Barbie to Guzz-me

I know this sounds very egotistical, but I'm going to admit right off the bat that I'm a pretty good consumer. It sounds bad, and I know there are a lot of thriftier and better consumers than me, but I'm proud of my spending habits. My biggest splurge to date would probably be my 100 dollar haircut for when I lobbed off 17 inches for charity, I had a pretty good paycheck back then and it felt good. Oh, and another big splurge that comes to mind is U.C. Davis, Davis has driven me into (student) debt! Here's hoping it'll pay off... A regular splurge of mine would have to be the occasional eating out, this includes the chips you sometimes see me eat in class. Besides those three instances, the majority of my consumption is well thought-out. Prices are compared, deals are sought after, and patience is exerted. To be a good consumer, I think it's important that you also consume little, and if so consciously.
So I had some trouble thinking of the topic of my blog, school, rent, utilities, food is what I basically buy nowadays, if I was still in San Francisco, I’d be shopping more, but since I’m not, I didn’t want to do a project that wouldn’t change anything. Then I realized one thing that puts my consumerist pride to shame, my habit of drinking from water bottles. I know it’s bad! I know! I swear I know! I’ve grown up drinking pre-boiled water, except in restaurants, which I’m pretty sure they serve tap anyway. I’ve gotten so many free, reusable water bottles, I think it’s time I start using them. “Forever In Trouble?” by Chuck Q. Byun emphasizes the need for consumers to take responsibility, but I wonder if the manufactures of the water bottles are to blame as well. For some reason, I’ve never gotten used to Davis water; it has this metallic taste to it, so I’ll start off slow by boiling my own stock.



But why stop there? Plastic is one of the world’s most common resources but is non renewable. Plastic comes from gas, in turn, more plastic consumption equals higher gas prices, chew on that. So I looked up this article about how to use less plastic and realized another big impact I could have on reducing plastic was abolishing the use of plastic bags. When I’m in Davis and I always choose plastic over paper. Why? Because it’s outlawed in San Francisco, and I line my garbage cans with them. In actuality, I’ve don’t need all that plastic. A lot of times I double-line the heavier products so they don’t ripe, and the outer layer ends up being ripped anyway, rendering it useless. So in addition to abolishing water bottles, I’m going to use only my canvas bags when buying anything!
Good luck everyone with your own projects! Happy Blogging!

Janice Lam

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