A Moment of Weakness

In general, I try to be as un-materialistic a person as I can be. I definitely buy stuff, but I like to think that I'm mindful of what I buy, and that I buy much less than I would if I wasn't giving it a second thought. I've got a fairly small wardrobe for a middle-class woman my age, and I do things like buy a pair of shoes that covers three different categories (work, weekend, evening out with friends) and then wear the shoes into the ground.

I think I spend an unusually large amount of time thinking about this, too. I'll be walking down the street, wearing one of my five-year-old sweaters, and feel really good about it. "Yeah, I'm really getting my use out of this sweater", I'll think to myself. "I'm saving money and I'm keeping my life simple. Oh yeah."

Once in awhile at a random point in my day, I'll even do a quick inventory of my outfit. Pants, 3 years old. Shoes, last year. Shirt, two months ago. I guess I earn "points" when I'm wearing older clothing - it makes me feel like such a careful consumer. I have one sweater vest that I bought at J. Crew junior year of high school, and it still looks really cute. I wear it once in awhile, and every time I get a compliment on it I bust out with "it's 10 years old! Can you believe it?" I'm really proud of myself for still wearing this sweater vest.

In my ideal world, I would buy only enough clothing to survive and look reasonably cute at the same time. As a super consumer/eco warrior, my ideals would never be defeated by my need to buy a beautiful but unnecessary pair of boots glimpsed though the window of a neighborhood shoe store while walking home from dinner on Friday. Too bad for me I live in the real world. Hey, but in my real world there's a really great new pair of boots on my feet!