Less is the new more: Why Gen Z is shopping their own shelves

By Agam Kaur Arora, September 10 2025—

Short-lived fads are perhaps one of the most criticized outcomes of consumerism and Tiktok trends. However, if your social media algorithm has taken you to see the other side of things, you might have came across terms such as “underconsumption core”, which describes shopping behaviours that encourage us to not shop. 

The underconsumption trend revolves around creating a lifestyle by using what we already have. Whether it’s our clothes, cosmetics, hair products, personal hygiene products or even food — the idea is to minimize going out and buying more than we need. 

But, how did we, as a society, even get to the point of overconsumption? The simplest answer is the overwhelming amount of ads and trends that sway us to purchase “intriguing” products. But a deeper look into this suggests a psychological war that consumers face daily, fighting their superficial instincts that making, yet again, another purchase will help them live a happier and more enriching life. From constant shopping hauls to the glamorization of influencer culture, today’s consumers have developed a heavily distorted perception of the ideal lifestyle. 

This plague of overconsumption robbed the wallets of many, and did so very well, but Gen Zs have become increasingly tired of overspent credit cards and high costs of living. And, the trend of underconsumption arrived as a bit of a saviour, bringing a refreshing perspective to the idea of consumerism. 

Recently, the term “project pan” has taken hold over Tiktok, a challenge that encourages people to hit “pan” and use every last bit of a specific product before buying a new item in that same category of products. This trend has specifically been embraced by many in terms of cosmetics and hair products. And now, micro-influencers are taking to Tiktok to show which products they have emptied as part of the challenge. 

Similarly, one specific influencer on Tiktok, Carleigh Bodrug, passionately introduced the idea of “scrappy cooking” which grew to popularity as Bodrug now garners the attention of 3.5 million followers on Tiktok. Her idea, aimed to help reduce food waste, has developed into more than a 50-part series on her page, and she has further written a cookbook that showcases recipes using the idea of “scrappy cooking”. In this, she suggests using commonly wasted foods or scraps of ingredients, such as vegetable peels or browning fruit, to create highly nutritious snacks and meals. 

The hope of these movements has been to take a jab at the constant feeling of exhaustion faced by many in trying to emulate unrealistic lifestyles. Fortunately, these hopes haven’t been let down, as more and more people are indulging in the newfound excitement of making their shelves into their personal grocery and department stores. 
This shift away from materialism has unquestionably gained a strong foothold and has a clear potential to become more than just a trend on Tiktok. While the trend of minimization is currently being phrased as underconsumption, perhaps this is what normal consumption looks like. Perhaps it’s simply the psychological impacts of over-consuming that had led us to believe that buying more was better. Perhaps using what we already have is enough. Perhaps this is what living a normal, fulfilled life is all about.