An Utmost Challenge

It was her birthday and she found nasal hair and the gauntlet was thrown down - a 365 challenge which appealed instantly to me.

The challenge was simply (?!) to commit to buying only secondhand or handcrafted for an entire year - nothing new. Clothes would have to be reconditioned and/or creatively altered, anything for the home would have to be thrifted.

Now I know what you're thinking - you're thinking, Debbie - this isn't a challenge for you - it's a justification for your spending habits. And you're right, at first glance this 'challenge' does seem a bit tautologous - what would be my next challenge - breathing and in and out for a year? But the challenge, for me, was like the lighting of a blue touch-paper for a much bigger change and what it sparked off was something that has been bugging me for a long time, but never really got around to consciously making any real effort to alter:

1. I spend too much money - not as much as some, and certainly I'm not one of the last big spenders, but still, in reality it is more than I need to spend; I justify and rationalise my spending, but push come to shove most of it is basic lust and greed and soul-destroying Want.

2. This happens mainly because I like to use retail as therapy and also because I am like a child in a sweetshop (nearly wrote sweatshop but will get onto that later) and have zero compunction to delay any gratification. This is OK if I didn't succumb to Want and only bought on Need.

3. This has to stop - a) my finances, like the USS Enterprise cannae take it captain, I cannot change the laws of physics and by ignoring basic facts, like if outcome exceeds income, I will remain a pauper. b) More than that, beyond simply saving money each one of my acts as a consumer has a ripple effect into the wider world; no action happens in a vacuum - cause and effect still operate and every word and deed has consequences. I cannot simply justify consumer choices based on price. If something is cheap you have to ask yourself 'why is this cheap - who bears the brunt of the real cost - the consumer or the worker', and if you buy clothes, food, furniture, sports equipment for a small price you can be pretty sure it is subsidised at some point in the process, and usually because someone, somewhere in the world, is paid a pittance and lives in conditions that you wouldn't allow your pet to live in. Any person who buys something cheap outside a Fair Trade company is complicit in another person's slavery.

4. I don't want to cause suffering. My spending habits cause, or maintain, or uphold the continuance of slavery and suffering. By committing to only buying secondhand I am stepping out of that cycle - my money will not go into that vicious cycle.

5. Another reason why buying new is BAD is the carbon footprint it leaves - products made in countries with no environmental laws, carted halfway round the world so they can sit in the back of a cupboard and then thrown out - by buying secondhand not only am I buying local  I am also therefore a) reducing the transportation and carbon footprint of goods b) reducing the amount of stuff that goes to landfill.

6. This got me thinking about food (naturally). I am always careful about avoiding buying food from halfway around the world simply to try to save our atmosphere from unnecessary pollution, but also to instill a sense of season in our household - I do not buy out of season fruit and vegetables. But I am not so conscious about buying locally grown; I am not so conscious about supporting Multinational Supermarket conglomerations and their systematic subjugation of the producers of food. I put my convenience before these evident concerns.

7. As I have taken up the challenge of a 365 for secondhand and handmade I decided to also extend this, for as much as possible, into our food buying. Here in the UK there is not a system like CSA, but there are independent organic producers of food who deliver for free, and although they are a bit more expensive than supermarkets it is simply because they are paid the right wage. So this year I will also commit to buying as much of our food from a local farmer as possible, as well as getting to grips with growing our own!

8. Tif has allowed exceptions to this challenge, and my exceptions to this challenge are a) hygiene - anything needed for hygiene can be bought new from Kathmandu - sorry but that is the line I draw - but effort for local goods will be made, and b) home-school resources - again, secondhand and local being the aim, but anything new if necessary.

So there you have it.  A challenge, and hopefully a new way of conscious consuming. Insha'allah I will be posting about this challenge from time to time, but if you think you'd like to join the train, hop on! Go and tell Tif, and you too can be a 'challenger of the Utmost Kind'.

Comments

[Tif]

this is a fantastic post!!!
i am totally inpsired by your reasons to be a 'challenger of the utmost kind' and you made me laugh out loud with your begining sentence. how interesting that one (i was about to say little but that would not be true)... one 'nostril hair of the worse kind' can make us sit up and start to think about our lives and how we live them :)
so fabby to have you on board the 'challenge' train :)

i look forward to our year ahead...
Tif x

[Mu Mu Design]

bring it on! :P

[Karen]

Debbie, I am in awe of your ability to even consider taking on this challenge. Maybe if I started with a week, crept up to a fortnight, a month, I might have some hope. But even if I can't manage the whole challenge, I think just being conscious of cutting down on the carbon footprint, buying local etc, will make my purchasing on the whole, a little more ethical.

Ooh that got a little serious!! x

[Mu Mu Design]

Hark at you being all serious.
I think this came just at the right moment for me; a lot of things have been
building it up here for quite a while - I'm no earth mother hippy by any
stretch of the imagination but I deffo feel the need to be more conscious
when I buy rather than (my usual method of) being like a child in a
sweetshop at happy hour... we'll see how it goes...

[Floss]

Hi there - I've taken on the challenge too, and I really identify with your reasons for going for it. I'll be posting about it later tonight...

[Mu Mu Design]

Hello utmost buddy! hope to read what you have to say :)

[ArtsyMama]

Wonderful post and I like how you've expanded the challenge. I'm also a challenger of the utmost kind, posted about it on my birthday (same as Tif's) on my blog www.artsymama.blogspot.com
I am already noticing it's changed my ways of looking at what I consume and why.
Looking forward to the next year and will keep popping into your blog.
Good luck!
Kari

[Mu Mu Design]

thanks Kari. Yes its making me more mindful already too - good thing too!

[Lola Nova]

Wonderful post, very well said. I have a lot of thoughts on this challenge and some ways to expand on it myself. Good luck to us! I think we will do wonderfully.

[Mu Mu Design]

a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step! go girl