Shopping Vocabulary and Sustainable Consumption

Shopping Vocabulary

• Afford: to have enough money to buy something
• Auction: a public sale where items are sold to the highest bidder
• Bargain: a good deal or a lower price
• Boutique: a small shop that sells fashionable clothes or accessories
• Brand: a particular company's product or line of products
• Browse: to look at items in a shop without buying anything
• Cashier: a person who handles payments and receipts in a shop
• Changing Room: a room in a shop where customers can try on clothes
• Charity Shop: a shop that sells second-hand items to raise money for charity
• Customer: a person who buys goods or services from a shop
• Deliver: to bring goods or services to a person's location
• Department Store: a large shop that sells a wide variety of products
• Exchange: to give something back and receive something else in return
• Get a Discount: to receive a reduction in price
• Order: to request and pay for goods or services
• Pay in Cash: to use physical money to make a payment
• Personal Shopper: a person who helps customers choose and buy items
• Refund: to receive money back for a returned item
• Rip Someone Off: to overcharge or cheat someone
• Sales: a period of time when items are sold at reduced prices
• Sales Assistant: a person who helps customers in a shop
• Save Up: to keep money for future use
• Second-hand: previously owned or used by someone else
• Shopping Trip: a journey to go shopping
• Sweatshop: a factory where workers are exploited and paid very low wages
• Window Shopping: to look at items in shop windows without buying anything

Sustainable Consumption

Biodegradable: capable of being decomposed by natural processes

Compost: decayed organic material used as a fertilizer

Consume: to use up or eat or drink

Consumer: a person who buys and uses goods or services

Consumption: the act of using up goods or services

Dispose: to throw away or get rid of something

Disposable: designed to be thrown away after use

Dump: to get rid of something in an irresponsible way

Dumped: thrown away or abandoned

Emit: to release or give off

Emission: the act of releasing something, especially gas or radiation

Environmental: relating to the natural world and the impact of human activity on it

Incinerate: to burn something completely

Incinerator: a machine or facility used for incineration

Telephone Vocabulary

• Call Back: to return a phone call
• Cut Someone Off: to interrupt or end a phone conversation abruptly
• Get Through: to successfully make contact with someone by phone
• Hang Up: to end a phone call by putting the receiver down
• Listen In: to secretly listen to someone's phone conversation
• Make a Call: to initiate a phone call
• Quieten Down: to reduce the volume or noise level during a phone call
• Ring Up: to make a phone call
• Run Out Of: to use all of something and have no more left
• Switch Off: to turn off a phone or electronic device
• Top Up: to add credit or money to a phone or account
• Turn Down: to decrease the volume or sound level during a phone call

Expressions Related to Shopping and Spending

• Be Bitten by the Bug: to become very interested or enthusiastic about something
• Be Hooked On: to be addicted or obsessed with something
• Be on a High: to feel very happy or excited
• Be Up to Your Eyeballs: to be very busy or deeply involved in something
• Cost an Arm and a Leg: to be very expensive
• Feel Down: to feel sad or depressed
• Get Out of Hand: to become out of control
• Go on a Spending Spree: to spend a lot of money in a short period of time
• Live from Hand to Mouth: to have just enough money to cover basic expenses
• Retail Therapy: the act of shopping to improve one's mood or emotional well-being
• Tighten Your Belt: to reduce spending and live more frugally