Follow-up thoughts on “why buy anything new…”

Why buy anything new …..  Previous post.

Detailing the “why’s” of not having done so.

 This habit/lifestyle, being a habit/lifestyle,  gives a focus to the day and a
structure.  Having done it across more than forty-five years in many places,  in varying circumstances,  single and then married and raising a family, I can see that it is society,  it is community.  It can be a career,  a profession. 

 It is fun.  It
is enjoyable.  I t makes me feel
good, along with those moments that introspection brings to give contrast and
opportunities to evaluate,  to make
choices.

 There is something satisfying in the ‘bargain’ aspect of
life.  Coming across a $150 pair of
brand new shoes at a garage sale that fit perfectly in a style and colour that
appeal to me and in a name  I have been wondering about,  with a $10 asking price
that allows for an ‘affordable experiment’,  has both the satisfying and bargain
aspects.

 Educational as well as I learn why  new merchandise
such as this finds its way to garage sales:  the items are the result of shopping trips abroad or to
warehouse trips to the US which did not suit once home and now even $10 is some
consolation.

 These shoes are now personalized for me as I know the
history, have likely chatted with the seller about where she got them.

 And they are liberating.  If I had spent $150 I would have felt far more an attachment
to wearing them even if they did not suit or fit exactly;  at $10  I am far more likely to resell them myself or donate them
somewhere.  This is true of
furniture and clothing and appliances and services.

 The habit/lifestyle is an adventure and exciting and often
surprising.  You never know what
you will  find!

 Environmentally friendly is obvious.  But you have to want to do it.  Feeling you “should” alters most of the
other aspects and make them a burden not a benefit.  Do what feels right.

Shopping the world: 
merchandise from all over this planet makes its way to thrift stores and
church rummage sales and auctions. 
A set of snowshoes from northern Quebec,  a wardrobe  from England,  a length of hand-dyed fabric from Zimbabwe,  wool from Australia come to mind.  Etc!

 A challenge and a quest:  my Caddy of a Waring blendor (from a garage sale where the
young couple were moving back east for school, the blendor had been their
grandmother’s) served me well for years but needed a new seal and I could not
get one or come up with an alternative that did not leak  so I began to think “blender” and “old Vita
Mix” such as we had in Toronto more than 30 years ago from a booth at the CNE.
Blenders began to ‘pop out’ at sales everywhere;  no Vita Mix yet, but in the meantime a good quality,  good condition 8-speed is doing the
trick for the morning smoothie.  It
was purchased at a church sale with no idea as to its history but the man in
charge of appliances told me it had been tested and he  plugged it in to
demonstrate that it worked.  We
both listened thoughtfully to the whirr of the motor and agreed it sounded just
fine.  When the Vita Mix appears
this one will be donated back to that church sale or to wherever I find the Vita
Mix.  This  is a unique,  economical system.

 Fibre archeology is a major part.  The sales are my digs and I am unearthing treasures,  artifacts from the past –  years,  decades, 
sometimes a century or more.  Fibre
in all its forms from paper to clothing to yarn to fabric.

 Thought-provoking happens here – wondering why something was
given up and when and by whom and by which route or means it came to me.  And asking about such things.  And – often – getting answers.

 When offered such a variety of things (and they remain
things unless we let them become stuff which has to do with our feelings about
our possessions)  we are inspired
to choose what we want from the vast colours and styles, to choose from the
smorgasbord selection of what manufacturers over many seasons, many eras have decided
we should be buying that year.

 Things that have meaning – like the spoon I got at a garage
sale in the summer and was told it was carved by a Dukabor man in the interior
of  BC  back in the Fifties, a spoon that has worn with time and
use,  the spoon I used to stir the
gingerbread cake this morning – made me think about its background and how it
was now in my hands,  made me pay
attention to what I was doing right now. 
This is always worthwhile.