Shopaholic Intervention

This is the chapter that I have been dreading from day one: shopping constraints.  What you buy, how often you shop, where the materials come from, how the item potentially to be purchased was made.  Everything that I buy: food, cloths, books, online purchases, jewelery, electronics, etc. is now questionable to how green are the items that I buy.

I'm a college student, meaning that I'm broke.  This daunts me!  Organic food is expensive, Organic clothes (that look cute) are expensive, my Organic make-up cost me a pretty penny but it's all I've been wearing these past few weeks (and Mom helped out), Wal-mart's main source of products are made in China.  Even before I started this project I understood that Made in China = sweatshop.  Now Made in China = put back on the shelf no matter how cute I think it is.

We live in a consumer driven society.  To deny this is like my classmate Kiah saying that she enjoys every minute of missing her breakfast just so that she can have make-up on.

I walk into Target and see the new spring swimsuits and instead of me walking away because I bought two last year (that still fit fine), I look and see if there is one cute enough to tempt me into spending $40 on a new one.  Later I check the book and movie section to see what stories could tempt me away from being a studious student and into the slacker student.  The Papyrus card section is another good time waster at Target; they are handmade, fair trade, and some are made of recycled paper.  They are also expensive, $4 minimum.

Now because I'm a poor college student, it has save me from overspending.  But when I do get cash I feel like it's burning a hole in my pocket.  Suddenly it's like: OH, there's a ring that I've been wanting at the Silver Crow! or OH, I can go out to eat at Thai House because I've got spare cash.  In a strange way, me worrying about my rent check bouncing save me from most of these temptations and keeps me from wanting to further my cash supply.

Going out to eat is an easy way to loose cash fast, and it isn't that eco-friendly: having one meal made especially for you (not a good use of resources) and the resources used aren't always certifiably green (even if they aren't organic, they probably aren't locally harvested either).  Now I'm not saying don't go out to eat, just limit how often you do so.  Going out to eat once a month is perfectly fine, and it also makes the occasion more of a treat.

In my defense about the ring (because I do feel slightly guilty about buying it and now I get to compensate with smaller grocery availability), it was fair trade made in the United States by Native Americans from out west.  It was relatively cheap, considering how many responsible conditions to it's credit and I wear it a lot.  The only negative thing that I could think about the ring is that I don't know where the materials came from and how it was harvested from the earth.

Every item I buy has pros and cons, and really it's up to me to weigh the options and judge how "green" an object is.  This section of Being Gorgeously Green isn't about throwing away all my current clothes to get an entire organic wardrobe, nor is it about throwing away all my food (as few items as they may be) to replace it with locally grow and organic food.  It's about controlling my shopping habits, to put thought into what I'm buying, to think about where I'm buying (thrift shops are perfectly fine, just because it's secondhand doesn't mean that it's not worth a look), and to begin to introduce items that are better for the environment into my life.

P.S. I am also aware that China isn't the only country in the world that has sweatshops, the United States has them too.  We just hide them better.