Did you happen to read the cartoon strip "Baby Blues" today? Our local paper publishes it daily - thank you Loveland Reporter Herald. It's a strip about the humorous ironies of raising a young family in a two-parent household. I'm a devoted fan.
Today Wanda, the mother, directs her eldest, Zoe, to put a $3.00 candy necklace back on the store shelf. (The necklace debate occured in yesterday's strip). Wanda advises Zoe today that: "It doesn't make any sense to buy things just because you want them." To which Zoe responds: "It makes a lot more sense than buying things because you DON'T want them!"
And how right she is. It got me thinking: How much in the way of stuff do we unnecessarily purchase? A palpable feeling of overwhelmed-shopper-syndrome (O.S.S.) creeps up on me in stores now and then. Maybe more often than that. It's most likely to strike when I'm running into the grocery store to pick something up "quickly". The number of bags at check-out shows when it's happened. I maybe went in for a box of tissue and some toilet paper. Six sacks later, at the check-out, I realize I've once again succumbed to O.S.S.
It's all that power-marketing. I need to perfect my "retail-honing" sensors. Somehow we just "need" all the additional stuff that somehow finds its way into my cart. (Yes, I've tried a smaller basket, or no basket at all. Amazing how easy it is to get to the carts when my hands get full.) Sometimes it's even hard to remember putting the items in my cart in the first place. It's another good argument for walking rather than driving (although even then I've gone over-board).
I once heard this frightening statistic: 90% of U.S. consumer products are discarded within six months of initial purchase. Makes me seriously consider dumpster-diving. I think there's a show on t.v. about that.
We regularly clean house and drop off excess at Goodwill. Granted our eleven-year-old's growth patterns sometimes have us re-stocking her wardrobe three times in a season. Unbelievable, but true. So that's a good portion of what we donate. Or, as is often the case, re-donate. At her growth-rate, we can only stay ahead by shopping at second-hand stores for her as much as possible.
So, back in the grocery store, or maybe a retailer like TJ Max, Marshall's, or even Target Boutique. When I'm feeling especially concious, and notice I'm feeling pressured to make more purchases than needed, I ask myself the question: How likely is this item to become trash within the next six months? It's helped, I think. The mortifying thing is when the Goodwill bag contains newish items that I bought. Better than the landfill, yes, and still. I can do better
It seems as though the less I spend in a state of O.S.S., the more financial resources accumulate and remain available for sexier expenditures: a vacation, a special gift, a guilt-free nice dinner-out, etc. And those are the stuff of memories, the most enduring of all. Until we make some of those exciting purchases, Zoe's comment echos in my memory: "...[You're] buying things you DON'T want!"
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