Destroy the capitalist beast that resides within me

I no longer have the compulsion to buy things I don’t plan on buying, and I can easily walk out of a store without buying anything if they don’t have what I wanted. (It helps that I’m fairly picky.) I’ve also worked on remembering that every $10 I spend now, robs me of $97 in 25 years, due to compound interest. O_O THAT IS A LOT OF MONEY!

just thinking today about how totally disgusting the human race is. i mean, really, people. we almost never rely on ourselves but just walk on over to our best friend walmart and pick something up.

when we make things (that we really don’t need), we buy stuff to make it. i wanted to make a tie-die shirt a couple days ago. what did i buy?
- a white t-shirt
- tie-die mixes from walmart
- freezer paper from a grocery store chain

if i were to actually destroy the capitalist beast within me, i would make my own fabric from fleece from sheep, the make it into a shirt, and dye it with natural fruit dyes from the fruit trees in my back yard.

if only.
peace.

whenever i buy something i’ve been thinking to myself, “okay, you can buy this, but could you buy it at a local store, or could you make it yoursel? could you grow it?”
which is always a good thing.
instead of going to starbucks during lunch, i go to the local coffee shop across the street. instead of buying shoes at a big retailer, i bought them at a local shop. and for the past month, i haven’t bought anything from large chains because i couldn’t. i bought everything from local shops.
okay, so i bought five new shirts at gap, two at zumiez, six pairs of underware at jockey, and a grande sweetened black ice tea with light ice and a chocolate cupcake from starbucks in the past 24 hours.
but i’m noticing, “hey. stop and think about your purchases.”

grow.

I’m not so much “destroying” the beast as simply neglecting it.

It’s over there in the corner whimpering.

Not much for me. A little at the grocery store, but other than that, I haven’t been consuming much stuff. Little desire too, really.

Signed up for PaperBackSwap.com so my book buying has been curbed a bit, plus I get to get rid of stuff. I’ve taken to waiting to find things on craigslist/freecycle a lot more than I used to. I can’t tell if my patience has lengthened, or if I really just don’t want as much junk. I think it stems from the fact that I haven’t been very busy, so I haven’t felt any sort of need to just “release” or to be entertained.

My life feels very simple, and I like it. A lot. I’m interested in homesteading, but definitely can’t raise animals or really grow a garden here in the apartment, though an herb garden would be pretty cool. I amaze myself with my own great ideas, or something like that…

succumbs.

This “need” to acquire…

It is just as powerful as ever.

Sigh.

You cannot kill the beast. You are a consumer. You are the beast.

I went to Target wednesday. I needed to iron a dress shirt because it wouldn’t come out nice in the dryer, and I couldn’t think of anywhere else to go until after I was there, THEN I managed to think of going to a thrift store.

Do’H! Other than that, I am doing pretty well on this goal.

I think this beast has been slain, but it continues to try and arise from its own ashes, and I must practice constant vigilance against its return.

Must… want… less… not more…

It is SO WEIRD to think about corporations. Sears’s goal: “to create customers for life.” SCARY!

To see kids innundated by advertisements, and knowing they are being marketed to by everyone from MTV to Victoria’s Secret and Kellogg’s cereal is disturbing.

And those corporation know, that once people get into the habit of doing things and going places, well… old habits die hard, as I’m experienceing myself right now. The idea of “hook ‘em young” extends far beyond the tobacco industry…