She Hath Done What She Could in the Home

Monday, October 22, 2012

A Consumer's Consumer!


You know the saying "He's a man's man!" meaning, he is really manly.....well, I'm a consumer's consumer, meaning I'm really good at consuming!  I've been thinking lately (yes, crazy I know, I do think sometimes about things deeper than what's on sale at Target!) and I think a blog break is in order.  

I love posting on my blog and I love reading other fashion blogs. Shopping is my hobby and nothing is more fun to me than putting together trendy outfits on the cheap.  Reading blogs however, has made me consume more.  I see something cute someone has, and it's dirt cheap at H&M or Old Navy and I want one.  After all, it's a knock-off Jcrew sweater for $20, can't beat that. Then after a while I look at my closet and say, something has to go - I have no space.  I think you can see where this is headed!  Yes, there are many great things out there, yes, there are many great deals, yes, there are many fall "must-haves", but "must" I have them all?  Um, NO.  Thus the blog break.


I really can't take reading many more "Haul" posts, or "look what I got" posts on blogs.  Who am I to say what other people can buy - of course, each person is at liberty to spend their hard earned money on what they choose, but really, just how many pieces of clothing does a person need?  Can we take a hard, honest look at ourselves? At what point are we buying more of the exact same thing we already have, just in another color or pattern?  It makes me wonder, why do we as women, who love fashion, want to keep buying, buying, buying?  Why can't we be satisfied with what we already own, remixing, instead of always having a feeling of being unsatisfied, and chasing after the "latest" thing.  Jcrew and Anthro are really good at keeping us "in the want" for something new as their catalogs come out every month.  It used to be last season's items were out of style, now last month's items are out!

What would be different, if every time I wanted to buy something unnecessary for myself, I bought something NEEDED for someone else.  Wow. Need vs. want - a hard subject. What if every time I wanted to browse the net for some retail therapy, I picked up my Bible and read, or committed some verses to memory, or made better use of my time.  Sometimes it's hard to take an honest look at ourselves.

I think it's great that women want to look nice each day.  I just think it can be accomplished without making weekly purchases. Do you get a zillion emails each morning from retailers, telling you about their sales? I think LOFT has one every day!  Today Anthro has extra 25% off the sale!  It's exhausting.  I'm tired of being made merchandise of.....having someone else tell me what I need, every single second of the day, in emails, on Facebook, on blogs, on the sidebar of my email, the sidebar of Amazon, the sidebar of Yahoo news......

Before you make your next purchase, consider some of these thoughts on consumerism....

“Are these things really better than the things I already have? Or am I just trained to be dissatisfied with what I have now?”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Lullaby  


“To live fully, we must learn to use things and love people, and not love things and use people.”
― John Powell 


“We seldom consider how much of our lives we must render in return for some object we barely want, seldom need, buy only because it was put before us..― Ferenc Máté,

You can never get enough of what you don't need to make you happy.  ~Eric Hoffer

You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.  ~Vernon Howard



Has anyone else ever felt this way?