Circumstances - I was out of coffee - forced me out of the house yesterday and to a potential Waterloo: Target.
Sure, we like to say we buy local at funky shops that cater to our wishes for dolphin-safe coffee, but in reality it's often off to the local megacomplex to hunt down the endless asles of consumer goods. While buying smarter and more local is certainly a goal for the year, it's something that will come in time.
Instead, I found myself at the nearby Target, on a mission. I had a list (I had, in fact, checked it twice) with half a dozen or so items on it. My mission was to get in, buy those goods and get out. After a few minutes of hunting, everything was neatly crossed off. I could leave.
Oh, but I couldn't. Not at Target. Not the week after Christmas when there were so many highly reduced goodies to be found. I wandered to the electronics department, but nothing caught my eye. Other asles were packed, but held little interest. Then came the toy section...
Oh, so many brightly colored packages, with such highly reduced prices! Legos, figures, some of the Hexbug creatures I have collected on and off over the past year. In the end, none of it went in my cart. I even tempted fate one last time by checking out the collectible card area. Nothing.
A friend commented that my intentional temptation proved that I was a "born Catholic." While that's true (a quarter-century of lapsed attendance doesn't shake a Catholic upbringing), I at least was able to turn off the "buy, buy, buy" impulse for one trip.
I don't mean to pat myself on the back. One little trip doesn't change spending patterns built up over decades of use. And I know plenty make do with a lot less than I do (OK, that Catholic guilt is rearing its head again), but I think there is something interesting going on here. I know the pleasure of purchasing something new (or "new," I've got plenty of used items in the house) quite well. I love novelty, even if the only real satisfaction comes from breaking the seal and opening up the package. My question for myself now is: how do I find that pleasure, or a substitute for it, without a constant stream of fresh consumerism?
I imagine it will take some time to find out.
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