March - Buy American

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image courtesy of Buffalo ReUse 

So, if you haven’t noticed, I’ve become really horrible about blogging about my experience.  This is partially due to the fact that I have returned to spending too much time on Etsy. And so I have decided that I am going to forego shopping on Etsy for the rest of the year, except when I need to buy someone a gift or I need something specific. Clearly one month was not enough time to gain perspective on that little bad habit. Coffee, on the other hand, I found that I really do need on certain days in order to stay awake. So I’ve taken that back up.

Which brings me to this month’s challenge - buying only items made in America. And when I say challenge, I do mean a challenge. I have learned so much already about what I buy and I still have over a week to go. I am currently debating over whether I will continue buying American beyond this month. More on this later on.

The first week of March I went to Target. First of all you need to understand when I shop at Target, I need to sweep the entire store. We’re talking a couple hours. The Jovovich-Hawk collection had just been unveiled and I was simultaneously really excited and really worried because Jennifer warned me that, although Jovovich-Hawk design in Los Angeles, they don’t seem to manufacture there. And she was right. It seems that virtually everything sold at Target comes from some Eastern continent. Occasionally I found a “Made in Uganda” or “Made in Argentina” tag, but Chinese citizens appear to be making the majority of what I buy. After reading that “Made in China” stamp for the 100th time, my shopping spirit was sucked dry and I took the only American made item that I found, a pair of blue tights, and sadly went grocery shopping.

Over the next couple weeks I would come to find that every retail store held a similar experience. Old Navy. The Gap. Anne Taylor Loft. My shopping trips quickly dwindled to 5-10 minutes per store, as I grew discouraged going through rack after rack of foreign made clothes. My Etsy shopping time increased though, because I can easily find stuff on Etsy that is American made. GO ETSY! However I think I’ve been overcompensating for the fact that I can’t spend a leisurely afternoon shopping in stores by spending my evenings on Etsy. I’ve almost been window shopping more on Etsy than I normally do in stores. Hence my giving it up for the year.

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Filed under Made in USA, Shopping

Tags: Etsy, habits, Made in USA, online shopping, Shopping