Thoughts on a being a more Mindful Consumer

The salad spinner. A harmless kitchen object that has become my mental sticking point in the Summer of Less. And the kitchen item forcing me to think about what it means to be a more mindful consumer, and what I’m teaching my kids about consumerism.

Recently our salad spinner sprung a leak. It would technically be within the rules to buy another…. But for some reason, this feels completely wrong in spirit. A quick google search revealed an alternative way to dry my greens – spinning them in a towel above my head.

I’m sure my neighbors really appreciated that dinner-making visual aid this evening. Jake sure got a good laugh.

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So close to buying another one

I tried to buy a new one. I even put it in my Amazon cart. At 29.99 with free shipping, I could absorb the financial blow. But for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Clicking Buy Now without a second thought is exactly the problem around here, and yet here I was about to do it again.

The problem with our consumption of stuff is that it’s mindless. It’s so freaking easy to just buy shit. It takes no thought process at all. As we make our way into the second month of buying only consumable goods and replacement items, I’m thinking more about what it means to be a more mindful consumer.

So. The salad spinner.

Before I clicked PURCHASE, I stopped and thought about what I really wanted and needed. And I realized that even though I could technically buy it without breaking my own self-imposed rules –  I really just don’t need it. It’s a silly kitchen item with exactly one job.

I’ve donated or thrown away so many things lately. Things that I swore I *needed* at the time. And then they proceeded to sit unused or were only used for a very short time. It turns out I didn’t actually need them at all.

What am I showing my kids about consumerism?

Stopping to think about our consumption of goods is really eye-opening and deeply troubling all at once. Realizing just how easily we’ve accumulated things without any thought to the actual cost of it all is insane. I don’t have some amazing Pinteresty “I GOT OUT OF $100,000 OF DEBT WITH ONE SIMPLE TRICK” story, and we aren’t in any sort of financial trouble. But we are in danger of teaching our kids that the accumulation of things is important and that buying is as easy as clicking your mouse.

Choosing to purchase items with value

I’m going to amend the shopping ban rules in the Summer of Less to hopefully become a more mindful consumer – I can replace an item only if it’s an item that we use regularly and has no viable alternative. If the blender dies I’m most likely going have a hard time hand crushing a smoothie, so I would be fine repurchasing that. But I’m going to be much stricter about what comes into the house.

SO for the foreseeable future, I apologize in advance to my neighbors. No, I’m not having a seizure in the backyard, I’m just swinging around my lettuce in a dishtowel because I’m too stubborn to buy the damn salad spinner.

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