Retail therapy for the thrifty and environmentally friendly
Luckily for my purse and our bank balance we don’t live near to any shops apart from the butcher, the bakery, a small grocery shop and a few charity shops (full of old ladies’ things mainly). When we lived in East London and I worked in the City I found that the majority of my spare time was spent idly wandering around the shops with no real purpose.
I often came home with plenty of so-called bargains as we lived near to cheap shops like Primark, Matalan, Woolworths, Superdrug, Tesco and Poundland and for about five minutes I would feel great. Over time the house became full of stuff. I had several gift drawers stuffed full of things that could be given away as presents, every cupboard was full and so were all the shelves and the loft and cellar too. The things I bought cost little per item but over time the amount spent was almost certainly huge (especially as the idle purchasing had started when I was a young teenager with pocket money frittering tendancies). Buying everything cheap and new ensured that somewhere in the world factories manufacturing these good were profiting from my spending and that the goods had been shipped around the planet using unnecessary energy. More often than not the new things were broken and therefore discarded shortly after they arrived in our lives and so filled up a tiny bit more of the world’s landfill with non-biodegradable junk.
Recently (about 18 months ago) I’ve been consciously de-junking our lives a little at a time (and still the house is very far from being stark or empty). I’ve taken loads of boxes of books to our local library where they either add them to their collection or sell them for cash, loads of clothes and linens to my favourite charity shop (worth noting that I only found out last week that they will happily take bags of unsellable clothes (ripped, stained, old underwear, threadbare towels, unfashionable things) if they are in a bag marked ‘Rags’. They can sell these for money to another purchaser. We’ve freecycled larger items and sold just a few on eBay and I’ve used most of the things in the gifts stash as gifts for people.
The fantastic feeling each time I get rid of further unwanted things from our lives is very similar to the buzz of previous years after another shopping spree. It feels fantastic to be liberated of things that are neither useful nor give any pleasure due to their aesthetics. For items I have a irrational reluctance to part with I stash them away into a trunk and then several months later I am able to prove to myself that I have lived happily without it and had actually forgotten that it existed at all.
Now when we hit the shops it’s with a specific purchase in mind (childrens shoe measuring and fitting, Bealers’ new suit). For the huge majority of household purchasing I’m a big eBay/Freecycle/charity shop fan. I love the surprise element and I really love re-loving something which someone has finished with but still has plenty of life in it yet.
This afternoon was one of my twice yearly treats - a nearly new sale held by the local NCT (National Childbirth Trust) branch. These sales are absolutely brilliant for anyone with/expecting a small baby or child or wanting to sell on things that their baby/kid have outgrown. Anyone is allowed to sell items and the sales are superbly organised so that all the items of a similar nature are grouped on different tables and the kids clothes are hanging up by sex/age.
I spent £35 which felt like an awful lot then I realised it wasn’t it’s just that I’ve become so unaccustomed to shopping. For my money (and the huge adrenalin rush, shoppers buzz) I got:
- A pram/car seat mobile
- A mirror to place in the car so I can glance at the rear-facing baby
- A towelling baby bath hammock
- A cute crib sheet and blanket gift set (unused)
- A big new nappy changing bag
- Two baby swimming costumes
- A set of brand new Marks & Spencers sleepsuits, bibs, baby vests
- A set of brand new baby vests
- A musical cot mobile
- A baby sleep book
- Some funky bibs
- Cute summer shortie bodysuits ‘I love mummy/daddy’
- A pretty bed guard (actually from a local lady via Freecycle yesterday but it was free so I’m throwing it in to the general 2nd hand shopping triumphs!)
- A pair of girls pyjamas
- Two long sleeved tops