The Joy of Being a Hunter-Gatherer

Curate a museum for your viewing pleasure

I’ve been thinking about prehistoric societies known as hunter-gatherers. And before I make it past the first paragraph, this is not a well-researched thesis wherein I expound on the evolution of food finding. No, this is an anecdotal newsletter that allows typos through (shout out to the person who alerted me to writing DESSERT aunt instead of DESERT aunt! I’m petitioning to be a dessert aunt from now on).

The reason I’ve been thinking about food-finding from centuries ago is because of the way it shows up modern consumption habits (read: shopping) and how I think we can hack it to work for us.

We, mistakenly, separate the groups into hunters OR gatherers and then like to apply it to “Who You Are In the Workforce: Hunter VS. Gatherer?” Anthropologically, though, there were hunter-gatherer societies wherein the entire society participated in the finding of food by scavenging wild plants and hunting animals and fish.

To the point of shopping though, there is a correlation between purchasing something and the subsequent hit of dopamine we feel (I’ve written about it here and here) and it keeps us wanting more and more. Shopping in our modern era is akin to a hunter-gatherer society being sat at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Rather than going to a store and trying things on, missing out on something because it’s not our size or the color we want is sold out; we have the entire world at our finger tips and next-day shipping to boot.

As a friend was discussing the “no-buy” trend of 2025, she said;

Current phase of coming to terms with my online shopping addiction: accepting that I always need an active “hunt” so I can have some entertainment/escapism. For me, deciding I’m not going to buy anything is a helpful guardrail because it’s truly the search I crave.

So much resonated with me; online shopping addiction? CHECK. Entertainment/escapism through shopping? CHECK. Craving a search? CHECK.

So what if, in 2025, the year in which the internet has declared smarter shopping (or none at all); what if we honed our hunter/gatherer instincts and allowed ourselves to enjoy the searching instead? What if, as my friend

Sogole Kane

recently wrote we allowed “possession to be inconsequential to our continued collective quest of beauty”?

After-all, I don’t go to a museum hoping to OWN the objects I’m enjoying. I don’t go on vacation thinking that I’ll BUY a house in that city (although I’d certainly love it). Fashion takes up this sliver of the world where we see something we like and assume we should acquire it. But my Pinterest is filled with gorgeous interiors that I know I could never specifically recreate.

So allow me to explain;

Harling Ross Anton

wrote about Overhauling My “Home Clothes” Collection and I immediately started to think about what I would need to have a wardrobe of cute “comfy clothes.” However, instead of actually going out and dropping a bunch of money on this; what if I became a hunter-gatherer? What if I created a collection and allowed the curation of it to satisfy me?

So I created a new Carted wishlist board. I’ve partnered with Carted to continue sharing my love of wishlists because it’s truly become one of my most used apps. Carted is an app and mobile browser extension that allows you to save things to wishlists BUT also alerts you to price drops, inventory changes, etc.

I named my Carted board “Loungewear” and I began the hunt. I used Harling’s post as a springboard because she mentioned brands like Entireworld and Donni. I had a gift card to Anthropologie¹ so I checked out their sweatpants/sweatshirt collection. I also added the Gap set that my friend always wears and looks great in.

I hunted and gathered with this inspiration in mind;

I had so much fun curating my collection! The only rule I made myself when scrolling was that I wouldn’t buy anything. That rule allowed me to have fun with the hunt-and-gather. I wasn’t worried about the price of something (on goes the $600 cardigan!), I only worried about whether or not I liked it. I added 5 pairs of sweatpants! I would never need that many sweatpants! Plus we already decided this was the year we weren’t going to buy the same puzzle pieces over and over.

And it felt really good to play curator for the night. To use my window shopping for a purpose beyond actually buying.

Then I had a brilliant idea, because when my birthday rolls around my mom starts nosing around for birthday gifts; I often don’t know what to tell her. She wants to give me something that is equal parts practical and enjoyable. I’m not about to send her a link to that investment item I’ve been eyeing. But I also really don’t need another candle. So I’ll just keep this collection in my back pocket for the right occasion. And, I’ll probably edit it as time goes on because I got the rush of emotion from the building of the list and I can now see the items through a realistic lens instead of the shopping monster I sometimes become. Once I have edited it down, I can literally just share a link to that board with her.

While I was at it, I started making a list for the beach vacation I take every year to Mexico. I hunted pretty dresses and bikinis to the list. I gathered up the jewelry and accessories I would wear. Again, it felt pretty satisfying to have this little capsule I hunted for.

Vacations always get me turned around, buying things that are worn for the fantasy life and not my real one. I still regularly think about

Anna Newton

’s post about buying clothes for lives I don’t have. The truth is that I DO need a new swimsuit this year and hunting for that was fun because I know I’m going to buy one. But hunting-and-gathering for the pretend poolside hangs was fun too (let’s be honest, I’ll be in the pool getting splashed by my kids). Far too often I’m seeing an image and hunting down the piece even though it may not actually fit my lifestyle, so the hunt for an imaginary life can be like clipping images out of a magazine when I was a kid.

This year, I am trying my best to be more conscious and thoughtful. I’m committed to finding outfit recipes that work for me and allowing myself to be inspired without shopping (and you’ll see this as a through-line in my writing). And letting myself be a hunter-gatherer is one way I’ll be enjoying clothes without buying new ones every month.

1. How ironic given this post subject matter!