7.13.2010

The Market of Decision-Making.

We're getting settled into our apartment, and I am thoroughly enjoying the routine of a full time job. And yet. There are still so many things that I wonder about and so many things that I didn't realize I needed to learn.

Grocery shopping, for example. Didn't think that something I felt was so routine in my family of five would be so hard to do for just myself and my spouse when I 'grew up.'

Of all the things that I watched my mom do, I always remember watching her stroll confidently through the store, snatching up the things our family needed to thrive. Vegetables, meat, cereal, bread, juice, milk, ice cream...

Now, I find myself wandering through the store trying to make a million different decisions while balancing all of the things we're concerned about: our budget, our health, smart consumerism, our tastes. My husband and I, although we both share a love for food and healthy appetites, have differing opinions on which issue carries the most weight with our choices.

What constitutes "healthy?" Read the FDA requirements for labeling a product as "all natural" versus "organic" and you'll see what I mean.

We want to buy fair trade, organic, eco-friendly, budget-safe products. But how smart can we really be as consumers? [I've gone more than 12 weeks without purchasing BP, but are we setting up another company for an epic failure down the road?] Maybe trying to do it all isn't possible.

I realize now that despite how carefully our parents and their parents tried to protect our well-being, they still learned the hard way that our food, our toys, our education, our energy sources, our transportation, our economy, our government - all have been tainted by one thing or another. None are as sustainable as we had hoped.

When I'm grocery shopping, I feel the profound weight of deciding more than just what we'll be eating for dinner. We are deciding what kind of lives we'll be leading. We are deciding what kind of economy we can sustain. We are deciding who is in charge of our resources. We are deciding whether the health of the world is worth investing in. That's a hard decision to make.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Instead of trying to take the world by the reins, we need to stop being so hard on ourselves. First and foremost is understanding our choices and resources available. We wholeheartedly admit (in our green store) that we don't live 100% organic/green lifestyles. It's about making the right choices for our health and environment and what fits within our family. So you and Matt should each write down your top 3 priorities when it comes to products you use in your home. Then compromise. Perhaps it's trading off shopping every other week, agreeing on the items you don't want in the house or what are the necessary staple items. If everyone made a couple of changes to their daily routine for the better...think of how much ahead of the game the world would be.

Unknown said...

Wow... how cute, like a tiny bird leaping from its nest and trying its wings for the first time, lol. I disagree with Leane. Why does everyone seem to have a formula for everything lol You are way to new at the whole thing for any of that. My first word of advice... stop being so cautious about getting it right and have some fun. Jump on the front of your cart and run through the aisles with your husband like unsupervised children lol jk but seriously, who died and made you president. Avoid becoming a victim of "paralysis by analysis". Keep it simple down to the basics and soon you'll be picking up recipes from here and there and putting together a list for some more sophisticated shopping. The only thing you should absolutely keep your eye on is your budget, no matter what its allocated to... always watch the money. But with a budget as well, you want to start simple and so on. Please don't have any kids until you get your finances and everything else under control. Please I'm begging you lol.

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