Week 3

Mary Qin
ASA 141
Week 3

I have been dreading writing this blog post all week because I didn't want to admit that I had broken the rules of this challenge and didn't even realize it until I was already walking out the door of the store. I bought a grand total of three dollars worth of items from the Dollar Tree for a club meeting and didn't even realize what I had done until after I was walking to my car. Immediately, I felt regret. These items that had felt so essential a second ago, suddenly felt wasteful and completely unnecessary. I realized that I could have probably asked my friends first to borrow items that they already had and I would have for sure been able to find something similar. I couldn't see myself reusing all of these items after the meeting either, which made me feel even more guilty about my purchase. Immediately, I looked up the Dollar Tree's return policy and was disappointed to find that all sales were final.

This moment really made me realize how privileged and addicted I am to the feeling of instant gratification that shopping creates. If I want something, I can just go and get it. It is almost instant and super easy, especially nowadays with online shopping. I hardly even think twice about it or really consider the worth of the purchase. Most of these things that I buy are impulsive, one-time use, and always seem super essential until after I buy it.

A article on "MamaMia!," a website for women, mentions an article where a woman talks about how she spent $11,000 in three months before she realized her shopping addiction. She writes that she once saw this woman wearing these sneakers that she had to have. So, she followed her for blocks until she found them online. "I bought these sneakers without even thinking if I needed them," she said. I feel like I can relate a lot to this, but at a lesser level. This challenge made me think more about what I buy and really consider whether or not the item I am buying is essential. I feel like I have gotten quite good at limiting purchases for myself, but it's always items for meetings or other people that I struggle with and forget about.

I do still feel tempted to follow the fashion trends and wish I could build more of a style for myself. Parminder Bhachu's article, "Its Hip to be Asian" mentions how the salwaar-kameez was made very fashionable by British celebrities. Personally, I find that watching these celebrities wear these ethnic clothing makes me admire the clothing more even if I did not have a appreciation for Asian ethnic clothing before this. I feel like the popularity of the salwaar-kameez shows the influence that celebrities and the media have on us. It changes the meaning of clothes and it becomes to mean something different. Like in the film that we watched in class about the Japanese women dressing like chicanos, those Japanese women chose to dress in that
way because of the way the clothing makes them feel empowered. I feel like sustainability is super important, yet clothing is also an amazing way to be able to express yourself in different stages of your life. This makes me realize why fast fashion is so popular and makes me wish that it could be still sustainable.

Anonymous. “‘I Spent $11,000 in Three Months before I Realised My Shopping Addiction Had Gone Too Far.".” Mamamia, Mamamia, 27 Apr. 2019, www.mamamia.com.au/identifying-shopping-addiction/.

Bhachu, Parminder. "It's Hip To Be Asian". 2004.