Day One - Consumption

(A gorgeous ring I found in my Mom's "junk jewelry" bin!)

Day one. I lay awake thinking a lot about this experiment last night and how we will be applying many of its principles beyond this one week trial. We have been living abroad for almost two years and although shopping is alive and well in much of the world, it certainly is different experience from home. While in Finland we found out if you didn't bring your own shopping bag they would charge you for one - Genius!! I still have the few I ended up buying when I found myself without my own. No one seemed to have overflowing baskets at the supermarket - they bought what they needed for the day. We definitely got our fair share of stares when we walked around with a weeks worth of food in our carts, but we were in the learning curve and soon found it was better to only buy what you needed, when you needed it. Shopping malls both there and here in Cyprus are also quite different. Yes, there are sales and gorgeous shoes to tempt you around every corner but both of these countries are now on the Euro and the exchange rate is never in our favor. I learned to live and get by with the shoes I already had, sans a gorgeous pair of boots I picked up on sale in Germany. That was a huge step for me in the beginning of this new life. If we were desperate for something warmer (we came to Finland via Hawaii) we found that some perfectly wonderful winter wear were overflowing in many of the thrift stores. I had to buy a warmer winter rain coat that I picked up for 3 Euro and I love it. The thrift stores here are harder to find, but they are out there. What's interesting here is that you hardly ever find the locals in them, mostly foreigners. I've been told that it is considered an embarrassment to be seen in these stores by the locals. So I’d have to say that living overseas has definitely changed our consumer habits for the better and I believe these will be life-changing habits. Now, on the other hand, we definitely are guilty of online purchases. There are some things I just couldn’t find here that could compare in quality. Number one being the organic baby formula we buy in bulk (I was unable to produce enough milk after two months of trying everything possible). I did try a brand that was imported from France but it was a digestive disaster. The other big online purchase were the hybrid diapers I bought, but now that we are using cloth inserts much of the time, I wrestle with telling myself it was a win-win situation. And that’s the point of this whole rambling blub I’ve got going here…if we absolutely had to live off the land we found ourselves on could we survive? Of course we could, so many have come before us, but would we want to and how do you convince others to do the same when modern convenience rules the purchasing industry. I’m finding that this little experiment I’ve stumbled upon across the seas is a lot bigger and more meaningful to me than ever before. I will continue to weigh and consider almost everything I do from this day forward. To the Beaven’s – thank you for forging the way!