September 10th, 2010

China Project – 10 days in

The funny result – that I wasn’t expecting – of not buying anything made in china for a month is that I no longer want to buy anything. It is annoying and too much effort and I am always disappointed. I got Target coupons in the mail and didn’t care. I get catalogs in the mail and don’t look at them because it is too hard to figure out where things were made. Everything just says imported. Even my beloved CB2. Speaking of which, not sure if I am horrified or amused that the wall art I got for my birthday is also in the Jersey Shore Miami house.

As an unexpected bonus, I am inspired to put together Spencer’s Halloween costume myself. I think I figured out how to do it mostly out of things we already own and I am going to try and buy as little as possible, or get things that can still be worn after the holiday.

September 5th, 2010

Needless Things

One of the side benefits of not buying anything made in china for a month seems to be keeping me from buying crap I don’t need. I saw super cute mugs at Starbucks the other day. Love them, but they were made in china. Do I need them? No. Would I have bought them if I wasn’t doing the project? Maybe. It surely will keep me from buying random stuff in Target. We were there the other day and there was a lawn sprinkler on clearance for like $8. Do we need it? No. Would it be handy to have – someday? Yes. Did we buy it? No. Would we have purchased it normally? Totally. It was a bargain. On a sad note, the project may keep me from buying fun Fall shoes. I normally buy a pair of flats from Target every season, with the plan to wear the hell out of them for 3 months and toss them when they wear out. I haven’t checked yet, but I’m thinking that is not going to happen. I have plenty of shoes. I will survive.

September 3rd, 2010

First Mistake: Del Monte Pears

I’m trying to go a month with out buying anything made in China and today (day 3), I made my first mistake. Rushing through the grocery store, I was trying to find things that were on sale. I was in an aisle that I don’t normally frequent that happened to have the fruit cups. These are something I don’t normally buy, because of the excess packaging and high sugar content, but pears were on sale and I thought Spencer might like them for a change of pace. So I grabbed them, tossed them in my cart and went on my way. I didn’t check to see if it was a Chinese made product because I assumed that Del Monte used American fruit. When I got home, I happened to look at the packaging and saw “Product of China.” Dammit. Lesson learned: I am going to need to be much more vigilant and check everything.

September 1st, 2010

Shopping: Day 1

Day one of project not made in china was today and it went pretty well. Farmer’s market was easy because it is all local. I needed some make-up, but luckily Benefit is made in the US and the only thing we got at the mall was some groceries, all of which are US made. But then we got Starbucks. I’m not sure how far I want to take this. Do I need to know if the cups are made in china? I guess I could take my own cup and negate the issue. I think I am going to have to go with end product for now. I bought American applesauce, but I don’t know where the container is manufactured and I am ok with that. For now.

I’m also trying to decide how I feel about used items. I bought Spencer some shoes yesterday at a local consignment shop and got a great deal – $12 for barely worn Pedipeds. But, they are made in china. I bought them 8/31, so they technically don’t count for the month. Part of me thinks that used items are ok. It keeps things out of the landfill and doesn’t encourage more chinese production. Lots of things to ponder and it has only been one day. We got our new (Made in USA) dishwasher installed today too. Woo for clean dishes!