Thrifty Thursday: Door2Challenge January 11,2018

Thursday's challenge invites you to don the identity of a revolutionary.  We're going to spend some time today thinking about how our consumption isn't such a great deal.  It's a complicated subject: for every take out meal you trade for cooking something already in the freezer, someone's job takes a  tiny hit.  So we'll just work on this one day-- to wear what you already have, to eat what's in the cupboard, to trade a neighbor for something we need and they have.  

There's a lot to mine in this:  the environmental impacts of our current throw-away culture.  As Winona Duke said, "Where exactly is AWAY?"  Our away is someone's HERE.  In China, where the bulk of our recycling ends after a trip on a large garbage barge, they are getting sick of all the useless, un-recycleable-able crap we wishfully throw in our bins, and are starting to turn away our ships. what doesn't get turned away is burned or dumped into the ocean. Consumerism and capitalism, which try to convince us we need certain things in order to be happy-- and those things are designed to be obsolete within 18-24 months. 

Because we don't actually need most things that people produce (a new car every year, dozens of shoes) we must be convinced that having them makes us happier, relative, acknowledged.  But it's like herion-- we always need another bigger fix. 

Here's some ways to take this challenge:
1) Buy nothing day.  Use what you have and make do.  Figure out free ways to entertain yourself.  Wear some of those clothese are are keeping for "someday".

most weren't edible, but i got a meal out of this.

eat what;s laying around.

2) Cook something out of your pantry.  Maybe it is going to be sort of pitiful:  eggnoodles covered with mushroom soup and leftover cheese.  Top Ramen.  You'll survive.  Maybe you will get creatve and start using up those dried beans and speces and make a soup that delights you.  At worst you will have a mediocre meal, and you can tahnk Gods and Goddesses you live somewhere where you don't have to boil grass to have anything at all to eat.

3) If you really need something tomorrow-- the cat''s puked all over the rug and you want to clean it, you'd make that soup if you only had an onion-- use your community to share in the bounty.  I happen to have 40 cloves of garlic, a vacuum sealer, axes, shovels, some perennials and annual seed, extra warm coats I am willing to lend or give.
4) Try on of the thrift shops first.  You;re recylcing/reusing.  Karma points.
5) Go to a locally owned, locally employed store that treats its employers well and buy what you need.  You'd be surprised at the level of personal attention and desire to get what you need to you.
.6) Check out craigslist, Facebook community garage sales pages, or local Reuse/Recycle posts to see if you can find what you need.
7y) Have a potluck.  Everyone contributes a small amount and you end up with a feast.  And community.

The major goal today is to get a deal.  A deal costs less (to you, the environment, the social fabric) in some way.  What deals did you get today?