The stuff we don't need - Black Friday Edition

Black Friday. I have good and bad feelings about it.

The Bad

• Clutter
• Mass produced goods
• Crowds
• Stuff we don’t need
• Adrenaline followed by buyer’s regret 
• Mindless purchasing
• Cut-price 
• More single-use plastic in bags, packaging and products
• Feelings of stress when the stuff we don’t need arrives in the house
• The shocking footage we see each year with people fighting over sale items
• The waste
• The dominance of big companies squeezing out smaller businesses with price cuts that they just can’t compete with

The Good 

• A chance for people to get discounts on products, freeing up precious income for other things
• Smaller businesses may be noticed more because of the increased traffic of shoppers both online and on the High Street

I’ve went through the Black Friday mania over the years.  Do I remember what I bought?  I remember one thing, because it was a mindful purchase and it was planned.  The rest I don’t remember.  They probably remained with tags on before finally being donated or recycled.  Or thrown away.  But that’s just the thing.  There is no “away”.

It’s hard to not get swept up in the mania.  I understand.  It’s designed to be that way.  

My tip for Black Friday would be to write a list of the items you are hoping to get on the day.  If you focus on the list then you won’t make distracted purchases. If you’re hovering on the “add to cart” on anything over and above the list, just take a moment, breathe, ask yourself if you really want or need it and if the answer is no then close the browser, walk away from the phone/computer and make yourself your fave cuppa.  Shop mindfully and shop small wherever you can.

I used to think shopping made me happy, it didn’t, it was just more “stuff” to tidy up and find a place for.  I try to go by the motto of “home is for living, not for storage” now.  I’m far from perfect and still learning along the way but I hope some of this has helped you navigate your way through the Black Friday mania in the next few days.  It certainly helped for me to write it down!

Black Friday - The Paws & Planet Approach

I want Paws & Planet to be a website that is a calm place to visit, that is fair with discounts and offers throughout the year and never undercuts fellow small businesses along the way. I never want any customer visiting the site to feel under pressure to buy something “now”. We will, of course, hold seasonal offers and end of line clearances - but you will never see us slashing the gorgeous creations of our brands to levels that is unsustainable.  

I believe in the brands we stock and I know that they put their hearts into their products. Most importantly, they put animal welfare, the environment and people at the core of what they do.

It was tricky to find a balance to make sure that our customers have the opportunity to make a kind and eco friendly purchase whilst not promoting excessive consumerism.

We decided on the following:  10% off everything on the site from Friday 27th November until 11.59pm Monday 30th November.  We’ll then donate 10% of any profit made over the weekend to OneKind Scotland to help them continue their amazing work promoting animal welfare.

Thank you so much for reading,

Heather x