Angela Barton

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I Broke the Compact

May 18, 2010 by Angela Leave a Comment

My adorable niece turned eight last week, and one of the gifts we sent her was BRAND NEW CLOTHES! Definitely not Compact-approved, so I’m coming clean here.

Do I regret it? No way. She’s wearing one of the tops in this photo, she liked it and wanted to wear it on her birthday while she opened up the rest of her gifts.

This is the first new clothing I’ve bought in 16 months, but I don’t feel bad about it. I haven’t bought anything for myself, but I’m going to stick by my Compact-lite philosophy and not beat myself up if I want to buy something new once in awhile, especially as a gift for someone I love.

I will say, though, that I didn’t intentionally set out to buy her new clothes. I was looking for some pajamas for her to wear at her birthday sleepover, and I couldn’t find any and thought maybe the tops would work as pajamas. But then I just decided I wanted to buy them anyway, even though she probably wouldn’t wear them as pajamas. Children’s pj’s are in the general Compact exceptions list, I guess because they’d be too hard to find in good used condition for growing kids, and they’re almost like underwear.

She really loves green these days (see the highlights in her hair? Her mom put them in for her birthday gift) and so I wanted to find something green for her. And I’m actually really happy that I found this top, she looks so cute in it.

So I’m ‘fessing up about my recent non-Compact purchase. I don’t feel guilty about it and I don’t regret it. I’m just reporting the event. Just the facts, Jack.

Click here to see a cute photo of my niece wearing her Compact-y Christmas gift. What are your favorite Compact-y gifts for kids? Please leave your ideas in the Comments section.

Filed Under: confessions, consumerism, gifts, holidays, the compact

About Angela

On January 1st, 2009, I joined The Compact and pledged to Buy Nothing New for one year. It sounded like the perfect way to converge my desire to live on less money with my interest in living a simpler life and trying to lessen my carbon footprint. The experiment was so rewarding that I'm continuing with it indefinitely. This blog documents my journey in non-consumerism.

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