Borrowing
Like many fellow humans, I am unhappy about living in a capitalist society. I feel sorrow when I think about spending my life within an exploitative system characterised by severe inequality, humans selling their labour to organisations they don't feel passionate about, a system that causes ecological degradation and still does not manage to satisfy the needs of all. And yet, I try to live a joyful and meaningful life. I try to set boundaries with capitalism as much as possible. Like feminist economic geographers Gibson-Graham, I believe that in parallel with capitalism exist non-capitalist alternatives. Some of these alternatives even sustain capitalism. To me, setting boundaries with capitalism is a political act, and act of prefiguration. There are some capitalist things that I cannot avoid, unfortunately. For example, rent is something that I cannot currently avoid. But other things I can avoid entirely (such as some categories of consumption), minimise, or improve.
When I need something, I don't buy it immediately. I first try to see if I can borrow that object from my partner, colleagues, friends, family members, neighbours. Recently I borrowed a t-shirt from my partner. I live with 10 items of clothing (2 pairs of shorts, 2 pairs of sweatpants, 2 shirts, 1 jacket, 3 basic tops). I've noticed that the shirts started to wear out, so I decided to wear them more rarely. Instead, I wear my partner's t-shirt. It feels wonderful and so liberating to wear something so simple. There are no logos, no visible labels. It's made from organic cotton.
Another place where one can take things for free from is a byttestation (swap shop). Some fellow humans think that it's always about exchanging: you bring something there and take what you need. But it feels to me that this giving and taking is more about community rather than individuals/individual visits. For example, my partner and I brough many items to our local byttestationer over the years, but we rarely took anything. Recently I visited my local byttestation as I wanted to give something away. A child approached me and carefully asked me if they could take a toy that they wanted. It was so heart-warming to see a young fellow human engage with an alternative organisation. Naturally, I said yes and gently explained to them how byttestationer work. My hope is that they will have a positive experience with them, use them often and continue to use them when they become adults. I think more fellow humans should show byttestationer to their children. My local byttestationer oftentimes have children's books.