On Tami's thread about consumerism, Annie said that people shop 6 hours a week. Imho that is the absolute pits. Besides having chemical poisoning and not being able to breathe in most stores, I don't like to shop. There are a few exceptions or times, but for the most part I avoid shopping as much as possible. What do you all say about shopping? I like mail order.

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), August 10, 2000

Answers

If by shopping you mean walking around a store looking for something you can buy,usually with out a real need for it,I don't do that at all.. EXCEPT at garage sales..I do get crochet thread through mail order but S and H is so expensive if I could get it locally I would..Trying to stay cool in Idaho,where its been 90s for a LONG time....Doris

-- Doris Richards (dorisquilts@webtv.net), August 10, 2000.

I HATE going to the mall. All that stuff seems so useless and trite, and all the advertising to get folks sucked into overspending and running up their credit cards. Walmart, etc. is a bit more tolerable; atleast, lots of the stuff in theose sort of places is useful, and of a more reasonable cost. But I don't like to linger there too much, either. If I am tring to keep on a budget, why tempt myself to overspend, or get tempted to feel bad beccause I can't get something that catches my eye? Now, yard sales, or thrift shops...that is MY kind of shopping! Mostly very affordable, and lots of meetin' and greetin' with the friends that I happen to see. But hours and hours at a mall? These folks need to get a life!

-- Leann Banta (thelionandlamb@hotmail.com), August 10, 2000.

I doubt very much that I spend six hours a week shopping!! More like an hour or two, and that is mostly at the grocery store, and thrift shops. But just think, if there are a lot of people like us who hardly spend any time shopping at all, and the six hours figure is an average, then there must be people who spend half their waking hours shopping!! Yikes! I've got too many better things to do!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), August 10, 2000.

There was a time when shopping was "entertainment" and an escape for me. I was in a miserable marriage, and didn't want to be home anymore than absolutely necessary. I had a great job, and extra money to spend, so that's how I coped. Now, it's much different. Gone are the days of frivolous spending. I sometimes struggle to make ends meet, but I always do it. I am stronger and wiser, and very happy. I delight in a great bargain at a yard sale, and I check out other folks unwanted stuff on trash day while I deliver the paper. This week I got a beautiful desk and a bench. Now that I'm an adult and understand about mark-ups, I'd rather not pay full price if at all possible. I bought a pair of sneakers about a month ago. First time in the mall in over a year. I'm really trying to live our "Voluntary Simplicity" slogan.

-- Cathy Horn (hrnofplnty@webtv.net), August 10, 2000.

I spent a number of years working at a couple of big department stores in malls. As manager, I often worked at least 10 hour days; at Christmas time and big Anniversary Sales/Half Yearly Sales, I worked 14 hour days routinely. One December, I actually had three days off, one of which was Christmas. (Not exactly a special Christmas season memory for my family.) You can imagine how excited I am to go to a mall to shop....NOT EVEN.

I observed so many sad people, wasting their lives, buying useless things (fashion is just that). Pathetic! Of all the worthwhile things people COULD be doing.

Anyway, I shop with a list, and with a mission (I almost wrote: with a vengeance!) and get out of any store as quickly as possible. And yes, we shop mail order as much as we can. It helps if the product ships from out of state, b/c we have a state sales tax here in WA, so we can save a few bucks doing it that way.

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), August 10, 2000.

Hi Cindy, I thought that was the pits, too! I've got so much to do around here, who has the time?! (or inclination) Around here there's alot of old fellers that buy and sell mainly old stuff and they have a saying...Is the value of what you're sellin, worth more to a man than his money is?....IF I ever go to a mall or most places and look around my answer is no. Heck, I wouldn't be able to find any useful homesteading stuff there, anyways.:) I guess what people do is there business, but it seems like when people put shopping above spending time with their kids, something ain't right!

-- Annie (mistletoe@earthlink.net), August 10, 2000.

We happened to be wandering around the PX last weekend looking for something for a new baby in the family. While browsing around my husband picked up a pair of plain little denim shorts that would have fit our 5 year old son. He handed them to me and said "look at this" The price tag: $35 !!! On closer inspection they were the Tommy whatshisname brand. They were the only pair left. I can't imagine buying this junk. Yet I see lots of kids wearing it. No wonder so many women say they can't afford to stay home with their children if this is what they buy for them. It's so sad. The baby outfit we liked was $25. Needless to say it's still there hanging on the rack. Guess we'll be going to wallmart this weekend.

Pauline

-- Pauline A. (tworoosters_farm@altavista.com), August 10, 2000.

I live about 70 miles from the nearest mall. We go to town once a month for our groceries and other shopping and I dread it. I also like mail order. I did some shopping on an on line auction one time and had a pretty bad experience so even that is scarey now. I don't like walking around the store looking for some way to waste money, like Annie said, they don't have much for homesteaders anyway.

-- Marlene (mleiby@caprock-spur.com), August 10, 2000.

Was just thinking, this fall I'm going to have to break down and get me some more jeans. The ones I have are torn all the way across in the knees (kneeling on the dirt too much!). The tomatoes don't mind how I look, but that winter cabbage is kind of picky! heehee Not only am I dreading going to buy some (prices), but I'll have to start all over breaking a new pair in! Hey, most people just don't realize how comfortable us Country folk's clothes are. New things aren't all there cracked up to be.

-- Annie (mistletoe@earthlink.net), August 10, 2000.

Hi Pauline, 35$ for a pair of child's shorts?!!! Yikes. I bet you about fell over. I can't imagine the kind of people that pay those prices. I wouldn't even let my kid out to play in those shorts. I don't know if I'd even let him sit and get them wrinkled. But then of course, I'd be like you... they'd be still hanging in the store. Makes you wonder what people that buy them are thinking.....

-- Annie (mistletoe@earthlink.net), August 10, 2000.

I will tell you what makes me mad,you cant find jeans for thin children! my 5 year old son is a stick child [ his older sister is to but she works and buys her pants now]and the only jeans at walmart, target ect are baggy ones. I have to buy slim fit jeans and the only place that carrys them are 22 dollars a pair! I pay 10 for mine at stores [ chic jeans].and I thought after raising two girls that a boy would be easyer.

-- kathy h (saddlebronc@msn.com), August 10, 2000.

I try never to buy anything at full price. I'm so cheap, I try to get gas at 3 am so that the cool of the night prevents the gas from expanding as I pump it and taking up more room in the gas tank! Theoretically, you can get several % points more gas this way for your money. I get my feans at the flea markets - still not the cheapest, but usually better condition than the local Sal Army, and I can't often find what fits and doesn't look like crap at S.A. Of course, for work jeans, it doesn't matter. I am starting a new career after 11 years, so it's shopping time. I am moving from a high maintenence job to a low maintenence job so the new clothes will actually be cheaper, thank God. Still, it requires $ at a time when that is in short supply as we also have to get another vehicle because we will now both be working day shift for once. Sal. Army here I come! I used to do a lot of shopping, too, when I had a high $ job and not enough to do during the day. I shudder to think of the sheer amount of cash that flowed through my fingers in those days. I have little to show for it other than a few nice prints and a few left over outfits that I actually wear, which sets them apert from most of the caca I bought. I still shake my head to think of some of the waste of my youth.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), August 10, 2000.

Hi Annie, Yes, I almost fell over! I must be a bit "fashion challenged" because one day a friend of my husbands came by to visit along with his 11 y/o son. The boy offered to run out and get the mail for us. On his way back the dog jumped up at him with very muddy paws. I was thinking 'thank goodness he's wearing his old scruffy clothes' When he got in he was quite upset. "look what the dog did and I just got this outfit last week for christmas" You would never have guessed they were new. Can't remember who was talking about their jeans with holes. I have some just like that. The most comfortable things I own. But everytime I wear them I get an unexpected visit from a neighbor, church people inviting us to a special service, or the post lady. They must think my husband's a real tight wad!

Pauline

-- Pauline A. (tworoosters_farm@altavista.com), August 10, 2000.

I shop for one hour every two weeks at the supermarket and I find THAT to be a pain..I despise shopping in any form at any time.One of the prerequisets for chosing our area was that there was not a mall within at least 15 miles..yeah!!!!! malls are crowded,full of rude people and their ill-behaved children..cannot stand them...now, why don't I loosen up and tell you how I really feel???LOL LOL...God bless.

-- Lesley (martchas@gateway.net), August 10, 2000.

My son in law sent our grandson (4 yrs old) down last weekend in those same Tommy H. shorts! I immediately changed him into some thift shop duds I keep here for him to play in at the farm. Pauline, if the PX price was $35, guess what they cost in civilian stores? $42! I just about gagged. Kids grow out of things so quickly, and they don't care at age 4 whether they are t. shop or from the best store in town. Of course, I can't let the son in law know that anything I give the little one came from the Thrift shop, or he will toss it out and not let him wear it. Hah, guess where those "ostrich" skin cowboy boots came from? $2 at the T.Shop, but he was so impressed with them, that I didn't fess up! Jan

-- Jan in Colorado (Janice12@aol.com), August 10, 2000.

I get all those expensive designer brand clothes for kids (and for hubby and me) at my local Thrift Shop for $1 -$2. Buying previously worn clothes at the right price is the way to go! Do mall fanatics ever wonder just how many people have tried on the "new" outfit in the dressing room that they just spent big bucks on? - Liz

-- Liz Rhein (merhein@shentel.net), August 10, 2000.

I have tried to get that last point across to many of my friends. I have heard it referred to as "selective squeamishness". Most people would never buy used sheets, but gladly sleep on them at hotels; they would never buy a thrift store slip (underwear? EEEWWWW!!) but will calmly wipe their lips on a restaurant's cloth napkin. At least at the thrift store, the clothes have been washed to sterilize them. At Chez Hoity Toity Boutique, you're lucky if the cashier/fashion diva even steams out some wrinkles once a week or so until the garment is sold, usually after many try-ons by people you wouldn't sit next to on a bus. I firmly believe that clean thrift store clothes are far safer than their dirty retail cousins. Anyway, you know it won't shrink, fade, or unravel in the wash, or it wouldn't have made it this far!

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), August 11, 2000.

6 hours a week? Yikes, I hate shopping! It does make me wonder though, since I spend about 2 hours a month shopping, who is using the other 32 hours?

-- Connie (Connie@lunehaven.com), August 11, 2000.

For me, the need to accumulate is just not there. I'm all shopped out. My main concern is maintaining what I already own. Shopping is only for groceries (especially when they're half price as I buy a year's supply) and repair parts. In a recently read book "Living More Simply" edited by Ronald Sider he states "No society in history has been so incessantly stimulated as ours to spend more and more money on nonessentials." Our home is furnished with other's cast-offs. Our clothing is "hand-me-ups" from our son. NEW CLOTHING IS THE BIGGEST WASTE OF MONEY OUT THERE! Yard sales and thrifts overflow with cheap beautiful, servicable clothing with many items costing only a quarter or two. The nearby thrift had a summer clearance where you could fill a bag for one dollar! What a great way to acquire back to school clothing. I'd rather read a good book than shop.

-- Sandy (smd2@netzero.net), August 11, 2000.

Where's the challenge in buying something from a regular store? What tedious lives the maulshoppers must have to think that laying down their money in such places is exciting. I do most of my shopping at thrift stores. I can't help it...it's the ancient hunter-gatherer in me.

-- snoozy (allen@oz.net), August 11, 2000.

Am I the only bothered by the fact that practically everything you buy in Walmart will end up in a landfill within the next 5-10 years? The quality of the merchandise is very poor and it is mostly being cranked out by poverty level workers. What is the real cost of this kind of shopping? I can't imagine shopping 6 hours a week - mail order is fine, but the best advice I can think of is - buy quality (even if it costs a little more) and then take care of what you buy. In the long run it saves both time and resources. I doubt any item purchased at a Mall or "Big Box" Store will ever be refered as a "family he

-- diane greene (fgroeters@ulster.net), August 11, 2000.

in my current status i am not able to drive or ride the distance to get to the malls or even wal-mart. i tend to go to the grocery store and the hardware store with a list and then back home. i like the garage sales but am staying away from them too. i can however spend hours in a home depot just looking but i also get a lot of ideas there. i am not a mall shopper but please lets not keep track of the time spent when the new seed and garden catalogs come out for the spring in the middle of a good ole snow storm. gail

-- gail missouri ozarks (gef123@hotmail.com), August 11, 2000.

Ohhhh, malls scare me! I do love garage sales though. It would kill me to spend more than $1-2 on kids clothes. I will make one exception to that though. I dont know if this is widely known, but I just found out last year that Sears guarentees their kids clothes. If you buy jeans and they wear a hole in the knee you can return them for same size at no cost to you. I got my sons jeans there on sale for about the same as Walmart($15) last year. My son is so good at wearing holes in knees that I knew we had a bargain. In the past I always bought all jeans I could at garage sales(which is not easy in boys-they all have holes). At a dollar or two a pair it was ok, until about once a week he would come home with a hole. With the Sears jeans I just returned them and brought home a brand new pair. So this year we will be going back to Sears. Tami in WI

-- Tami Bowser (windridg@chorus.net), August 15, 2000.

Malls??????What's that? I'm so glad to see so many other "shopper Haters". I thought I was some kind of strange breed of woman! I haven't been to a mall in years and avoid them like a plague. I love thrift shops and garage sales and only buy new when it is on sale. Most of my shopping is for groceries and that is usually only twice a month and like someone else said, I try to buy what is on sale and stock up on sale items to last me till they go on sale again. Most of my shopping besides groceries is done at WalMart and KMart. I go in with a list and get what I need and leave. Only occasionally do I buy something I didn't go in for if I happen to see an exceptionally good buy on something I need and plan to get soon anyway. I do love the seed catalogs but other than that and books, I don't do much mail order shopping. I find it is too easy for me to get carried away in how "glorious" the catalogs make things sound. Before I buy something, I ask myself if I can do without it. Doesn't always work but it sure helps!

-- bwilliams (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), August 15, 2000.