Hanna Andersson

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

my old mantra - buy less, spend more

Thanks to my Mom for forwarding an article in The Age (my local paper, which she reads online from the other side of the world) titled "A new mantra - buy less, spend more". This is actually my old mantra... my new mantra is don't buy; borrow, freecycle, buy second hand, buy local, buy organic, etc.

The article talks about how some people are buying less things, but spending more money on experiences and quality items (how I used to be before I quit my job) and others are buying as little as possible, basically just food, toiletries and medicines... this is the direction I'm heading in... I am only buying new clothes for me and my family if they are made from organic cotton or bamboo, and mostly buying second hand clothes and using hand-me-downs. I do spend a lot of money on organic food and organic personal care and health products, but I figure all the money I save on not buying other things helps me to afford more organic things that are actually going into and on my body and my family's bodies. This also means that we are healthier and don't have to spend money on medicine! I'm still spending money supporting and enjoying the arts, and helping charities, and on things like education, travel, and books, but I'm traveling less and using the library more!

More on all this soon...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I found this post very interesting. It is obvious you are very committed. In the US, it is still hard to find a good selection of organic and bamboo clothing...I daresay it would be a challenge to build a wardrobe that way, although there are online options, of course.

Good for you! I'm so glad we found each other!

Annie said...

Thanks for the comment Lynn :-) I buy some stuff from ebay (second hand is better for the earth, and cheaper too), but there is also tons of organic cotton and bamboo clothing available from Amazon and other online retailers, such as Sahara Bloom, an Australian small business that will ship overseas if you email them first to get a quote.