Intentional Shopping - Step 1

This past weekend I made my first truly intentional purchases.  I have a 4 ½ year old boy who absolutely refuses to stop growing.  I also live in a location that insists on having roughly 4 seasons a year.  Because of these two factors, my little guy is in need of new summer clothes.

In light of recent events and convictions I went on a quest for shirts.  It is possible to find fun t-shirts, shorts and other summer tops that I know have been manufactured under safe and decent wage conditions (e.g. made in the USA). But… hold on to your wallet!!!  I am NOT in the habit of paying $36 for a T-SHIRT – not for anybody’s body!

To say that a bit of a paradigm shift is needed would be an understatement.  To say that winning the lottery would be helpful might also be an understatement.

Erghhh... found this using a "made in USA" search, sadly, they are NOT.  May return!

I finally settled into Nordstrom’s website to check out my options.  Lo and behold there were even some items on sale.  I found two cute t-shirts that I ordered a little large for maximum wear.  They are both from Peek, which has an exclusive retail arrangement with Nordstrom, and sells from its website and a handful of its own stores.  Peek is an American company that manufactures at least part of its product in the United States.

I have a Nordstrom credit card that I got several years ago.  We pay off our bills every month, so this is something I use for the perks.  One perk is free shipping for online orders.  I have also installed the Pure Charity browser plug-in for shopping.  I was able to earn 4.5% for my giving fund at the same time.  This was $2.33 just for making a purchase that I felt better about anyway.  Now that will go directly to charity. You can read more about that and sign up for your own Pure Charity account here.  

I have other ways that I will be clothing my child this summer planned.  I’ll share those in time.  This is my start.  A baby step.  I have to start somewhere if I hope to make any difference at all.

What baby step can you make towards being a more intentional shopper?

Where I’m Wearing Now

Editorial note: Think post contains affiliate links.

I’d love to claim that witty title, but it is actually derived from the book Where Am I Wearing by Kelsey Timmerman.  I haven’t read this yet (hence the absence of an affiliate link there), but I plan to in the near future.  My queue is a little full right now.  You can check out his blog at http://whereamiwearing.com/

So where am I wearing?  Where has my wardrobe originated?

I must say that since reading A Year Without Made in China, I have made a concerted effort to avoid clothing made in China as much as possible.  I’ve not been entirely successful and there have been periods where I didn’t think to check at all.  Mainly this has been the case with the little guy’s shoes.  I buy them at Target since he has been riding his bike and destroying them.  I’m thinking he may be wearing more New Balance in the not too distant future, though.  New Balance is the only athletic shoe maker that manufactures many – not all - of its shoes in the US.

Lest you think me a protectionist (which I kind of am) my reasoning is wages and worker conditions for choosing made in the USA.  I realize that workers in other countries desperately need jobs.  I’ve said from the beginning there are no easy answers here.

That being said, until recently I thought that any country BUT China was a much better option.  Well, now that I know different I need to act different.  So no longer will I accept Bangladesh, Turkey, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Viet Nam, Honduras, Guatemala, Saipan, Hong Kong, Japan, Mauritius or any other country as a default option for better than China.  I realize this is a sweeping generalization, and I will get into some specific exceptions at a later date.  Unfortunately, this is where the bulk of my clothing was cut & sewn.  I have recently purchased two shirts through Stitch Fix from American labels with American manufacturing.

Funny story: yesterday I was wearing a bright pink t-shirt that I have had for half of forever.  It is so old that it was actually made in the USA by Fruit of the Loom!  Go figure!  I may even have some old jeans and other t-shirts made here.  I tend to hold onto things until they fall apart.  I’m starting to think that’s a good thing now.

So what about you?  Do you ever check the labels of clothing purchases to see where they are made?  Has this ever crossed you mind?

Song – Five Minute Friday

I wasn't going to write tonight.  I'm usually in bed anyway, but here I am.  I wanted yesterday's post to sit up top a while longer, but you can read it here.

Right now I'm playing for five minutes and then linking with Lisa-Jo.  I'll definitely be reading the one that linked before - and so many others.  You should join us.

Here are my five minutes:

Song

You are beautiful my sweet, sweet song is the first thing that comes to mind tonight.  I think I know where this sweet comes from.  It is rooted deeply in the sisterhood of a football-loving, chocolate-infused sisterhood. A fellowship of gals who laugh, and encourage and catch up with drooping eyelids and unsettled children.

We comfort, and are brave.  We jump and promise to catch each other with comments just because.  We seek each other out.

Our song is sung 140 characters at a time across time zones and with more hashtags and exclamation points than any normal conversation should have.  So I’ve been singing all night long and this song will continue for days as I click and remember the laugh I had tonight.  New notes are added weekly and the harmony grows!

Time!

I've loved this song since it came out and would love to live up to it's words.

Why I Care About Unintended Consequences

Editorial note: this post contains affiliate links

Lately I’ve got my mind on my money and my money on my mind.  In particular is how this tool and my use of it have wide ranging implications.  These are not simple problems.  I am neither an economist nor a journalist, but I do spend money.  Chances are you do, too.

I want to pick right dealing with the high cost of unintended consequences, but feel I need to provide a little background information.  Bear with me here.  I’m going to keep it short, but give you a few other resources to check out on your own.  Kind of like bloggy homework.

The impetus for this comes from several factors:

      my mom was a factory worker that lost her job in the early 90’s

      reading A Year Without Made in China several years ago

      reading Overdressed in the past few weeks

      the factory collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh

      my own first child sense of sacrifice and doing the right thing (not as completely noble as it sounds)

If you are unaware of the catastrophe, what with Angelina having a double mastectomy and the IRS playing politics, I’m including this video.  Elizabeth Cline is the author of the aforementioned Overdressed and is interviewed in this clip.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Some progress is being made, too late for over 1100.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

For further reading, this was posted on a Deeper Story yesterday.

For now, all I want you to do is take this in, think about it.  Go further if you want, but I’m not going to push – yet.  J