30 day challenges

I absolutely love TedTalks and I found some inspiration from this one by Matt Cutts (who apparently got his inspiration from others). He wrote a novel in 30 days. Was it good? Not according to him. But he did it. I find New Years resolutions to be difficult. A year is way too long for most things. I need mini goals, so I thought the idea of 30 day challenges is great! And I also completely get what Matt says about new experiences slowing down time. Apparently the idea for 30 day challenges is common, there's websites that let you track your progress and many blogs dedicated to various 30 day challenges (see http://30daychallenges.net/ and http://30daychallengearchive.tumblr.com/ for example).

So I started my first 30-day challenge last week. My goal is to work through the book Microsoft Access 2007 Data Analysis by the end of February. I have been trying to learn more about databases for awhile and I decided this is the kick I need to get started. I will let you know how it goes in a few weeks!

I am hoping to get hooked on these eventually, with breaks in between each challenge. Some of my ideas are really something new or different, and others are just things I need to make myself do. These are a few of my ideas so far:
-write a thoughtful letter or email each day
-do something creative each day (like drawing or a poem)
-organize a fundraiser
-complete a big home project (since we moved, there are so many of these)
-learn a newer version of GIS software
-do something outside the house each day (it's easy to stay home since I'm not working right now)
-meditate for 20 minute a day (so easy to do, yet so easy not to do)
-get rid of a file a day (having been a perpetual student, I have way too many files)

Why I love second hand

http://savers.com/Default.aspx

In the past, I've been guilty of buying new clothes and later not liking them. I think there's something about just how good the stores are at marketing the clothes. The displays, the lighting, evening the mirrors in the dressing rooms seem to make everything look better. But then I go home, wear it a few times, and decide that what I bought really wasn't so great.

Now, completely unrelated to the above experience, I have wanted to start shopping for used clothes primarily to lessen my environmental impact. But I starting realizing there are many benefits to buying used. 

1. Less environmental impact. My consumer dollars are no longer going to buy new manufacturing in other countries, since the stores were paid by the original owner of the clothes. Literally someone's "trash" is my treasure. No new pesticides will be released into the environment and no dyes or bleach will be spilled to manufacture my clothes. No gas will be spent transporting them halfway around the world. The only impact I can think of is the utilities to keep the store open, and my driving to the store (if I have to drive). And those impacts are true of anywhere I'd be buying clothes. 

2. No slave labor. I no longer have to worry about poor worker conditions and child labor in other countries when I buy clothes, because I didn't pay a store for their new items that could go toward employing workers in bad conditions.

3. The money often goes to a good cause. This does depend on where you buy the clothes since there are for-profits like Filene's basement and Plato's closet, but a lot of second-hand stores are run by charities that use the money for workforce training, and sometimes more specialized program like afterschool programs for kids. Some stores in Austin with charitable programs-Goodwill, Savers (Easter Seals), Assistance League, St. Vincent de Paul, and St. Michael's Academy.

4. It's much cheaper. For example, I bought an Ann Taylor knit shirt for $9 and a Danskin organic cotton shirt for $4. And you can go even cheaper by looking at what may seem like less desireable items (like this blog that I love!). Sometimes if you spend a lot of time looking around you can get these kind of deals on new clothes, but I'd say it's probably much harder to find deals like these on new, good quality clothes.

5. If I buy the clothes, I must love them. The fancy displays don't exist. Everything is thrown together on the racks. The lighting is bad and the dressing room mirrors are normal mirrors. If I pick it out and it looks good, then I probably will wear it. But if I end up not loving it, I don't feel as bad because it was pretty cheap in the first place.

There's a few items that so far I'm not willing to buy used. Undergarments and socks, for example. I haven't bought used shoes yet but might consider it if they were washable and I could put in new insoles (but I think this eliminates most shoes). I am also sure there will be occasions where I am looking for a very specific item that I will need to buy new. So I'm trying to find responsible sourcing for these items. My experience so far is that it's more difficult (and way more expensive) to buy new responsible items than it is to find something used.

Also, under this system not everyone can buy used. There would have to be new manufacturing coming into the system somewhere. But from what I've seen, once you find the right second-hand clothing stores, there's lots of good second-hand options available. My favorite so far is Savers. These stores probably exist because of people like me, who would buy clothes and later realize that they were not what they wanted after all. If you want to buy used clothes but don't know where, a good place to start looking is Yelp! Now if I could find something like this for good home furnishings I'd be in heaven, but so far everywhere I've looked for used furnishings is actually really expensive when they are in good condition. Maybe because they would be considered antiques, but they are more pricey than what I'd be buying new. Ideas anyone?