Stuff

I love stuff! I always have and I always will. Minimalism does not appeal to me.

Stuff I really love includes: clothes, shoes, purses, books,magazines, furniture. Sometimes I feel like all I do is consume. There will always be something else I want or “need” to buy.

It’s true that I am an avid and active consumer and I suppose that makes me materialistic, but my form of materialism is anything, but snobbish. I hate paying full price for anything and I consider wearing things with “labels” vulgar. In my opinion, if Louis Vuitton is going to put their logo all over their product then they should pay me to wear it.

The dilemma that I have with consumerism in general is how truly bad it is for the planet and all creatures that inhabit the planet. I never thought of this until I took a geology class in college and the professor said that geology was important because everything comes from the Earth. It’s so simple, but until that moment it had not occurred to me that the things I buy and use are somehow manufactured at the expense of our natural world.

So how do I reconcile my love of stuff with my love of the planet and my desire to raise a conscientious child, who does not depend on “retail therapy” to feel better?

Well, one of the few benefits of growing up poor is that I was taught the value of things and that I should take care of my possessions because there was no money to replace them. I do not believe “stuff” should be disposable. I try to reuse, recycle, and reduce as much as possible.

I want my daughter to grow up knowing that her consumption has very real consequences. The saying “waste not, want not” comes to mind and now that I have a child it seems to mean more.

Check out the following video, if you haven’t already. It’s a bit simplistic and has an obvious slant, but I think that when my daughter, Put Pie is older it will be a good tool to explain where we get all our “stuff”.