Target

April wasn't a good month for blogging, ok?

But... I've been saving up some observations and tales of recent acquisitions that I will share.

First... Target.
I have boycotted Walmart for years (which I might need to rethink now that they have pretty legitimately become a "green" company and have pushed other stores to do the same thing), but I have a weakness for Target. It is so obviously classist of me. I prefer the people that I see in Target more than the ones in Walmart. The $6 teeshirts at Target are just as likely to be made in sweatshops as the ones at Walmart. There are no websites (that I know of) making fun of people who shop at Target. Famous designers (that I've never heard of) design the clothes that are then made in sweatshops and sold at Target. So I have historically made a huge exception by shopping at Target. The biggest issue for me is that I walk into the store needing toilet paper and leave with a new bathing suit cover up, some notecards, and a system to organize my shoes--none of which I needed or intended to buy. I once was weak.

But now I am strong.

I went to Target last week for the first time since January. As I walked in, I was initially drawn by the $1 bins, lured by the canvas handbags, and tempted to look at the bathing suits. But.... I took a deep breath and said (aloud), "I do not need any of this."
And I didn't.
We went in to get stencils for a project with Jasper, but left deciding that we could just write our own letters. It was empowering. So, so silly that I felt empowered by NOT shopping at Target, but I did.

I never realized how much money I dropped on incidental crap at Target until I made this resolution to buy nothing new. Try going a month without entering Target. It helped me see how that bullseye was shifting my perception of "need."