Considering a monthly product subscription box? Proceed with extreme caution.

A great way to accumulate clutter is by getting things we don’t need delivered straight to our door before we’ve even had the chance to use the items that arrived the month prior.

Unlike meal kit boxes, or regular old-fashioned shopping, many of these subscription boxes don’t let you preview or choose the contents of your monthly package. The surprise element can give us that slot-machine high when we get something novel and useful, but that dopamine hit can also blind us to the items that don’t work for us.

What happens to those duds? They’ll likely become procrasticlutter we avoid contending with, or jetsam we try to foist onto other people, or trash.

Shopping is more consumptive than creative, but we don’t have to totally cede control of our possessions to someone else, especially to people who profit from us being passive.

We can identify our own needs, problems, and sources of friction.

We can do our own research on potential solutions that we can make, borrow, thrift, or, if need be, buy.

We can choose our own desired purchases, add those items to our shopping lists, and purchase them from a local business owner as often as possible. We can opt for items with less packaging and transportation costs.

And above all, we can determine if an item will add value to our life before we allow it into our home.