Consumerism

I had to go into town today to get Dad's birthday present. It amuses me that after one day of being unable to shop, half of Whangarei felt the need to hit The Warehouse with vengeance. I haven't seen a Warehouse that busy since Christmas.

It makes me wonder about our consumer habits as a species. One of the thing that is hit home to me again and again via uni and from what I observe at work is that one of the major causes of climate change and all that is evil with the world comes down to one thing: consumerism.

We shop, therefore we are. I can't claim to be perfect, I'm definitely a consumer whore for sure, however with the move in 3 and a half months or so I find myself constantly asking: do I need this? Do I really want it and most importantly: is it worth moving? 90% of the time the answer is 'no'. At the moment this means that my money (for the most part) goes on transport, food, savings and bills. It's a nice way to be, I only hope that I can continue to keep my consumer urges at bay and keep it up once I actually get to Wellington.

Because the fact is, I don't need half the shit I own and I do want to get rid of it. I'm about to start hocking things off on TradeMe at a huge rate for three reasons:

1. I don't need it
   
2. I don't want to move it
3. I need every cent I can scrape together in the next 3 months

I've started this process from Whangarei already. The price I generate for my giant pile of crap isn't particularly important. The important thing is that it's no longer in my possession and I haven't just thrown it out, because chances are there's someone out there who actually does want it.