So we have decided to move, again, for the 4th time in 4 years. I think although I loathe moving, I secretly love the cleansing, the chance to purge and to begin anew, and perchance to Kijiji ? This all takes place before my 2nd hand resolution....Our new place is fabulous but a little smaller (and a lot cheaper !) so I had to sell a few pieces of furniture and replace them with smaller versions. First to go was the dining table, buffet and hutch. A lovely teak set I bought for $275 a year ago and I sold it for $300. I replaced it with a lovely small table to seat 4 from a very nice family through Kijiji for $75. So far so good. I also found a lovely small corner cabinet for $30, also on Kijiji, solid wood and in immaculate condition. I need somewhere to put my wine glasses, martini glasses, and all the things to fill them with ! Kids have Kool Aid, I have mommy Aid ! I found a lamp , brushed steel, $20 also Kijiji... Are you seeing a trend yet? At this point I was feeling pretty good about my purchasing decisions, then came the idea to move our 3yr old to a big girl bed. This is where it went sideways. I had my 2nd had flourecent light bulb moment 2 weeks before all this took place....my resolve was not at it's strongest.
Now even though I am consciously aware of the media's influence on my need to buy things, to posses, that the philosophy we are spoon fed from birth that new is better, newer is best is a load of crap I still fall victim to the impulses and pressures around me. Whether it is TV we watch, the air brushed magazines we read, or keeping up with the Jonses, it is constant and at times overwhelming but I am hoping to master it, to bypass it, even rise above it. What I think will be harder for me is to transcend is the rush, you know the rush I am talking about. When you go shopping, when you buy something, even if it isn't something you really want, most of the time it is something you don't actually need., you get the RUSH. Unfortunately the rush never lasts very long, often disappointment sets in and you look at the item and wonder why? I am fully aware of the pressure we put on ourselves as women and even more so as mothers to be and do the "best" at all times, and it was this overpowering need to be June Cleaver that sent me to Home Sense. I felt like my daughter "deserved" the most fabulous room I could design for her, even if on a budget. So after 2 hours on buses back and forth between Kitchener and Waterloo, one sheet set $10 at Home Sense (clearance of course!) and a full price flower pillow because my daughter told me she liked and my ability to say no took at left and the floor lamps, I hopped on the bus to the Bargain store where I purchased her comforter for $19. So all in all it was a cost effective day, but still I couldn't shake the feeling that my motives were not so much about making my daughter a pretty big girl room but more about my need to get her what I perceived to be the best. Reality kicked in after the shopping rush had passed. My daughter is 3, she could care less about where I got her bedding. If I had bought her the Fairy bed set I saw on Kijiji she would not feel any less loved or any less special. It is my need to be a shopper, to get that rush no matter how fleeting, to participate in the never ending cycle of consumerism that left me feeling like this experiment will not only help my wallet but my spirit. So after Two kijiji steps forward and one flower pillow back, the experiment goes on....
So well said. I know the "rush" you are talking about, but I think I only developed it after I had kids. I've never been much of a shopper, I've never liked it, but that all changed once I started shopping for the girls. BTW, I found two precious hand-made, never-worn dresses at Generations (in Waterloo on Bridgeport near Zellers) for $2 a piece. Have you been there? Let's schedule a mommy shopping spree one day this summer. I'll drive and we can hit all the thrift stores and yard sales...
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