Target & T-Shirts (Day 18)

Two of my weakness. This weekend I had to stare them both down in the face for the first time since starting "No More Stuff." Here are the stories and what I learned from them:

The T-Shirt:
This weekend I was heading back to Indy after a couple of weeks on the road for work. As I was walking through the Atlanta airport, a t-shirt in one of the shops caught my eye. I liked it. A lot. I went in the store knowing full well I wasn't going to buy it, but just to check it out close up. I must like to torture myself... when I saw it up close I liked it even more. And then... I looked at the price tag.

$12.00

Only $12.00!?! It's like it was BEGGING me to buy it! My heart sank, because any other time I probably would have bought it without another thought. And when I realized that... I began to think about how often I do that. And how often we as a society do that. I buy things all the time without analyzing whether I actually need it or not, how much I'll use it/wear it, how long it will last, and how much money I've spent on similar items. In that moment, as I walked away from the t-shirt, I was really struck by how little thought I give to buying things. I see something I want, and assuming it's reasonably priced, I buy it. Done. As I thought about this the rest of the day, this is what I began to think about:

$12.00 is practically nothing to me. So I don't give a lot of thought to spending that much on a t-shirt, etc. But to other people in this world $12.00 could mean a life saving vaccination, clean water for years, almost a year's worth of education... in other words, to me $12.00 is a cute t-shirt. To someone else, it could be the difference between life and death. How many lives could I help save but don't because I choose to buy things I don't need?

The Trip to Target:
Come on, what's not to love about Target? You can find practically everything you need there... and a lot of things you don't - but that are awesome. And that's what gets me in trouble every time I go. Every trip usually looks the same: I make a list. I take it with me. I have very good intentions to buy what's on the list and only what's on the list. As I'm checking off the list something inevitably catches my eye... I start wandering around... and before I know it I'm leaving Target having wasted way more time and money than necessary. It's ridiculous, and I usually end up mad at myself for it.

So when I lost my phone charger somewhere between the 7 or 8 hotels I stayed at in the last couple of weeks and a Target trip was deemed necessary, I was nervous about how hard it would be to not buy ANYTHING else. (After conferring with Whitney we agreed that while a material item, purchasing a new charger was a necessity, because she doesn't have the same kind I need and my cell phone is my only phone.)

As I walked in I decided my best bet would be not to tempt myself by looking around. I actually looked at the floor most of the way back to electronics. I grabbed the correct charger, and walked with purpose and tunnel vision to the checkout. As I grabbed my bag and reciept and marched out the front door I realized I had set a new record time for myself in Target... and another record - I didn't waste a single second or a single cent looking at or buying something I didn't need. And you know what? That felt really great!