One of the intriguing trends of the last couple of years has been persistent inflation coupled with continued strength in consumer spending. In today's socially connected marketing world of influencers and financing schemes, people are encouraged to buy more and more, which can ultimately leave them feeling empty and bereft.
There’s no denying that food, clothing, shopping, gifting and donating all have the power to make us feel good. However, a plethora of choices in retail, food and other essentials can become wasteful and eat into your valuable time, health and wealth.
Reducing waste in many senses would be fitting, during this time of New Year’s resolutions, to renew ourselves.
Food
One-third of all food produced is lost or wasted, while an estimated 735 million people go hungry, according to the United Nations. This costs the global economy almost $940 billion each year. Although composting and industrial usage from food waste, such as SAFE (sustainable aviation fuel), are making steady progress, preventing waste at the source is the best option.
Keeping a running list of meals and their ingredients, meal planning and inspecting your refrigerator before shopping are some ways to shop right. Also, from personal experience, never grocery shop hungry.
Here is a more complete list of tips.
Clothing
Fast fashion is notorious for the resources it wastes and the millions of pieces of clothes that end up in landfills every day. Individually, we now purchase five times as many clothes as we did in the 1980s, often wearing items only seven to 10 times before discarding them (a 36% decrease from 15 years ago). Each year $500 billion is lost because of under-wearing and failure to recycle clothes. Dyeing and finishing are responsible for 3% of global CO2 emissions, as well as over 20% of global water pollution.
Tiffanie Darke, the author of What to Wear and Why, has a wardrobe that revolves around 10 key items. The first step in her approach, she says, is establishing a capsule wardrobe: a curation of foundational pieces that are not only functional and designed to last but also fit you impeccably and ensure you feel your best.
She is a proponent of what she calls the 80/20 rule, wherein 80% of your wardrobe is made up of "useful, basic classics" and the other 20% more expressive "personality pieces."
Stuff
A home full of needless curios was once considered refined, expressive of the luxuries industrialization made possible. According to one estimate, an average American spends a total of two and a half days every year looking for misplaced household items, and 11% of people in U.S. use storage units. In fact, there are more storage units in the U.S. than there are coffee shops and fast-food restaurants combined.
Although the average home size increased from 1,500 sq ft in 1973 to 2,200 sq ft in 2023, we somehow have more room and less space. We have been firmly held to the ritual of decluttering — think of Marie Kondo, creator of the KonMari Method, Margareta Magnusson, author of The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, and the like. But such organization may be leading us to clutter panics.
A simple “keep, give away, throw away” organizational system might give ourselves and our minds some space.
Gratuity
Restaurant tipping has become a grief-inflicting gratitude that has transformed from a discretionary reward to subsidizing living wages. Paying extra for a service has gotten so complicated that it has caused rebellion and moral dilemma, as well as a level 1 math challenge. If I have the option to reward someone for a great service, I would've chosen someone who works in an airplane and hospital.
One of my personal favorite guides for whether to tip, which I follow with some exception, is that if I'm ordering standing up, I'm not tipping.
Investment Focus
The concept of less, or fewer things, is really about having more of your time and wealth and, most important, your well-being.
From an investment perspective, my own portfolio goal is to narrow down to just 10 investments. Ones that fit a macroeconomic theme, have excellent capital allocation, and are managed by a team of talent with unquestionable integrity.
As the industrial designer Dieter Rams said, “Good design is as little as possible. Less but better, because it concentrates the essential aspects.”
I’m wishing you all a happy new year and much investment success!
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