Falling off the wagon

Okay, I fell off the no buy wagon when I was in Stuttgart, although technically the money I spent was what I set aside for the trip. Here's what I bought and why.

1. Four sandwich boards. I was deliberately looking for these...my last I had stupidly given away when I moved out of the Grand Saconnex flat. They are great for sandwiches, desserts, nibbles in place of plates. It was a toss up between the striped ones and one with blue and penguins, but I opted for the ones that picked up the colour of my Acalpulco Villeroy & Boch pattern. It fills all three of my reasons to buy criteria: beautiful, useful, memory.

2. A blue water bottle. This will pay for itself at 12 Euros. I normally buy water for train trips in plastic bottles. Since everywhere I live has good drinking water and since I can even fizz the water in Corsier, it is a waste of money and the plastic hurts the environment. Plus I love that colour blue. It has two of my criteria: beautiful and useful.

3. The poster with the Underwood typewriter. The man selling them tried to explain to me in German how this was used before computers. "Ich weisse. Mein vater hat für Underwood gearbeit." I was not up to explaining that my father held the West Virginia franchise at one point so it was enough to choke out that my Dad had worked for the company that made the typewriters, but between that and being a writer this was definitely a memory piece and I know right where I will put it in Argelés. Unable to change my 20 Euro bill I watched his stand while he ran into one the nearby stores. When he came back, I said, "Es tut mir lied, Ich hatte nicht gekauft keine. " (I wanted to say quelque chose). He laughed I am not sure at whatever mistakes I made in German which certainly leaves much to be desired or that I was sorry I hadn't sold anything. It has three of my criteria: beautiful, useful, two memories (Stuttgart and my father).

Now that the no buy year is over, what have I accomplished? One thing is I haven't added stuff I don't need to my homes. I probably haven't saved a lot of money, because I am a terrible consumer anyway. Most of my disposable income goes to things like travel, eating in restaurants and entertainment such as theatre, concert and movie tickets.

I know next year I have a list of things I want...the rod to finally hang my daughter's tapestry, new bed linens and curtain for my Geneva bedroom. There's a pair of blue palazzo pants my friend Barbara made that she hasn't sold. Off hand, I can't think of much else I want. Oh yes, incense. I may be tempted to give in more often for a magazine or a book or not... But sitting here I can not honestly think of anything at all I want to buy, the difference being that if I have an impulse like the Underwood poster, I will give in.

The no buy year has reaffirmed that every purchase is a political decision. Will what I buy hurt the planet (in many cases the answers is yes just like every time I drive I am killing the planet)? Who made the product...were they beaten in a sweat shop for example? What huge irresponsible company am I helping when I buy something in a mega store vs. helping out a local merchant? I know that less than 20% of the profit stays in my community when I buy from a chain rather than the 65% that stays in the commuity when I buy from a local merchant. And yes I know trade is necessary to keep an economy going, but we have gotten so out of whack where consumerism is not only destroying the planet it is destroying the consumers themselves who have been fueling the economy by ever increasing levels of debt. This system cannot go on forever locally, nationally or globally.

Ah well, I cannot solve the problems of the world.