This video lazily rebrands European economic limitations as a superior moral philosophy to flatter high-brow sensibilities. It ignores systemic realities in favor of a tired, romanticized narrative about American greed versus European wisdom.
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These Americans Learned Why Europeans Don't Fall for Consumerism/OverconsumptionAdded:
All right, y'all. Hello. It's Friday and we always have fun on Fridays. So, I hope you have an awesome weekend as well. And we're taking a look at overconsumerism, kind of handling money, having limits, that type of thing. Uh, well, basically Americans versus Europeans. And this should be a very educational and insightful. Basically, most of these will be Americans going to different countries and finding out a thing or two, you could say. Let's just take a look. I truly did not realize how badly Americans over consume when it comes to fashion until I traveled outside of the United States. And I'll give you a really good example. So, as we know in American culture, a lot of us are very concerned with trendy pieces, fast fashion, whatever is on our Instagram feed, we're going to wear it. From a consumer behavior standpoint, we are just the most influenced people. But recently, I traveled to Italy and that was like the biggest, I don't know, it was like an aha moment or something. I just had the biggest like realization that these people are not concerned with where they shop or where they get their items from because I saw the most beautifully curated outfits on the streets in both Florence and Rome. And I you would think that these people were dressed by a stylist. I've never seen more fashionable men and women in my entire life. And I was just in awe like just seeing the long trench coats in the fall, the black stockings, like they just they looked like beautiful. When it came to clothing pieces, jewelry, sunglasses, or even purses and handbags, not once did I see a logo. Why? Because Europeans are more concerned with how the pieces of their outfit come together rather than where these pieces came from. I'm not sure if this plays a role here, but I noticed that the Zara and H&M stores in Italy just carry better clothing pieces in general. In my opinion, they just have better options and more basic pieces to build a capsule wardrobe. But yeah, I think traveling for me and just watching different cultures behave, especially in a consumerism manner, like it just helped me realize that I don't need to be buying trendy pieces when there are people around the world who are just curating the most beautifully put together outfits without a worry in the world of where their clothing pieces are coming from. I truly did not realize >> that's a great point. Um, you know, it's like if you want to look sharp, that's a good thing. Um, but you know, you can look sharp in a lot of different ways and just putting together a good outfit, right? Who cares who it's made by? Who cares how much it costs? And when I say that, I mean it you can have a good-look outfit that doesn't cost a lot. You don't need to spend ridiculous amounts of money to have a good outfit. And you certainly don't need to have name brand things, whatever that means, right? To have a good outfit as well. I think too many people here get sucked into the designer bags, the designer this and that, uh the, you know, name brand shoes, the name brand gear, the name brand gym gear. Like, just try to put yourself together as best as you can and go from there. Um, most people have probably too much clothes, or at least here in the US as it is. Stop buying stuff. Stop. Clean all of what you have, lay it out, see how much it is. is probably too much. But try to put together some nice outfits. I think too many people here buy the name brand shoes for example and it really doesn't they get it and it's like this doesn't actually go with a lot that they have.
So why do you even have it just to say you bought the newest Nikes or something? It's really weird. I will say happily I am I guess more like the European mindset on this one. I have a bunch of very you know I'll be honest cheap clothing. Uh, you know, I buy simple kind of shirts like this, right?
And uh I I just, you know, they were all cheap. I'm not spending 80 100, you know, $120 a shirt. No way. I'm spending, you know, $10 to $22 a shirt at the highest. I wear like the same two pairs of shoes for like four years and then when they fall apart, I replace them. Now, maybe if you've noticed, I do spend a little bit on hats, but then again, I've spent that over my whole adult life over 15 years. Quite frankly, I only buy one or two hats a year, so I'm not really sweating about it.
>> I am an American who has lived in France for the past year, and this is probably the one thing that strikes me as the most different between America and France.
>> And this there's really two parts to this. The first part is credit, and Americans are obsessed with credit.
Everyone has a credit card. Everyone has student loan debt. A lot of people have credit card debt as well.
>> Uh when she says everyone has a credit card, that's true. Most Americans I believe have I think the average is four or five credit cards. And unfortunately nowadays, you know, the last 10 years things have be gotten so expensive. The economy feels like it's crashing. Uh a lot of people have those credit cards maxed out and can't really afford to pay them off. Yeah.
>> And we are just so obsessed with this idea of like what our credit scores score is, you know, how many credit cards we have, etc., etc. Like what kind of points do you get with your credit card?
>> Yes. Really weird. felt guilty >> and in France that it just doesn't exist. Like credit cards are rare here.
Um you don't see the constant advertisements for credit cards. Like you do have seeds. Um and you also don't really see a lot of people with debt.
They don't have a lot of debt. The most debt that they'll have is if they buy a house and they have to take out a loan to buy the house.
>> And the second thing ties into the credit and that is online consumerism.
In the United States, it is so easy to buy something online and have it delivered the same.
>> People just buy their dinner online and they have it delivered to the house via Door Dash or GrubHub or Uber Eats. They buy their groceries online. They go crazy and then they have it delivered from Target or Walmart. Um, they're buying from Amazon. I mean, there are people literally, if you don't believe me, look it up. There are people that post online that, you know, in these videos that buy from Amazon every day, like it's just a routine for them. You brush your teeth, you go to the bathroom, and you buy from Amazon.
That's like some people's routine. It's crazy. And then people wonder, you know, damn, feel like I should have more money, but I don't.
>> Like, the consumerism here is off the charts.
>> Sephora like within 3 hours. Um, Amazon will deliver things in the same day, next day delivery or at a maximum two days.
>> Yeah, it used to be two day was like the good stuff. Now it's same day or next day that you have in the United States of like having that like immediate satisfaction of once you order a product. Just as an example, my parents, who I would not classify as being like very strong like consumerists, they have things delivered from Amazon almost every day. and it's little things that they like realize that they need and so they're like, "Oh, I'll just order it from Amazon instead of going to the store and buying it."
>> That's just not something that you would do in France. Most of the time, you would go to the store and actually buy that item or the food or whatever it is that you need and you would make it a trip, like a shopping trip versus like this like oneoff driver. Oh, I need batteries. Oh, I need, you know, a carton of milk. I'm just going to order each of these things individually from Amazon. like so environmentally bad but also like so consumerist. It is just wild to me.
>> I have to say after a year I have saved a ton of money by not living in the United States.
>> I I don't doubt that at all. I bet she saved >> and not living that lifestyle. And I just feel happier because I don't feel that like that like stress of like, oh, I need this now and like why isn't it here?
>> Yeah. Look, you know, it's like it's so easy to get sucked. I think it's it's set up like that. So, it's so easy to get sucked into the ultra in-your-face capitalist consumerism here in the US.
And and you know, this is why I also poke fun at like when I see arguments online between Europeans and Americans, and a lot of times Americans always bring up the whole, well, we make more money than you, right? Well, a lot of Americans, sure, a lot of jobs like pay slightly more in the US as compared to a lot of other countries, but where does it go, right? It's not like you're actually saving that. A lot of people are blowing it on stupid stuff that's covered in other countries. We've been there down that route. And then whatever's left, they're blowing on consumerism stuff. I mean, it takes over. It's advertised everywhere you look, in your ear, in your eyes, like everywhere in between, you know? And uh I don't know, it's it's almost oppressive as as it is scary the amount of consumerism that exists here. People just buying expensive cars and you know, they've gone down in quality. They're buying expensive electronics. They've gone down in quality. They're buying what used to be cheap, you know, Chinese goods, but they're they're just buying all this random stuff they don't need online. And uh you know, everything's gone up in price. And people just keep buying and keep buying and keep buying.
And it's wild. It's like people don't know how to stop. And look, I'm an American. I've, you know, felt all of this. I've played the whole like, hey, you know, let's just use a credit card for this cuz we'll get points for it, right? That actually sounds funny to say out loud. You know, I've gone, you know, maybe let's say a week where five days in a row I order from Amazon and I kind of caught myself and I was like, damn, what am I doing? Right? So, I don't try to do it a lot. I for example right now if I think I think the last time I personally bought something on Amazon was maybe a month ago. So it's probably been a solid month. So I'm doing okay by American standards. But the rest of the world like they're not doing that a lot.
So Amazon delivery every day and that's not being consumerist. Yeah. Let's talk about her parents. She said they're not consumerist but they order almost every day. What's a credit score?
You don't want to know. If you don't know, I envy you. That's your lifeline here in the US.
>> I finally realized something on our last trip to Europe. Why in America do we buy so much crap? We were just walking around one day and I just >> You don't see Amazon on every street.
You don't see UPS. You don't see FedEx.
>> Comes to my house like every day at home.
>> Sometimes all three come to my house in the same day.
>> Yeah.
>> Like what am I?
>> And then you go to stores in Europe and they don't have Walmart. They don't have Target. You want a nail clipper. Here's one nail clipper. Just one. Not 55 different options. And then you go to the grocery stores and they don't have an entire aisle of chips the length of the store. They have like four different kinds of chips.
>> It's like regular and paprika, which are very good. By the way, obviously being in Europe for 3 weeks, I wasn't buying stuff every day and I was just fine. And then I get home and I see Amazon every two seconds and I'm like, "What are we buying?" And I've always known like over consumption of >> I actually don't even know what we're all buying. It's like, "No, I buy stuff I don't need."
>> Yeah, I do. I think I do. And so, ever since we've been back, we've kind of been really cautious about what we're buying. Like, >> I need a pair of black shorts. Do you?
You have three. Why do you want a fourth pair?
>> I don't know. I just thought I'd buy another pair. Why?
Yeah, I think it finally took this last trip not seeing Amazon all over the little roads between all the pretty old buildings to realize that needs to stop.
Well, there you go. This is kind of cool hearing this, right? Um, not that, you know, one place does things way better than another. It's not one of those.
It's just kind of good to get perspective, right? And you can argue for both sides and blah blah blah. But I think overall this, you know, general European mindset on this type of thing is, you know, more sustainable. It's smarter for the individual and so forth.
And I know Europe is diverse and this probably varies by person to person, of course, and then even country to country, region to region. But it's kind of good to see Americans realizing what they have been doing. They go, you know, are lucky enough to travel. they go see how other people are living their daily life and they kind of can say, "Hold on, let me take a step back. Let me look at this. Maybe I can learn a thing or two from this and apply it to my life back home." And I think that's actually uh that's a net positive. I think that's pretty cool. Um I actually like this comment here. Every time you stop yourself from buying something unnecessary, put that amount in a savings account to spend for your next European vacation so you'll know exactly how much you saved. That's actually really cool. And um I bet that would add up quicker than people think. Like I said, people here waste a lot. And uh you know, after a year, 2 years, they they don't even know what they wasted it on. It's kind of sad.
>> Medicine section in Costco would put Europeans in a coma.
>> Yeah. This is the medicine section. Um as you can see, unbelievable choice everywhere you look. And each type of medicine, right, there's going to be multiple brands. And look at the amount.
Now, granted, Costco typically carries higher quantity items, but to be fair, even at normal stores, you know, below a Costco, uh you're still going to find a lot of big quantity type items.
I mean, I love the freaking comment here. I love uh I mean, in the Netherlands, you can get over-the-counter medicine at almost any store. I just don't understand why you would need a bottle of 500 ibuprofen. A pack of 20 does just fine.
Yeah, I agree. But I'm the guy who lives in America who admittedly I do have a bottle of ibuprofen in our house that I believe has 400 or 500 tablets in it. Why? I don't know.
Because America, I guess. So, I admit like I'm not above these. Like some of these, you know, apply to me. in North America.
>> Man, all of these have copyrighted music, so I apologize having to mute some of these, but this is talking about toy consumption trends between North America and Europe. I think this is actually kind of interesting. So, let's take a look. So, yeah, here toys end up piling up. We do have, I would argue, almost too many, you know, um unless you're really struggling like most households end up just kind of hoarding a lot of toys. And look, you're only a child once. I I want kids to have the best life ever as a kid. Um, but you know, I think you still got to try and have some limits and some, you know, obligation to keep a clean house to an extent and not be swarmed, you know, swimming in toys.
Yeah, we don't have any of those. We have a lot of this type of stuff. Some educational toys. No robots, though. I don't know what that was saying.
European families pay attention to environmental protection and sustainability.
and are more inclined to buy wooden toys, handmade toys, and toys made of recyclable materials. Wow, that's really cool.
Everything is wooden.
Wow, that's very interesting. That is definitely not the case here. Um, let's go back to the beginning. Like North America, just see all the colors. It's all like bright plastic. Uh, you know, electronic toys like this.
Um, and they do they they pile up big time and and it is what it is. Yeah, I want the kids to have fun. But that's kind of interesting the difference, right? There's a lot of differences between European countries in the US. I wouldn't have necessarily guessed children's toys would be so different, but it seems like they are. I will say behind me, I don't know if you could see them right there. Um, I was sent those quite a while back in mail time and that was actually from a viewer from Ukraine and those are Ukrainian toy cars that are wooden and they're actually very wellmade. Like again, it's not something I can really find here in the US, at least to my knowledge. Uh, unless it was from, you know, 50 or 60 years ago, whereas this is a modern toy, but it looks retro. And I mean that in a good way.
I go I went ahead and grabbed one.
There's one right there.
very very cool. Uh and they've been in here as decorations for a long time.
They're awesome. And there's some, you know, that the kids use occasionally as well. So yeah, this is a cool example.
Um I really like it. I like the craftsmanship on this. It's fun and it's uh yeah, that's a Ukrainian wooden um car toy. I love it. And so basically that checks out with that video. That's pretty cool.
>> Moving abroad has taught me from America to the UK. You guys are shopping in America way too [ __ ] much. Okay? And I think part of this is because Americans make higher salaries and can afford to buy more crap basically. And there's a culture of larger homes.
There's more space for more.
>> There is a trap. She's right on the surface, but that's a trap. We do typically make a little bit higher salaries. I say a little bit because a lot of times it's not like we're making four times the money, right? We're just making a higher salary by, you know, a measurable amount, but not that much.
But then think of all the stuff. We still get taxed, but nothing's covered under our taxes like other countries.
Um, cost of living is through the roof.
Things are not cheap here. Typically, everything here literally except fuel basically seems to be more expensive here. Even that's gone up very much recently. And then our houses are typically bigger. They also cost a lot.
So people are, yeah, making more salary here, but they're blowing it all. So, you know what I mean? Like the culture is different. It's just normal to be swiping credit cards and rack them up and max them out. It's normal to take on debt for everything. Uh, someone mentioned earlier that yes, Europeans might take on debt just to get a home.
They might get a mortgage, right? Which that of course makes sense, but everything else they're going to be saving for and they're going to live, you know, within their means. Whereas here, people go into debt for a car.
They go into debt for school. They go into debt for medical expenses. They go into debt for a home. They go, you know what I mean? Like it just never ends.
Remember, we're in a spot in society here in the US uh in the last few years where people are using CLA and Afterpay.
Basically, they're getting loans that they have to pay back with interest to order fast food and junk food from apps.
I'm literally not kidding. this. Whoever convinced all American people that having the new car is the [ __ ] is a marketing genius because a new car is nice. But an extra $700 a month in your pocket to for example buy a nice meio or just in two months buy a flight to Italy is definitely better. I believe that in this country priorities are so up. Well, you have been convinced that you're luxurious in your [ __ ] Kia Sorrento 2021 Kiosto for those beautiful $700 a month.
I can spend 3 months in Italy relaxing maintenance tax $8,400 a year. I might be driving the old car. But when it comes to, for example, the biggest insecurity of American people, which is looking broke, I believe that it looks much less broke to be three months in Italy and posting from the beach than driving a new entry- level car, $700 a month >> to sip wine and most Americans don't though, >> restaurantmade carbonara pasta, then to sit on those brand new fake leather seats, >> to go to the opera with 50 bucks instead of listening to music to your new beats.
It's a Kia sound system. I believe that in terms of looking broke, if looking broke is really the insecurity of this country, the real peasant here is the Kia owner, not the guy who drives the [ __ ] car but spends 3 months in Italy.
Just wanted to give you a different perspective on life.
>> That is uh I feel like very accurate.
That's kind of an example of a perspective you could find in different countries versus the very heavy spending/consumerist capitalist perspective here in the United States. I think it's very very interesting. Of course, there's outliers in both, you know, continents, in both categories, both countries, whatever.
Um, the comment section is pretty wild.
You can kind of tell who's who. Let me show you. Well, first of all, this one's hilarious. Okay. Each person do you.
Fair enough. I drive a 2023 because I want to and it doesn't and I don't want it to break down. Yeah. New cars unfortunately are less reliable than ever, at least here in the US. So that's the beauty is now you get to pay really high prices for simple cars and a lot more than ever they're all breaking down. So what a combo. Why do you care?
Let people enjoy what they want.
Okay. Again, you do you. This guy is being so honest and people in these comments are so offended. Again, I totally agree. That's what I meant by you can tell who's who.
But hey, you can lead a horse to water.
You can't make him drink it.
>> Listen, it's better to spend your money on experiences rather than things.
>> It's a great point.
>> And that's one thing I learned from traveling and living in Europe quite a bit. They have a different attitude towards consumption.
>> Yeah.
>> Than we do here in North America.
>> That's why you see so many tropes and like so many comments we've seen where Europeans are shocked to find out that like so many Americans haven't been out of their country. Now again, part of it is scheduling concerns, jobs, right?
Like the job the work culture here is just terrible to where a lot of people really don't feel comfortable taking time off. And then of course with that very limited time off traveling, it just doesn't seem like it's in the cards for most people. So, you know, that kind of scenario or scenarios like that definitely exist here. But at the same time, people just they see their neighbors and and all this, you know, their cousins or whatever and they just want to spend money on the best, you know, the best golf clubs and the new car and, you know, this nice upgrade to the house and, you know, the best new mower they can get, right? Like that's uh the American way. And uh they're not end up a lot of them don't travel a lot and um a lot of them don't go out of the country because they think why would I do that when I could just buy something shiny and new here. U whereas a lot of Europeans I've heard from again they go to different countries. They go to small towns. They take a train here. They take a plane there and they they just kind of experience things. And I think overall, you know, again, people are people.
Everyone's going to have different preferences. Everyone's going to have different goals in life, but I do think on a base level, you know, it sounds like traveling around and meeting new people and seeing different cultures and different countries. Uh, and you know, from the traveling I've done, it uh seems like a more fulfilling experience.
Now, to end the video, if you don't believe me about this consumerism deal, I really dare you to find people in European countries that can kind of that are duplicating this because I doubt it exists. If it is, it's like, you know, under 1% of the population. This is at least what feels like a very American thing, an American problem. Just take a look at these people um who are over consuming in the US.
>> Your husband or boyfriend thinks you have too many tumblers, send him this video because these are all of the tumblers that I use on a normal basis.
If your husband or >> by the way, even though this is just a load of plastic cups on a table, for your information, if you were wondering, these are, you know, 90% of these not cheap. These are actually very expensive. Not cuz they should be, it's just cuz they can be. See, these companies know who to target.
And uh, you know, people buy this stuff.
They just slap on different colors, special editions at Starbucks and different brands, right? And they're kind of, you know, exclusive, so people pay big money for this stuff. You go to the comments, I have none and don't need any. Maybe that's the European in the comments or a reasonable person like me.
I don't have any tumblers. I have like two cups that I use on video. I don't even have the one right here with me, but I I have like a gold cup and a black cup I use on, you know, in here because they're my personal cups. And that's it.
But then you have Americans like this. I have over 450. I lost count. Uh yeah, >> I own a bunch of useless garbage. And I'm gonna show you some of it. This >> God, that's a mess, too. You know, I admire people that have a collection of stuff.
You know, it's kind of cool in theory to be able to collect something or have a room with like, you know, a theme and have it all really cool. You know, like my studio, this is a collection of stuff. Now, in my case, I'm kind of, you know, very grateful. Um, a lot of this stuff, I would say at least over half, but I would say more like 70% of the stuff in this studio was sent by the viewer. This this was built by um the viewers through mail time, right? A lot of this stuff and then mixed in with some older stuff that I've had since my childhood. So, like, yeah, it's okay to have some things and some collections and passions and stuff when you have people just buying stuff that they they don't need, which is the theme of this video. It's a bunch of stuff that he doesn't really need >> in there. And then you >> It's not that wacky. This miniature >> looks like that's never been open.
>> You know what I mean?
>> Oh, that tiny rubber duck.
>> So, he's a bunch of small stuff that he doesn't even need that he doesn't use.
>> What's this? This is the entirety of the Webster's dictionary. Are you more religious? What about the entire Bible?
>> You see what I'm saying? It's just like this stuff's not usable, right? He has all the junk back there. It's just like this is in his title of the video. It's miniature garbage. Um, this is basically a big pain in the ass. And unfortunately, it probably cost a lot over time, too. Can you imagine? Is this common in France? Is this common in Poland? Is this common in Slovenia?
Like, please, you got to let me know.
Look at this. And these are mostly Stanley cuffs, which if you haven't heard of these, these are very overpriced in my opinion. I mean, yeah, they come in all the colors and stuff. I think people have tested them. They're pretty like quality, I guess. But again, buy one if you want a quality, tough, durable cup. What is this about? These are not cheap. I don't even want to do the math, but this is definitely thousands upon thousands. It's like we're talking about tens of thousands of dollars, I think, to get this kind of a collection. Like, what are we doing? And and I'm sorry, but there's no way you could even use this many, right? How much are you drinking?
>> Hi, I'm Laney, also known as the overconumption girl, and today we're going to be showing you every single product that I have. So, let's do a little proud.
>> So, this is my body care closet that I have the Bath and Body Works body creams up there.
>> Wow, that's a life I am just not aware of. Having a closet just for body care.
So, a body care closet.
>> That's a new one.
>> All of my shower gels from Bath and Body.
>> I'm assuming none of this stuff's cheap either.
>> Shut up.
>> Um, >> oh my god.
>> Coordinated all of them to be a rainbow.
And then right here we have all of my philosophy body washes along with random ones that I don't want to put anywhere.
But then we have candles obviously cuz you know, who doesn't want any candles?
Anyways, if you follow >> Is it possible to use this stuff? Like seriously, >> follow me to the bathroom.
You guys know exactly where this is.
This is my shower. And a lot of you might think this is crazy, but I actually love it. And that's my opinion.
So, this is my shower rack. We got all the doves. We have all of these natives.
We have some EOS right here. Some more natives. Dove. Dove.
>> I don't know if I could take it. Let's go. Bath and Body Works.
>> Oh, we still have more >> Janeiro Frenchies. And then under here and then I would get into these drawers, but I don't care. I look good every day and that's all that matters. So, >> makeup is not cheap and that's a lot.
>> Yeah. And then I would get into these drawers. I'm going to get into these drawers.
>> Lip products. Every girl's dream right here. I've been collecting since 2023.
Three years. Yeah, I know. 2 years doesn't seem like a lot of time, but you know what? I have a problem.
>> This is just two or three years. Red alert.
Boy, take a guess in the comments how many uh how much money that collection costs. Ouch. Well, that is a peak into consumerism. you know to a lesser extent just kind of money management and you know living a normal life between the US and the beautiful country of Europe. It is Friday. I hope your weekend is awesome and I hope you don't uh blow too much money on stuff you won't ever be able to find again or won't need. I appreciate you watching. I hope to see you again. It's going to be it for this one. My name is Ian. You're watching IW Rocker. Until next time I'll catch you later.
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