Bugger.
My ‘True Cost’ challenge this month has really been about thinking more about where my clothes come from and the ‘true cost’ for humanity and for the environment of the choices that I was making.
Honestly I’m being doing really well.
I’m not going to lie and say that in the last 9 days I haven’t purchased anything. But I have done a lot of thinking about it first, rather than the impulse buy.
On Friday I hit my first really challenge, hurdle one. I went to see Green Day at Rod Laver Arena, here in Melbourne.
You guys don’t really know me much but one thing that I love almost as much as my dogs is Green Day.
So off I went with my brother and his wife to Green Day and the first thing I was faced with was the merchandise tent.
A few things came to mind.
- Bands make money from touring and merchandise, not record sales (hello justification for purchase!)
- You said you weren’t buying unnecessary stuff, do you really need this? Where did it come from?
- If you don’t buy something you like now, you won’t ever have another opportunity.
So I didn’t buy anything. I looked from a far and felt happy about my decision.
Until I woke up the next morning, after having one of the best nights ever, without my souvenir purchase.
So the following night (Green Day were playing two sold out shows), I went all the way back into town (1 hr drive + 1 hr walk) to buy my canvas Green Day tour bag. Satisfied and I kinda feel like I earned it and it wasn’t an impulse purchase.
Enter hurdle two.
Late last month, I purchased a dress which I was going to wear as a wedding dress. It cost me about $450 AU, which is a lot for a normal dress and not much at all for a wedding dress. I bought it having tried on a different size in the store and ordering in the right colour.
The rookie error, I hadn’t tried on the colour I liked in the size I needed. So I went back today when it had arrived in store only to find that it wasn’t really the wedding dress that I had in mind and that I couldn’t get a refund.
Knowing I would never wear a white dress for any other reason, I exchanged it for a grey one. It’s perfect for the next wedding I am going to but retrospectively I should have thought more about the purchase and just got it ordered in and not actually paid for it until I tried it on. The last wedding I went to I wore a dress that cost $35 from a discount outlet, now I’ll be rocking a $450 beauty. Safe to say I’ll be making sure I get my moneys worth on this one.
Think a little,
Mel