At the Mitchell house, we try to be responsible consumers – generally striving to buy local, fair trade, low impact, repurposed and healthy (for us, others and the planet) items when we can, or at least considering such options whenever we can.
As with everything, I believe that changing our mindset is half the battle. Being aware of our effect on society is a huge part of making good change. We don’t want to be wasteful or harmful in any way, and hope to diminish the truth of the Victor Lebow quote shown here.
Obviously, there are a lot of limits and failures. We aren’t rich. We are busy. These two things make convenience a constant wrench and temptation. Midwestern empires such as Meijer and the warm vehicle are essential, and all too often win out over the farmers’ market and a 20 minute walk, especially this time of year.
Still, I think we usually do a pretty good job of minimizing the impact we have both environmentally and within the frenzy of constant demand for new (and typically low quality) goods.
Preparing to have a child is really testing us on that these days. We had an incredibly productive weekend, but I’m feeling a little guilty, or at least just hyper aware, of how much we’ve contributed to the chaos over the past few days.
My plan was to be as conservative as possible in preparing for the baby. I knew we could get a lot second hand, and we certainly have. My husband’s brother and his wife have four kids (three of them triplets), and so supplied us with a high chair, swing, crib, nursing pillow, three bins of clothes and more. We’re going to try cloth diapering (for the most part), and so feel pretty good about that situation. I’ve also registered with a local children’s store that specializes in using locally made goods, organic items and community education classes.
But, last night we created our registry at Buy Buy Baby, an up and coming big box store a number of folks recommended. They gave us great service and don’t carry anything with BPA, but still. After that, we went to IHOP and I had four massive pancakes with fruity syrup. Naughty! But so tasty…
Then there was the nursery situation. My best friend gave me a ton of paint she had no more use for, and I was really hoping it would cover the majority of the project. Unfortunately, the colors, though very nice, are too dark for a baby’s room. My husband is uber talented with color and design, but we just couldn’t make it work. Long story short, we went to Home Depot and spent $80 on paint supplies, a new light fixture and a radon test kit (that last one was necessary, but only about $6). We still hope to use paint remnants for a mural and some other details.
After Home Depot, we spent $8 on a car wash and wax. I like to let the rain take care of washing the car, but I suppose we shouldn’t let winter salt and slush eat away at our grown-up ride.
Anyway, it was a switch for us – transactions with four merchants, none of whom were Goodwill. I’m not beating myself up over it… the most important thing right now is to get what we need without raising my stress levels.
But I am vowing to buy no more paint for this house – ever. Anyone need some questionable yellows or some Bronze Sculpture?