With the violent slam of a door, came a ripple effect that almost had me breaking The Compact. (Buy nothing new movement.)
Almost.
The door slam caught my 10-year-old’s poor big toe, which suddenly made his shoulda’ made it through the summer sandals a non-option.
The Keen sandals scored as hand-me-downs were suddenly painful to put on.
Crud.
Spontaneously finding used shoes for a 10-year-old boy is no easy task. Most of the time they look like they’ve been worn by some crazed toe-dragging Sasquatch wannabee.
Don’t get me wrong. I am fully committed to finding like-new used shoes for my family.
You heard me right.
Used shoes.
But it usually takes some lead time.
But even The Non-Consumer Advocate is not going to make her beloved son wear shoes that hurt and get in the way of healing.
So I started to talk myself into getting him a pair of brand-new Croc style shoes. Easy to put on, and nice and soft for his hurt toe. (I normally hate the plastic nastiness of Crocs, they bug the @*&% out of me!)
“C’mon Katy, He needs them. Stop being so extreme. What more important – The Compact or your son?!”
I decided to indulge just one teeny stop at Goodwill to try out my used Croc-buying luck.
And what do you know?
I found a pair of perfectly good, hardly used pair of Crocs in his size for just a buck ninety-nine.
The Non-Consumer Advocate is on fire!
I am firm believer in responsible purchasing. Every thing that gets bought creates a vacuum for another thing to be manufactured.
I don’t want to be personally responsible for unnecessary manufacturing.
So now I can relax in my Compacty-ness, safe in the knowledge that my buy nothing new stance is safe for one more day.
Now if I could just get that Sasquatch fellow to stop dragging his feet.
Want to know more about the relationship between consumer demand and responsible manufacturing practices?
Watch Annie Leonard’s Story of Stuff video. It’s super entertaining and informative too!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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You can also recycle worn crocs when the time comes.
This year Crocs started a program called Soles United that takes old Crocs, shreds the rubber and makes it into new shoes that are shipped to needy people around the globe.
Send your old Crocs to:
Crocs Recycling – West
3375 Enterprise Ave.
Bloomington, CA. 92316
Crocs Recycling – East
1500 Commodity Blvd.
Lockbourne, OH 43137-9277
For more information on the Soles United program, visit http://www.solesunited.org.
Well done. I personally haven’t joined The Compact yet – but I’m getting there.
Just wanted to say thanks for the Story of Stuff link, I watched it a couple of days ago and now it’s going to be a centre piece for an upcoming Sustainability Awareness Campaign I’m running for my Local Council (local government).
Cheers
Oh, Heck! I’VE BEEN DOIN’ THIS STUFF SINCE DIRT WAS NEW. I’m pushing 68, now. Anybody with half a brain in their head knows this kind of thing. Such as……….mow the leaves repeatedly in the fall, til they settle back into the grass. Don’t buy fertilizer (or herbicide) for the lawn. Don’t rake grass clippings and dispose of them. Cut the grass more often and let them fertilize the soil, like nature intended. Till under almost all of your garbage. Etc. ad infinitum