Question Consumption, Question Everything

I am outraged and upset! I just watched "The True Cost" on Netflix. Admittedly, I've been concerned about the environment, consumption, fast fashion and human rights for years so documentaries like this speak to me. I find I'm becoming incredibly disillusioned and just want to flee the society that we've built. I don't understand how we ended up here. How do you get to a situation where money is the only thing that counts? Where human lives and the environment don't matter? Where we are actively aiding corporations to destroy everything, making money for themselves and returning almost nothing to society? I'm just flabbergasted. 

I studied environmental sciences in university because even as a teenager, I thought there was a better to do things. I thought we could be better. 15 years later and I see little progress. Rather than test the safety of chemicals prior to sending them out wholesale into the environment, we wait and see if they'll cause issues. Even when they are shown to cause a variety of horrible effects, the corporations responsible for them fight tooth and nail to keep them in use. "Money!" they cry. "Removing this chemical from the market will cost us money, jobs, etc. etc". What never seems to be factored into these decisions is the hidden costs: health, the environment, quality of life. 

I left my job as an environmental consultant after three years because I was tired of justifying contamination. One of the questions I was most frequently asked was "can you find me a scientifically justifiable reason that x contamination isn't an issue?". While I do believe that in those cases the contamination was not a problem, it wears on the soul to do that kind of work day in and day out. 

Anyways, being stuck on the couch (Lyme disease - enough is enough!), I've had nothing but time to think about these issues and what I can do to improve the way I live. I rarely shop, make my own personal care products and largely make my own clothing. Sewing is a passion of mine but it creates a lot of waste - scraps of fabric that will never be used, sewing projects that have gone terribly wrong. Also, while I enjoy sewing I often end up making things that I don't really need. And yet, I find it to be a necessary creative outlet. Sewing (and other DIY) gives me a sense of accomplishment. It makes me feel good to create pretty things. I'm trying to focus on turning my ample stash of fabric scraps into something usable. My on-the-go projects for this right now are: (1) a rug out of old denim; (2) a braided rag rug (or possibly basket) out of jersey scraps; and, (3) reusable snack bags. 

Basically, I want to turn this into something useful:

Big basket of scraps

Hopefully, this will turn into something useful

  

Well, this unexpectedly turned into a long rant. What does everyone do with all the excess fabric that stems from sewing? Any ideas?

Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

Well it's been awhile since I've posted. I just don't seem to be able to keep up with this blogging thing. In my defense, I've been extremely ill for the past 3 months. I just recently found out that it's Lyme disease (although I have suspected that for awhile). Basically, my life has been reduced to laying on my couch watching Netflix. Yay Netflix! This has also made my buy nothing pledge a lot easier (although I did buy one pair of really comfy leggings)!

So in the spirit of interacting with the outside world (such a treat these days!), I'd like to share a few thoughts on being quasi-bedridden for 3 months:

(1) Cats make things better. Frankie and Herman have been great company while I lay around all day. Even though they ignore me most of the time! 

(2) You spent most of your time in your pjs and showering is a task of monumental proportions (I assume this also applies to parents with small children). All those cute summer dresses and sandals? As useless as if it were the middle of winter. That doesn't stop me from dreaming up outfits to wear to hypothetical events though ;)

(3) Small goals are important. Since being sick, I've realized that I always get out of bed in the morning. I might spend the rest of the day on the couch, but AT LEAST I GOT UP! Small goals lol. I also try to get outside for a walk once a day. I might only make it a block or two before turning around, but at least I tried. This one is particularly hard for me because I love hiking and haven't really been able to get out this year. 

(4) A large proportion of my wardrobe is me-made! When I actually worked up the energy to go through my closet, I was surprised at how much of my clothing is me-made. I stopped posting garments that I'd made online about 3 years ago because I didn't have time to take photos. Since then, I've made a lot of clothing that had a regular rotation in my wardrobe pre-sickness. I'm going to try to start posting some of it online soon!

(5) In the spirit of reducing clutter, I have done two things:

• Started an Etsy store selling vintage patterns that I've accumulated over the years. Check it out! I had my first sale yesterday - so exciting!! https://www.etsy.com/shop/BlueChickadees

I packed up a bunch of clothing I don't wear anymore and sold it to a local second-hand store. I hope to post some of my handmade items on Etsy as well. 

  I guess after all is said and done, I'm feeling pretty optimistic today - and to top it all off, a friend just sent me this beautiful bouquet of flowers!

Email Overload: Sale! Buy! Buy! Buy!

Happy Sunday!

Have you ever taken stock of how many emails you get in a day informing you of new products (or the same old products), sales, special deals, etc, etc? While I usually just delete this emails, for some reason I never opt out of them. I mean, everyone wants to know about a good sale right? I usually wait for things to go on sale before buying them, so this is important information!!

In the last 24 hours, I have received emails from 15 companies (not counting anything that goes straight to junk mail). Many of these companies send out multiple emails (Groupon and Victoria Secret  email me ~ 3 times/day!!). Is this really necessary?

I think I have email overload and it's overwhelming. I'm currently operating with 6 email accounts (personal, work, school) and it's just too much. I've received about 15 emails while writing this - all useless and deleted immediately. To be honest, I'm compulsive about checking my email. Anytime new mail pops up, I have to check. There will be no little number in brackets next to my inbox, thank you very much! How much time am I wasting deleting things that I don't want or need?

Day 4 of my "buy nothing challenge": time to opt out of all these updates. Will I be able to survive without knowing that x is on sale for 30% or that there's a new and improved bra on the market? Will opting out make any difference at all? I guess we shall see...

:)

Simplify - Day 1

There've been a lot of changes in my life in the last year. I've quit my job last summer, moved to a new city to start a PhD and had my boyfriend move into my apartment. One thing that I've been trying to do for years, but haven't yet managed  is to de-clutter things. Things just seem to be getting worse.

Currently, my closet looks like this:

Oh dear! A jumbled mess, This doesn't even show all of the stuff piled up on the floor (although you may notice that most of the hanging clothes are men's)! No matter how many times I clear out the closet, it just seems to re-fill itself (by magic I swear!!). I find it especially hard to get rid of things that I've made - how can you throw away/donate things that you've spent hours making? I've toyed with the idea of selling things, I haven't convinced myself that people would want to buy me-made clothing. 

My sewing hobby has run amok. My fabric stash is overflowing and my sewing machine collection is now back up to 5! I can't help it, it makes me happy. If I have a bad day, a trip to the fabric store makes it all better. For the past 5 years, my fabric stash has been growing exponentially faster than I can sew. 

 Last weekend, I had a moment of madness where I bought two vintage sewing machines at Value Village. One, the beautiful blue one below, was a reasonable purchase that replaced a machine that just stopped working. 

I also bought a vintage Singer in a sewing table that weighs a ton. It weighs so much, it's still in the car because I dread getting it into the apartment. Despite having coveted having a similar machine for years, I regretted buying it immediately. Why do I need 5 machines? Where am I going to put it? I'm a PhD student, why am I wasting money on things I don't need?1?! At this point, I'm not even 100% sure that it works. Eek!

The aftershock and guilt of my buying spree led me to the following resolutions:

(1) I will not buy ready-to-wear clothing for 1 year. If I need something, I will make it myself (ideally with fabric that I already own). I'm giving myself a get of jail free card for three pieces of clothing (because you never know).
(2) With the exception of food, I'll try not to buy other products. I have more than I need so why add to what I already have?
(3) I will get rid of things that are not useful or improving life in some way.

Day 1 down. 364 to go. :)