tempted to buy something. I'm determined to keep extraneous spending to an absolute minimum next year; I cut spending on clothing significantly this year, even thrifting, and I think only purchased two items secondhand. However, while I was stressed a lot with work, I started watching more makeup UA-camrs and it's very evident how much that does contribute to consuming; I've bought a lot more makeup this year than I actually need. The one area where I'm okay with spending is books, because that ties into my work. (Also really enjoying the carol snippets every day; you play beautifully. And hello from New Zealand! :)
I'm with you for next year - I think I might actually share more budget goals in order to keep accountable and make more progress on that than I did this year.
Hello in New Zealand, or Kia ora, rather 😉
I laughed so hard…some of your commentary on the uselessness of useless products was so on point. Kind of a “ I should have had a V8” moment. ( an old commercial for a tomato juice drink implying. ‘ boy was I dumb!’.
Haha I know the one! Should've had a V8 😆
I love your videos so much!! You really made me laugh when you said the gift to someone who has everything is….. nothing..😂 too funny maybe it’s the way you said it, so unexpected!! You have a great sense of humour, you are smart, talented and very entertaining. I love your deep thinking, perspective on things and I would listen to you for hours. Great channel. 😃
You are too kind! Thank you 😄
My local Walmart is filled with "ugly" Xmas sweaters. Like, more than people are gonna buy. Tons of polyester destined for the landfill, or I guess getting dumped on some developing country. Here ya go, hope you like the Grinch. Bleh.
I don't have any objection to the quality ones, but the cheap polyester ones are awful environmentally - I don't know that it would be viable to produce a good quality ugly sweater... would people actually pay $100 for a bit of a joke item they got to bring out for one month of the year for the next 30 years? I own a couple (regretful purchases) that I bought several years ago and will be using those for life now.
@racheljames9187 yeah for me it's not just the mounds of acrylic but also the commercialization of what was originally a fun way to get some use out of goofy stuff people likely already had. The fact that brands glommed onto the idea and started churning out these things is just so obnoxious, matters of aesthetic taste aside 😅
@@emilyjensenius4289 Yes, I remember years ago growing up in NZ and the UK, Christmas jumpers sort of started to become a thing, but it was more of an affectionate joke about slightly homely handmade jumpers that people got from their nans, etc. I think it's such a waste as well to see shops all over the world filled with cheap acrylic pieces that will likely be worn once if that and in most cases end up going straight to the tip.
Yep ours is too 🤦🏻♀️
Yes! We also know that they won't have the same designs next year, so they definitely aren't saving extra inventory that doesn't sell for next time. It's kind of infuriating actually
This is a thing we never consumed. I think it the past, many southern Baptists did not even celebrate Advent (or so Google tells me), so maybe this is why we never did. It just wasn’t a thing. We still don’t do or buy anything for it.
That catalog you got is garbage, lol. I remember thinking some years ago that the difference between rich and poor families was that poor families used one item for many tasks, and rich families had exact tools for every possible variation of an activity. For example, my mother used a fork for a bunch of stuff. Then we moved to a fancier neighborhood and when I went to their houses, they used large tongs to turn their cooking food, and whisks to beat their eggs, and wooden salad tongs to get salad out of a bowl. I don’t know if it’s really true that the difference there is really rich vs poor, but it does remind me that there were things I didn’t know I “needed” and got along fine without.
This reminds me of how my mom (and maybe a lot of Asians) just use chopsticks for everything - cooking, eating, and beyond 😄
yea, it always astonishes me that B corps can have such superfluous items for sale. Also i had that same exact experience with the hot sauces lmao
Burned by the hot sauce 😅🔥
Here’s the true meaning behind the song:
• The Partridge in the Pear Tree is Jesus Christ.
• 2 Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments.
• 3 French hens = the theological virtues (Faith, Hope and Charity)
• 4 Calling Birds = the 4 gospels and/or the 4 evangelists.
• 5 Golden Rings = the first five books of the Old Testament.
• 6 Geese A-laying = the six days of creation.
• 7 Swans A-swimming = the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments.
• 8 Maids A-milking = the eight beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12).
• 9 Ladies Dancing = the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit.
• 10 Lords A-leaping = the 10 commandments.
• 11 Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles.
• 12 Drummers Drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle’s Creed.
@@loveamazing1835 that’s an old debunked myth. historymyths.wordpress.com/tag/partridge-in-a-pear-tree/ .
Wow! Do you know these by memory?
@ lol I have it written down as my kids use the book each year. In addition to it we create simple crafts that will help them learn and remember the meaning. This is the book we use in case someone is interested: “The 12 Days of Christmas: the story behind a favorite Christmas song” written by Helen Haidle.
@@Alexas.nobuyyear it’s been debunked for many years.
@JehanineMelmoth that's what the classicfm article I read in this video said, that wasn't a proven theory...but clearly for some people it does carry that meaning whether written with that in mind or not!
I actually hadn't personally heard this carol in a long time, but decided that the title worked for my series...and then I realized I had no idea what it was actually on about 😅
Tchotchke is my favorite word at this time of the year
That's a good one!
I think a good in-between solution for advent calendars is ones with chocolate/tea/coffee etc, because you still get the surprise element, there usually isnt that much waste involved, and you can easily consume each day's treat!
Agreed - I can get behind advent calendars that are consumed and don't result in 25 little "things" to use up over a longer period. I just don't usually see influencers opening up the coffee/chocolate/tea calendars on social media 😅
"I'm mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore!!" -Network
5:45 I’ve been trying to apply this more with my social media browsing habits too, to actively search rather than get served recommendations (currently just IG and UA-cam). I just find myself being recommended the 20th “finding my personal style” or “room makeover” video which was not as good as my favorites. I do have a Watch Later playlist for ones I was interested in, but didn’t have time to watch!
A helpful UA-cam video I watched referred to AI as a 'child' that needed to be trained, rather than a threat per se. I thought it was a helpful analogy. Since then I have been actively training the algorithm on FB, hiding posts and reporting posts rather than just scrolling past if I really don't want to see that sort of content. Generally I don't get shown anything on FB that is even remotely tempting, the few that break through are art supplies and that sort of thing. UA-cam seems to be a bit different as if they're trying to tailor ads they really don't have me pegged at all... bit hard to gauge where to hit someone who follows makeup, art, minimalism, conscious consumption and environmental content. The sorts of things I do buy are the sorts of things they never seem to actually advertise... they might actually get me if they were advertising new artistic media or books on conscious consumption :P
Yes! I'm thinking about trying a radical "break" from social media in January just to see how I feel coming back to it, what I actually miss the most, whether I can actually prioritize my preferences rather than "surfing the algorithm" so much...
There are some theories about the 12 days of Christmas gifts that the gold rings refer to yellowish rings around a pheasant’s neck or to “goldspinks,” an old name for a goldfinch. And that it’s someone trying to woo their lover by supplying things good for a feast/wedding (poultry, dairy, music, dancers, etc.). So I try to think of it that way, that someone’s “true love” is paying for a special Christmas social event.
Growing up, my father had an old advent calendar made of wood, so he would put small pieces of candy in each box himself and reuse it every year. My siblings and I loved it. I can't imagine buying a single-use/novelty advent calendar, not just because it's often wasteful, but because products marketed around "surprise" or "mystery" are almost always low-quality. I don't want to buy even one item without knowing exactly what I'm paying for, let alone 12 or 24.
A year or two ago I remember watching a UA-camr open a Disney Swarovski Crystal advent calendar that cost over $1,000. All of the items were cheaply-made with generic designs, some were misprinted, and one even fell apart during the video. Nobody would pay even a tenth of the price if they saw what they'd be getting up-front. Obviously that's an extreme case but it just goes to show why I avoid these sorts of gimmicks like the plague.
We have a wooden reusable calendar in our household! You're right on that it'd probably be a lot harder for people to walk into the store and spend even $50 on the bunch of little things that comes in an advent calendar, and they're often much more expensive than that! (Like the Swarovski $1,000! Yikes!)
I also feel like I am an oldhead and if you don't know what to get them for christmas buy them a good pair of socks. They are alwasys usefull
Advent calendars are on a par with subscription boxes. Seems like a great idea but half the stuff is something you don't need and/or will never use! Kits too, full of garbage items, make your own from quality products. I'm all for consumable products and/or homemade. I don't have a huge Christmas list, but I made jewelry for two gifts and with the one, I included several good quality skin lotions. I'm so tired of junk. First world problems folks.
I‘m always very excited for the advent calendars but when I really get to unpacking them I really quickly get overwhelmed with the sheer volume of „gifts“ which I kind of have to get every day now. After the advent calendars frenzy there are so many items at my home that I can’t use quickly enough that many end up being untouched for a year or sometimes even for several years. Just a consumerism catastrophe which I‘m getting myself into almost every year. I promise myself that this year is the last time I‘ve bought into the advent calendar marketing again. 🤦♀️
If you're coming from a place of multiple advent calendars during the holidays, I might even suggest that you make a goal to just choose one next year!
Baby steps - I'll be talking about this more after "vlogmas" but my first no-buy year here was pretty unrealistic for me and full of "failures". So I recommend thinking about what a really reasonable goal can actually be, in everyone's individual journey towards more conscious consumerism.
@@Alexas.nobuyyear Great idea, actually. Thank you, dear Alexa!
1. I stepped into Marshall’s for cleaning supplies, and boy is it especially stocked up, more than usual for Christmas!
2. We can DIY a garden rock with a drill and a rock, no?
I love advent calendars... one day I hope to get my family to make one for me as a birthday and Christmas gift (works with my birthday timing) :) I used to buy myself a lego one, but I haven't liked them as much in recent years... there are good lego ones and less good ones. They have improved their packaging to make it compostable now. If my family built an advent for me they could include things they know I'd like (from liquid eye liner with a brush tip to variegated cross stitch floss, kneadable erasers and salted macadamia nuts) and not everything would need to be in the same category, and they could thrift things for it as well. I'm not a fan of the food advents or food hampers... I find things hard to use as a single person before they spoil, and I don't eat much meat so rubs and ingredients for marinades and fancy cooking oils are wasted on me. I asked Mum to get some cordial when she went on holiday to Queensland and she brought back 10 bottles. It took me seven to eight years to use up, and I got tired of the flavour very early on (I was raised not to waste food, so being given anything I don't actually like is really not good... I have to suffer through it for ages!).
Personalised gifts are usually a very bad idea environmentally... they're impossible to sell in a thrift store, so people need to keep them forever basically (I feel the same with wine glasses for 18th, 21st, bride to be etc... why?). Most of those kit style things are a waste - better to spend the same money on good quality kitchen items rather than the cheap ones they usually come with.
I know that when I used to volunteer in a charity shop, the one thing they really didn't mind with personalisation was if it had been inscribed or embossed with first and last initials for someone, because you'd almost always get someone else with the same initials coming in within a week, and they'd always pick it up and would usually buy it.
I read somewhere that 5 golden rings is a mistranslation of 5 canaries. So the whole song is birds up until maids a milking.
Today I actually managed to put the first like under your video. Somehow it feels like a huge accomplishment. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
🙌 thank you!
I got my kids the most useless advent calendars from Amazon after last Christmas. A daily puzzle and rocks. My kids hate them 😅 I’m just getting chocolate moving forward.
One the other hand, I got my husband a cool cannabis advent calendar from a local vendor ☺️
Now that sounds like a worthwhile advent calendar!😄
I would love a daily puzzle
Just call these companies and tell them to take your address off their mailing list. This is how I reduced my junk mail.
I wish I could do this without a bunch of phone calls! There's never really a good time these days!
@@Alexas.nobuyyear Google search "junk mail opt out" and you will be presented with a few options. Calling is better though. At least call the ones that send you the most junk mail.
There are some interesting charitable offerings around this time of year: Heifer International lets you pay for parts of farm animals ( live ones!) to be given to people in need. In Arizona there is St. Mary's Food Bank, also St. Judes and the Salvation Army ( red kettles and ringing bells).
Advent calendars are a rip off.
Maybe ( due to CEO murder) you have been handed a topic that almost all of the US people seem very involved with. I don't think too much expertise is needed to connect the American way of life (over consumption, greed, waste, lobbying, bad healthcare and law enforcement) to the internet. Your topics seems to be broadening organically anyway.
Gifts are mostly symbolic, and not practical.
Many stupid commercial products are annoying and dumb. Keep things in perspective, though. 99.9% of humanity throughout time will find most of the material aspects of your life useless and stupid. It seems like you're veering into the category of hate commentary rather than constructive thoughts. You're loving to hate, and I'm not here for that.
In order to be a symbolic gift, it has to be some symbolical meaning. Gifting junk just to say 'I had to gift' is not cool. Gifting something that has a meaning for them would be symbolic - be either something material, useful, funny, pretty, a card, whatever. Also, she's comparing the habit of giving material stuff to the song. I don't think you're right on this one.
Unfortunately there IS a lot to dislike about our consumer culture.
Sure! I just wonder if the symbolic aspect of the gift could be replicated in ways that aren't as potentially wasteful, through time and attention, or a written note that can more meaningfully convey the symbolism that we are trying to share through the gift!
I appreciate your feedback, but I feel like there will usually be a mix of possible "hate" and "constructive thoughts" within even these videos of direct criticism or cynicism.
Finally, I do make an intentional effort to convey with my titles and thumbnails when a video is going to be more "hate commentary"-style, and if that bothers you but you would still like to see some of my other videos, it should be relatively easy to avoid these ones. If you skip the ones that say "this makes me mad" or "I regret these" or any other kind of more emotionally-charged title.
It's also possible that this season of "vlogmas"/daily consumerism-critical videos during this season that's supposed to be festive and maybe warmer and fuzzier, is not your vibe (I'm sure there are others out there who are also not here for it), and I can understand that too!
@@Alexas.nobuyyearsuch a thoughtful considered respectful reply ❤
My mom got my family a Xmas puzzle 🧩 advent calendar. After the 24 day we have a 1000 pieces puzzle. I love it plus we can use it every year
This sounds fun!