An update to the blog! It's about time and I will start blogging a lot more now that I have given myself a challenge and a reason to blog. What is the challenge/ reason?
I am spending the next year, October 2009-October 2010, not buying brand new things. What defines "things"? Shoes, shirts, pants, cooking wear, sheets, towels, things for my apartment. A whole year.
This means that if I need/want something I have to go to a thrift store or yard sale and buy it. My reason for doing this is because people throw out perfectly good, almost new things every day all because capitalism tells them that they "need" this new thing, or that new thing. For example; I bought a Bosch stand mixer from the local thrift store, Somebodies Attic, for $9 this summer and it was barely used. You could tell from the condition of it that it may have been used a total of 15 times and then placed in a closet for 10 years before they got rid of it. With things like Bosch stand mixers out on the used market, I see no reason to buy new things.
Since starting this challenge I have bought the following things, that I needed for my apartment, used:
- Bosch Stand Mixer
- Metal Bread Box
- Madeleine Pan
- Angel Food Cake Pan
- Toaster oven with a rotisserie option (all parts included and owners manual)
- dutch oven style crockery pot for Shepard's pie
For my personal use:
-Peacock looking shirt (to wear at Thanksgiving dinner)
- USSR cycling Jersey
- The dvd (still in packaging!) of "The Bands Visit"
- Burton Beanie (that I subsequently lost last week and saw someone else wearing on campus days later. Right on! Glad you found it!..I am dead serious)
- Two winter sweaters from DI in purple and red
- A vintage PUMA messenger bag
- A 2001 Subaru Forester
- A Fuji Supreme bicycle and rear basket
I'm off to a good start and surprisingly I have started to curb my craving for buying useless crap. I do credit watching the story of stuff being one of the major reasons I am doing this. Watch it, it will change your life.
