The Sustainable Minimalists Podcast is live: Listen here.

The Fast Furniture Trap

2024-01-16 Mama Minimalist

Did you know? Ikea beds, Wayfair desks, and other fast furniture items are designed to last about five years.

Fast furniture is mass-produced and relatively inexpensive; it’s easy, then, to obtain and abandon. And fast decor? Low price points essentially render disposable those trendy but cheap pillows, artwork, and trinkets.

There’s a better way, and it always starts with slowing down. Slow Style is Zandra Zuraw‘s framework for creating homes that nurture without breaking the bank, and today she shows us how to create havens that inspire and welcome without anything fast or cheap.

Here’s a preview:

[4:30] Why bother surrounding ourselves with beauty (and other big-picture musings)

[7:00] Mass production, economies of sale, and the environmental implications of fast decor

[17:00] Developing your eye for design means paying attention!

[25:00] How to find the fine line between keeping stuff you hate versus hopping on the hamster wheel of buying

[30:00] Ethical furnishings companies DO exist! Here’s where to find them once and for all

Resources mentioned:

—

Join our (free!) community here.
Find your tribe. Sustainable Minimalists are on Facebook, Instagram + Youtube.
Say hello! MamaMinimalistBoston@gmail.com.

Comments are closed.

Listen to the Podcast

The Sustainable Minimalists Podcast

Latest podcast:

A Poverty Of Spirit

We Americans may indeed be "rich" in material terms, but we suffer from what Mother Teresa calls a poverty of spirit. As we chased economic growth we closed ourselves off. We abandoned interconnectedness with other people, beings, and things. We also abandoned ourselves. Many of the problems in our world today are visual manifestations of such abandonment. If the world isn't looking the way you want it to look right now, author Jeff Golden argues that solving our (numerous) issues starts by healing our culture-wide poverty of spirit. Here's a preview: [4:00] Money doesn’t make us happy, and the extent to which we strive for stuff is a manifestation of how unhappy we actually are inside [8:00] How we feel about ourselves impacts how we show up in the world. How we treat others! Whether we regard other beings with love and respect! [16:00] Exactly why healing our world (and ourselves!) may indeed start by getting out of our heads [32:00] Debunking heady intellectual conversations about the importance of the economy, plus: a laundry list of the ways we use stuff as stand-ins for well-being [38:00] Tangible ways to "drop into yourself" (because you and others deserve it!) Resources mentioned: Episode #478: Charting A Rich Life Reclaiming the Sacred: Healing Our Relationships with Ourselves and the World Thank you to Wild for sponsoring this week's episode! Use code SUSTAINABLE20 for 20% off. https://www.wearewild.com/us/?discount=SUSTAINABLE20 This show is listener-supported. Thank you for supporting it! Join our (free!) Facebook community here. Find your tribe. Sustainable Minimalists are on Facebook, Instagram + Youtube @sustainableminimalists Say hello! MamaMinimalistBoston@gmail.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My Story

Hello there, I’m Stephanie. I live a crazy, beautiful life as a full-time wife, blogger + mother to two spirited daughters. I’m on a mission to simplify eco-friendly living so as to greater enjoy life’s sweeter moments.

Want to know more? Read my story.