Monday, July 30, 2012

Wait! Come back! I need stuff!

In my quest to read every ecological book the Madison Public Libarary system can throw at me, I've started up reading, Not Buying It: My year without shopping, by Judith Levine. I'm only in four pages so I'm not sure on the fine details of the project, but I do know that the main idea is to only buy essentials for an entire year. This got me thinking back to Madison's Maxwell Street Days from two weeks ago  - a three day span when the downtown stores sell their extra merchandise for a fraction of the cost.

I'm a yearly attendee. And while I do buy things here and there, I try to make the purchases with the thought of purpose in mind. This year I came away with a very nice hippie skirt from Ragstock - the kind that you wash, ring out, shake and then twist up again. While I know the skirt will be with me for years on end, there were some things for sale that seem to lose sense and meaning even before any cash is forked over. I feel like these are the things Levine had in mind when swearing off spending.
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The estrogen jungle that is Urban Outfitters and hordes of sorority girls clamoring for thinning fabric. I used my zoom lens for this. Across the street seemed a safe distance. 
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Have I ever met a "deep sea dandy"? Do I know anyone who would want to be one? ...Do I know what a dandy is? Google>Define: Dandy.

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Wow! I've always heard about those types of magnifying glasses that start fires but I've never seen one until now! I wonder if it has other uses so I can throw out these reading glasses, this antique Coca Cola bottle and this larger, obsolete magnifying glass...

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Difficult to read, but for those of you who still haven't made the switch to the Magnifire, it's a packet of Foul Mouth Gummies. You know. Just in case giving someone the finger isn't a gift in itself.
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Because really, who wants their guests to think about butts when they use your water closet? We're more refined around here.
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Che smiled to himself as the guards came for him. Yes, he would be dead, but his memory would live on through t-shirts in college frats everywehre. Let the revolution begin man! Brewskis anyone?
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I would never buy anything like this. Never have I ever purchased anything so frivolous. Always the concerned spender I...

Damn it, I admit it! I bought a Bender scorpion magnet! It was a moment of weakness several years ago! But he totally sat on my fridge for years helping me keep a receipt up there... one from 2009... And while cleaning the kitchen last week I found the camper bender I also bought at Maxwell Street Days... gathering dust... I kinda forgot he was there...
How do people completely against consumerism do this? I don't think I can be completely against it. As you'll probably see when I post about the Thor action figure my husband and I bought from TJ Maxx last month.
I'm curious, what's the dumbest thing you've ever bought? One of those things that, at the time, you thought, "Dude! That's awesome! I must have this and put it somewhere!", and months or years later you look at it and think, "Why did I get this again? And how do I best get rid of this?" Alas, for me it is not the Thor action figure. That one still hasn't lived out its hilarity.

5 comments:

Mrs BC said...

I agree with you in pronciple and actually, I am quite thrifty. But I can't tell you how much I am lusting after that tentacle mustache.
x

Nadine said...

Have to admit while I love to go and look at all the neat little trinkets in stores (specially antique malls, vintage shops.) thinking "Oh that would look great on the shelf at my house" I usually chicken out and leave empty handing thinking the money can be saved for something more important. Probably one of the most ridiculous things I ever bought was a skull mold that had a cork on the top so you could actually drink from it and it had a rather odd saying etched onto it. It made me giggle at the time so I got it. It sat on my book shelf forever and I grew to really dislike it. It became a terrible eye sore fir me and I eventually got rid of it wishing I had never bothered to get it in the first place. =P

-Nadine

Ducky said...

I did buy one time a three foot giraffe. It was very African looking. *shrug* I have no stinkin clue why I bought it. Couldn't even tell you where it is at this point :D

Unknown said...

You got some gadgets here.
You are right i am such a geek. lol
Thanks for saying hi!
xo

Judy said...

I like baskets and have too many which I don't use, or fill up and never empty...just get more to fill up again...