The New Year's Resolution

As far as New Year's Resolutions go, my track record has been far from perfect. Good intentions but slow follow through. Three (four?) years ago my resolution was to not use any plastic or paper bags at point of purchase. I broke that by the end of January that year, but years later have pretty much incorporated it into my life. So although the resolution eventually worked, my resolve was tested and often foiled by lack of preparation and general forgetfulness. I would occasionally feel totally defeated by asking for no bag a second to late and watching the guy at the CVS say, "ok, whatever" and quickly deposit it in the trash basket next to him.

After that year I decided I should try to set less hard and fast rules, like use less bags, instead of no bags. Cook at home more often, as opposed to cook every meal at home. Still positive resolutions, but in a more manageable light.

So, what happened this year? I'm going back to hard and fast rules, possibly against my better judgement. Or, I should say, the rules seem pretty hard to me. For the year, I plan to buy only organic or sustainable clothing.

I know that I have friends that would laugh and think it is ridiculous to find it hard at all. They've rarely bought something that wasn't from Savers, Goodwill or Salvation Army, and I think they're awesome for that. I have other friends that think it's the dumbest thing they've heard in a while and don't see the point.

Why is it so hard for me? I like clothes in a way that I feel shallow and embarassed to admit. I know there are more important things in the world then clothes, but I just like them. Fashion makes me happy, whether it's hideous fashion or gorgeous, classic or insane, I find people's personal expression through the clothing that they wear totally interesting. So the first thing that's hard is I just generally like clothes, and it's a bummer to have to knock out a huge majority of the clothing I would normally look at to purchase.

The second thing that's hard is that with two young kids, I can't really spend the time going through the racks at Sal's Army or Savers like I could a few years ago. I love finding a great piece of used clothing, but it usually takes a little (or a lot) more effort than buying new.

The third thing is that it tends to be a lot more expensive to by new organic clothing. I think it's worth it not to trash the planet and it's inhabitants, but I can't deny the fact that there are some really good-looking and super cheap clothes at the local target.

Ok, so that's already a very long first post. Enough for now.
Jenn