I love to buy new stuff. I love wandering thrift store racks, searching for skirts with eclectic patterns, for vintage dresses, for name-brand purses. And I love to buy shoes on Zappos. I love waiting for packages from Amazon. It's really the best, pulling from cardboard something bright and shiny, something that still smells of warehouse and factory.
But I don't believe in buying new stuff. Buying another thing I don't need--duplicative purses, more skirts than days of the month, shoes in every color--it's not healthy for me. Because no matter how many purchases I make, the hunger for unboxing never abets. I am never sated.
When I spend my time and money on new stuff, I'm encouraging and living out of my discontent. I'm also exploiting underpaid workers and feeding a system that undervalues the humanity of the targeted consumer. I'm accepting the religion of upward mobility, of upper middle class-ism, of a hierarchy that values the rich and the privileged and, at best, ignores the needy and the oppressed. What about living out of contentedness, Christianity, love, and justice?
I have been pointed to the blog Un-Fancy by several people in my life, and most recently by this mom's post. As I read, I thought to myself, You know, you need to start acting on what you believe. You need to simplify and you need to stop buying. So I was inspired to start by raiding my closet.
I didn't do the capsule wardrobe. Instead, I decided I'd get rid of 3/4 of my clothes. And then I wouldn't buy anything new until something I had wore out. (My old friends will remember I did something like this sophomore year of college! I made it most of the school year before buying some pants at Gap.)
Bagging up all those clothes, many of which I still liked a lot, didn't feel good. And now sometimes I miss some of the things I got rid of, but I still think it was the right move for me. I want to feel good about the person that I am and the things I put my time into. Putting so much emphasis on presenting myself just so through an ever-growing wardrobe was not something I wanted to spend my time doing.
Really, emptying my closet was the easy part. The hard part is not filling it again--and not just shifting my focus from clothes to other purchases. After dropping off about six packed garbage bags of clothes at St. Vinny's, I bought a new water bottle. And a week later, I ordered a new backpack online. No good.
It was hard for me to stop spending money. It's such an enjoyable pastime! I knew I needed to resolve myself to more than just a small wardrobe. I had to commit to a small everything--to the idea that one of something is enough, to the mindset that I am a good seamstress and I can fix what I have to work well enough. To the belief that I don't need new to be happy--that, in fact, new will not make me happy even if I indulge in every purchase I desire.
After all, the center of my existence is not my investment in capitalist America. It's my belief in a Jesus who loves and accepts us (everyone!) along with our crazy, my faith in a God who has set in my heart passions for words and for the craft of my hands. The center of my existence should be spreading love and justice, writing poetry, creating beautiful things. (And here I think, Ah, if only money didn't make the world go round....)
I want to start a new pattern, to recommit to truth and beauty and justice. To meditate on this Bible verse: "Summing it all up,
friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on
things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the
best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not
things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you
heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work
together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies." (Philippians 4:8-9, The Message)Labels: community, contentment, crafts, creativity, gratitude, justice, spiritual, writing