Deinfluencing popular winter products

If I seem a little bit off in this video, it is because I'm sick. So please bear with me. That's why I'm in pajamas and stuff. I don't feel like getting dressed. I have been sick for a couple days now but I wanted to get this video out for you. I just have like a cold and I see so many people doing this online and I see so many people talking about it at work. It's become this, I don't know, this ideal Christmas aesthetic for now, for this year. We don't know what next year is gonna turn into. But yeah, there's like rules to like how to decorate for this Ralph Lauren Christmas. I feel like we also forgot on how to live our own lives without following a certain trend. I'm here to de-influence you from the Ralph Lauren Christmas and I'm here to influence you to do your own thing. It's better to spend money on high quality decor items so you can use them year after year after year. That way you're not wasting money and you feel good about what you purchase. You know, make sure you like what you're purchasing too so that way you don't get sick of it every year. But I think there's something really relaxing and cozy about using like the same decor items every holiday. When you follow everybody else's, what happens is you lose touch in what you like and also when it comes to like the holiday season and just trendy decor in general, it's in now and out tomorrow. So it's best to just focus on what you like and what you can afford and not follow trends because you're going to always wonder, okay what else can I get? What else is everyone buying? You're never going to be satisfied with what you get because it wasn't your idea in the beginning. Christmas hauls in general, I see a lot of these videos people like suggesting like what you should tell others like what you want and that's okay. Like I know some people celebrate with like giving a list to their parents or their friends and family so they don't like get the wrong thing and they don't, I don't know, they don't have to like let that person waste money but there have been some videos I've seen online that are like, wait, how? Like I would not feel good giving my mom or my sisters a list of like $400 sweater or like this is what I want, $400 sweater, a brand new iPhone. Like these are the lists that people, like the Christmas haul lists or Christmas gift lists that people are making and I know it's the younger crowd. I know it's the crowd that's in their, you know, teenage years, early 20s, mid 20s. I know it's the younger crowd. The situation when it comes to Christmas hauls and Christmas like gift giving lists, it's not realistic. Like we live in such weird times right now financially and I personally am not a fan of gift giving or like gift receiving. I, like how I show love and care is through food. Whether I order something or whether I make something, that's how I show my care for. We haven't done gift giving or gift receiving in a long, long time. I want to say since the pandemic because the pandemic was a little bit of a reality check to when it came to our finances and I know this is not everybody. I know some people love to give gifts especially if you make good money and or even if you don't, you know, your love language is gift giving then that's okay too but don't feel the need that you have to spend X amount of money in order for that person to know that you love them. Another side of this is Christmas hauls where people show what they got online or show what they got for Christmas and then it makes other people influenced to buy crap that they don't need or that they never thought of in the first place but now they feel that they need it because they saw it and that's how advertisement goes. So overall I'm just de-influencing Christmas hauls in general. I remember I used to do them in the beginning of my channel like in 2017-2018. I also was very young and my perspective on the holidays was a lot different than now. When it comes to gift giving, even if I was to give a gift, if we made more money or enough money to like give gifts out, if that was the case, the gifts that I would give would be a little bit more helpful than material items. Whether it's to pay my mom's phone bill or to pay, you know, her rent for a month, like gifts like that that are going to help out instead of just like little material items that are going collect dust in that person's house. Again, I know everybody's different. With the gift giving lists that people make, like Christmas lists I guess you can call them, Christmas lists and also between like the Christmas hauls, both of these make people spend money that they don't have or spend their money on things that people don't really need. Next on the list is Uggs. I have a very hateful relationship with Uggs. First of all, I never really liked Ugg boots and it wasn't because I could never purchase them or I just didn't have the money or anything. I just don't like the look of them. I don't think they're cute. Again, no offense to anyone that has these. It's just not my style, but over the years I realized that they aren't cruelty free either. I went through like a deep rabbit hole with certain companies that test on animals and when it comes to Uggs, I believe they don't kill their sheep for the skin, but they do, it's like a secondary byproduct. So the sheep are already killed for meat purposes and again, I know we're all different. I do live a plant-based lifestyle and I know everyone's different, but I know that Ugg, the company, I don't know, I think it's Decker or whatever that owns it, something like that. Again, I watch this whole thing on them, but they do buy the skin from the slaughterhouses and to be honest with you guys, I'm just, that whole situation, like I just don't feel comfortable wearing a dead animal on my feet. I just, I think, I don't know, it's just not my vibe. Again, everyone's different and I'm not here to tell you what to do, but not only are they like not cruelty free at all, but they are extremely expensive and they are horrible to clean. Another thing that I always remembered with Uggs, because I've had friends that have had them, co-workers that walk in to work with them, whenever it rains or snows or even dirt from walking around, they look disgusting. You need to get them professionally cleaned, usually from a dry cleaner, a dry cleaning place, and that is a lot of money. So not only did you spend a ton of money on these boots, but you have to maintain them with bringing them to the dry cleaners and that's just something that, even if I didn't care about the whole cruelty aspect of them, you know, if you delete that part and just say like, okay, they're expensive and they're expensive to clean, I just wouldn't do that. Just like I wouldn't purchase dry, just dry clean only clothes, like I would not do it because I'm not going to the dry cleaners. I used to work at a dry cleaners for two years and I was in the back helping them dry clean the clothes and then I was in the front at the cashier. This was in my like early 20s and I'll never forget how much money, because like when I was in the back helping out with this, I didn't know how much money getting things dry clean was until I started working the cash register and I was like, whoa. But if you do like that style, I think it's worth buying something that is cruelty free. I know not everyone cares about that, unfortunately, but cruelty free, also easier to clean. It would be really nice to find a pair of boots like that, if you're into that style, that you can just throw in the wash. You can put them in the net bags and throw them in the wash. Even with my sneakers, my slippers, like the soles, everything can come out and be thrown into the wash. I always make sure to do my research on like the things that I'm buying, if I can wash them and sanitize them and keep them looking like new, so I don't have to spend like an arm and a leg on the dry cleaners. We're having something professionally clean all the time. Next on the list is something that everyone's talking about and this is another thing that's like, I question my whole life existence and that is the Starbucks bear cup. I don't think I need to say much about this, on how silly it is that we're fighting and paying a lot of money for a bear cup. I feel like a lot of other influencers have talked about this, where it's just out of control. There's so many videos on why this is stupid and why are we fighting over a cup and companies know that people or they're getting to know that people will do anything for material items. Fighting over limited edition material items are the new Black Friday. We have lost touch with what life is truly about. It's extremely sad and I just hope and hope and hope that one day we will all snap out of this home materialism, over consumerism lifestyle and step back into reality and realize that saving money is more beneficial. Spending money on the things that you need is far more beneficial and if you have money left over, giving it to people that need help instead of spending it on stupid things that are going to end up in the thrift store within like a year from now. Cheap winter jackets that only look cute but don't keep you warm. I have three jackets, well four if you want to count my sweatshirt. I have a really heavy winter coat that I've had for a long time. It's cruelty free. Most of my clothes are cruelty free. That one keeps me warm even under like negative 30 degrees. We never deal with those temps here. The lowest temp we deal with is maybe negative one around there but I do have that warm coat for those days and then my other two coats are mainly for like spring and fall and it's just peacoat jackets and that's kind of it and then I have my sweatshirt. I see a lot of male and females buying coats just to be cute. Like having a whole closet filled with cute coats but not spending the money on a decent warm coat to keep you warm. Like every time I'm driving around or like going to the store or going to get gas, people are freezing in their like their coat looks really cute but it's not doing anything for them. I'm de-influencing having a closet filled with cute fashionable coats. Within all of those coats you can have a really warm coat even if it doesn't look good. That's another thing. I got over the phase of owning certain clothes not for the sole purpose of them looking cute but for the sole purpose of how they make me feel and are they warm enough, do they keep me cool, things like that. So quality over looks I guess you can say. And the last thing is Christmas PJ sets or even Halloween PJ sets, Valentine PJ sets, anything that has like logos on them. Candy canes, Christmas trees, pumpkin. Again there's some people that will wear those all year round and that's great. You're getting use out of it but majority of people that buy these things they don't wear them all year round and they only wear them for like three to four weeks. I'm not like completely against like pajama sets. Like I love pajama sets but I go for more solid colors. So for an example, for Christmas if you are into like dressing up for the holidays, you know for bed I guess you can say, or Christmas morning, you can grab a pair of like red pajamas like this. I have just black ones. So you can grab a pair of just red ones or sage green, like solid colors and those could go for Christmas. They can also work for Valentine's, the red ones, or they can work for any day of the year because it's just a solid color. Now when it comes to wearing pajamas like this with pumpkins, like little Halloween pumpkins, most people won't wear those in December or won't wear those in the summertime. I'm not saying everyone's like this but with the online world, the world that's influencing all of us to buy these items, you have to also think longevity. I think the sole purpose of the wintertime and the holiday season is to just spend time with family, relax, cozied up on the couch, some hot chocolate, like just relax and sit down with the ones you love. It doesn't matter if you buy a bear cup. It doesn't matter if you buy someone Uggs. They're just material items at the end of the day. On that note, I hope you guys enjoyed. Sorry for the lighting. I don't think it's that bad but what can you do? There's clouds out. I can't move the clouds. Wish I could but I can't. Anyways, I'll catch you guys in the next video.