Day 8 · Shopping

No, thank you

Turn down the next free thing you do not need: the straw, the flyer, the branded pen.

Of all the Rs, refusing is the one that works before anything is made. It is also the hardest, because free feels rude to turn down. Practise the sentence: 'No, thank you, I'm fine.' The straw in the drink, the printed receipt, the goody bag, the second carrier bag, the pen with a logo. None of them make your day better and all of them were manufactured for a moment's use. Every refusal is one less thing to store, lose and throw away.