stop buying products made in china

We needed a space heater a few weeks ago as our furnace needed to be repaired and it was COLD out. Without thinking, I sent my partner to Target to buy one, and it was days later before I realized it was probably made in China. I just got around to checking, and sure enough it was.

I’m not going to worry about it. We needed it, and we needed it right then. A cold snap came in, we turned on our furnace for the first time this year, and it didn’t work. The alternative would have been paying a premium for a repair person to come on the weekend. This space heater will also help us use less energy all winter as we keep the house quite cool, and a space heater will make that more bearable.

So, count that as one mess-up.

My boyfriend needed to get a gift yesterday, and the closest thing on the way was Pier One. I didn’t think there was any way he’d find something not made in China, but he did. I also picked up a few candles. This isn’t the kind of place where I want to put my money, so next time we’ll plan ahead better and go to a local shop or order from a fair trade catalog, but at least I didn’t blow this particular goal.

I emailed customer service for Born last week to see where the new boots I wanted were made. They never got back to me. I’ll find something else.

I also went shopping this weekend. It was really something to amuse myself since I was already downtown for a haircut. Fortunately, the first thing I picked up was Made in China. I could’ve kept looking and found something else, but it was a reminder that I really didn’t need to be shopping in the first place.

Edited to add: In fairness, Born did contact me today. Replying on 9/8 to a 8/30 email is slow, but they did eventually reply. Unfortunately, the Persimmon boots are made in China, so I still need to keep looking.

I’m reading this book now, and would like to try this experiment, too. I’ve been working on it for awhile now, but will make today my official start date.

At first glance, this may be simple for me since I’m not someone who shops at Wal-Mart and fills a cart-load of crap each week. However, like most people I do have a few things on my shopping list. Before it gets cold out, I will need to buy a pair of flats and possibly a pair of boots. Last night, I emailed the manufacturer of the boots that I want to buy and asked them where the boots were made and the source of the components.

This kind of planning ahead will be necessary, and the side-benefit will be that it may curb any impulse purchases.