The Mega Mart Mentality

 There is a summer commercial that I really like.  A man is talking about the advantages of a small store compared to the megastores. Saying that it takes a big chunk of your weekend to go to and locate what you want in the big store when you can find what you want at the local little store in less time.

We are living in the age of mega marts, giant stores that offer you everything from food to lawn tractors to electronics.  The idea that is being sold is multi- shopping, picking up everything you think you need at one time to save you time.  But does it really?  When I food shop that is what I am doing buying food.  Same with lawn and garden or clothes or electronics; I want to focus on what I am looking for and not be distracted by what I am not looking for.  The idea these mega marts are selling is the more we see the more we want the more we buy.

There was a grocery store in the neighborhood that my mom and I used to go to when I was young.  It had five aisles and a produce section.  It took thirty minutes to shop; counting catching up on all the news with the butcher.  Yes we basically bought the same foods in a rotation but I don’t remember thinking I wish there was something better out there.  I liked that it was convenient and easy; I had more time to play.

Don’t we all want more time to play?

The more diverse the shopping trips the more unfocused they become.  Let’s face it who of us isn’t easily distracted (look squirrel).  We not only multi task at work but now it has invaded all parts of our lives. When we try to do multiple things at one time it is only frustrating and none of the tasks gets done as well as they could.

When we focus on a task then the task becomes easier to master and, as a consequence, will take less time.

 When was the last time you did something that had your full attention?  Really? You weren’t thinking about the last thing you did or the next thing you had to do.  Think about it and just it.

If you can!

When the new "simple" is simply silly

Was food shopping the other day and came across this new product.  I can't tell whether I found this silly because of the idea of paying more for the convenience of cooking something the same way it is always cooked but adding a bag or............no I think that is it.

The Media’s Message

In the last post I mentioned that the media’s goals are to get you to follow the latest trends.  This has been the goal since the first advertiser paid for the first space in the first magazine.
Going back to WWII when most of the male work force was overseas fighting for our freedom, the factories needed workers to produce the goods to keep up the war effort.  Where was this work force to come from and how where they to get the public to support it?   Hence an American poster woman was born, Rosie the Riveter. 

She was on the cover of magazines, posters of her hung on walls and the message was “Women do your patriotic duty”.  So women hit the factories, they stepped up to the plate and did what was needed of them.

Then, thank goodness, the war ended and the men came home.  Now what do you think the media popularized?  Stories of the good stay at home wife and how children of working mothers were neglected, hanging in alleys, doing drugs and joining gangs.  Now it was a woman’s patriotic duty to stay at home and raise her family; leave “the work” to the men.
Move along some 30/ 40 years and we have the 70’s and 80’s when a woman could “bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan and never, ever let you forget you’re a man”. 

That stereotype almost wiped out a whole generation.  My point is that the advertising we see at every turn is meant to make us think that what we are seeing is the norm and we are out of sync with “everyone” if we don’t own it, do it and think it. 
New ways and new gadgets are just different, not necessarily better for you. Only you can decide that not some ad in a magazine directed at a demographic of society.  You know you are more than a statistic.
  The economic downturn is hitting everyone differently and people are forced to reevaluate their choices.  Turning the clock back on our lives is not easy and it can be seen as doing without instead of just doing life differently.  So close the magazines and infomercials and let’s compare how it used to be to how it is and make your own decisions.

Home Economics

Home Economics

I am a collector of books on home economics.  These books stress the economy of running a home.  Reading through these books I recognize some of the things my mother used to do.  Mom only had an 8^th grade education but learned the low-cost method of home management from my grandmother.

Home Economics was not something a woman with career goals studied in the 70’s.  I was college bound and didn’t need to take all those girlie classes.  I wasn’t spending my life cooking, cleaning, sewing and being domestic. Yuck!  Who needs that? Well as it turns out, everyone. 

As my children were growing up I attended school functions, coached a team, and made sure all the holidays were as they should be.  I worked full time and made the house a home to the best of my ability. The first time I can remember thinking they may not be getting all the education they needed was when the microwave broke.  They stood in front of it so perplexed I asked what was wrong. “How are we going to cook anything?” I looked at them and thought they were joking, “See that big square thing in the corner?  That does just want the microwave does and more.”  Laughing I walked away and didn’t give it another thought.

Now they are all “grown” up.  I visit my daughter at her apartment for lunch from time to time.  I noticed after several lunches that she always served tuna fish.  When I asked her about it she just said she didn’t know how to cook.  Smack right between the eyes, mother’s guilt.  Sure enough when I asked the others I got the same response.  All of a sudden home economics seemed like a very necessary class.

I don’t feel singled out in my oversight; in fact when I asked the kids friends it seemed the majority of them were in the same state.  None of these children were neglected in any way.  Grades were coached as well as sports teams.  As parents we made sure they were well adjusted budding adults on their way to independence.  They were trained to cope with the world but not  the laundry. 

In trying to remedy this situation I find myself telling them stories of how I learned to do things around the house with my Mom.  I grew up at the tail end of the baby boomers with parents who used words like “ice box’ and “phonograph”.  My Pop was the eldest son of Italian immigrants and my Mom was the eldest daughter of second generation Irish.  They were the age of my friend’s grandparents though my Mom swore I was planned.  They were children of the depression and children of the depression raise their children differently.

In explaining how I do things I started to wonder why these methods have been made so complicated over the years.  Not only complicated but dangerous and expensive.  Perhaps they are just getting lost is the media push to get the newest products into every one’s homes.

Well for me it is back to basics and I want to take you along for the ride.  Enjoy.

Cheers,
Maria

Mom in her Kitchen

The Tortoise and the Hare

Remember Aesop's fable showing that slow and steady wins the race.  Well I certainly hope he was right because I am definitely being slow with getting this blog up and running. I am trying to get over a zillion what if scenarios that are going around in my head. To that end I am going to ask a favor of my true and loyal friends, give me some ideas.  What, if anything, would you be interested in seeing compared? I have my own ideas, but as my friends you know I love input. I am not anything if not curious about what other people are thinking. So if you have any ideas I would love to hear them.

Cheers,
Maria