Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Recent purchase recap

I'm always amused by the way irony pops up in my life.  I'll make a decision to attempt to make fewer, but more ethical, purchases and then suddenly have a list of items I need to replace or simply acquire.  I think I still shop less than most people but here is a quick recap of the non-grocery items I've purchased since November 26th:

  • 3 pairs of black tights (for use with uniform), 2 plain white Ts and 2 plain shirts with 3/4 length sleeves - all from American Apparel (hate their advertising and corporate culture but their manufacturing is done in the US).
  • mini-Christmas tree and stocking holder - purchased secondhand, not exactly a minimalist purchase but I caved and wanted holiday decor.  
  • serving tray & bowl, pitcher, 4 tumblers, salt shaker, cashmere sweater, half roll of wrapping paper - purchased secondhand, sweater will be hacked for an ugly sweater party then reused in my regular wardrobe, the kitchen items replaced items that broke in my move or that were needed when I planned a dinner party larger than what my place settings could cover off
  • Teflon fry pan and oven thermometer - NOT an ethical purchase but my sister had requested a new frying pan for Christmas and I had a gift card to use at Winners/Homesense.  She's very brand loyal so buying a brand she wasn't familiar with would have upset her (she would feel like I was being cheap) and I needed the thermometer for my oven which is really and truly having some temperature issues and will, apparently, require some kind of repair.
  • pair of black Madewell ponte pants and chambray button down shirt - purchased secondhand as I needed another pair of pants and have been looking for a chambray shirt for awhile.
Exciting?  Not really.  Looking at my list I even feel like I've done way more shopping than I usually do but with my weight fluctuations and items that didn't survive the cross country move, I suppose its bound to happen, no matter how long I put it off.

This experiment will be interesting moving forward as, frankly, my budget is ridiculously tight now that I live in Calgary and making more ethical choices when purchasing new items isn't cheap because there are higher labour, material and manufacturing costs to consider.  It looks like I'll have to try to stick to secondhand shopping as often as possible which doesn't really do much to support local or ethical companies but at least is a better choice for the planet by stepping out of the supply-demand production cycle and keeping usable goods out of landfills.

I'm on-call quite a bit from now into the New Year so I might be blogging much but I'll try to get back on that wagon in 2016.

Kris

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