why thrift shopping is my activism

David and I went on a date last night to our favorite Ethiopian restaurant, Zemams. We order the vegetarian sampler and get out at $12 before tip. After dinner I remembered Bentley needs new shorts- it's total sale season in the stores. I know this because I have been a bargain shopper my whole life and also because I stopped at Target last week for dishwashing detergent and I saw the end caps filled with sale items. I love sale season because I can stop at a store quick or open up the laptop and go to some of my fav kid stores and buy shorts for $4- I know my Michigan friends aren't looking for shorts right now. :) Then I stopped. Even though we are on a tight budget- read my most blog if you missed it- I can still find cheap clothes new... but then I remember the fast fashion epidemic (read here and here and my blog here. And so I paused. "Let's go to the thrift," I said. So we did.

We found him 6 pairs of shorts and a pair of barely worn minion pajamas, and a pair of shoes and sun shirt for Lily. The price was under $14. I saved money and I took in some of the excess.

Sometimes I think to myself- my husband is a doctor and I'm working full time I don't need to shop at the thrift anymore- I can go to the store and buy new. Then I think- what a terrible thing to say- does money make someone worthy to buy new? It's embedded in our culture that if you work hard you deserve to buy yourself nice things- new things- or if you're poor that you deserve to use a tax return or other excess money to buy yourself something nice. There's a huge problem in this thinking... why is our worth tied to what we own or what we wear? Fast fashion is constantly changing which means our clothes are constantly going out of style- and because things are cheap we can constantly buy more and give away- and buy more and give away..... but the world doesn't need more clothes- more shoes- more stuff- the world needs us to cut back. Keep what you have- wear it for a decade. Cut back on gas and electricity. Cut back on processed foods.

Now that we are on this mission to pay back our debt in 3 years I am already seeing shifts in my thinking. It's so easy to have a bigger income and justify spending all over the place- and so to have the big income, but choose to pay off the debt fast means I am constantly evaluating if I need something or not- and it's not because I can't afford it- because I can- it's because affording it means I pay more in interest on a debt.

If we hadn't made this decision to pay off the debt I probably would be spending more on fair trade/organic- which btw is good because it gives someone a job that provides a life- but buying at the thrift means cutting down on the global impact of fast fashion, providing jobs in this country, and saving money to be able to help others and see the world.

So last night when I was wondering- why am I here sifting through all this stuff when I could just pop open the laptop and sit back with a glass of wine- I said quietly to myself- this is my activism. This is a small difference that I can make.