Monday, December 01, 2008

december: brought to you by China

It's hard to escape things that are 'Made in China' but I would like to think that I make an effort in avoiding those products when possible.  Some of the more obvious reasons would be that the products are cheaply made and do not last, I do not support their treatment of animals nor their violation of the Human Rights Act regarding Tibetian treatment.  However, Mike and I have recently realized that China has literally taken over our home.  Even the Swedish company Ikea has their wood products manufactured in China.  All of our kitchenware, from pots to spoons, has been manufactured in China and it gets worse from there.  All of the effort that we put into shopping local seemed wasted when I realized that our home had so many items from China.  

Soon enough

Our trip to Canadian Tire yesteday was to pick up a tree stand for our Christmas Tree and to grab a few decorations to adorn our newest feature.  So we started sifting through the decorations and one-by-one, the same result was reached: Made in China.  Granted, I'm fully aware that Canadian Tire would not be the best place to grab Made in Canada (or anywhere else for that matter) products however we didn't come across a single tree ornament that was made outside of China.  So we pick-and-chose a few things so that our tree won't be completely bare, grabbed a sturdy tree stand (made in Canada thankfully and hopefully cat-proof) and headed home.

This invasion of my home sparked some interest so I began reading online what people have done to kick the Chinese habit.  Some vowed to never purchase Made in China products again.  Others kicked China out of the household for an entire year.  However with most people, especially those on a budget and with small kids, it is almost impossible to say no to China. 

Fortunately, Mike and I are in a position where we can afford to weed out the existing products as they kick the bucket and start replacing them with new ones.  We've already begun with ditching the Chinese plastic utensils that we own  and switching to bamboo.  When it is time to replace our grubby love seat, I'll no doubt turn to Canadian products made of soy-based foams and Earth-friendly fibres.  And that is the part that gets me excited!   


7 comments:

chuch said...

My step dad won't buy anything made in China, and you can't buy him anything either made in China. Sometimes its quite difficult. My mom finds it hard to buy things for the kitchen, inexpensive practical things, but she's not 'allowed to now either'. They have had to pay a fair price for some things. Last year was the joy in ordering a Christmas tree (an artificial one). They found two places in the States and convinced one to ship to Canada.

All the best to you! It is do-able!
Good for you guys!

Amber Csar said...

We are currently living out of suitcases, and NEEDED to get things from Canadian tire yesterday (quinpool center baby), although most was bamboo utensils and stuff, much of it was scary china crap, or scary plastic crap (see air mattress ugh).

Although, we did find a really lovely can opener made in England...who would have thunk?

And to make up for it all, we bought many items made in china from the sally ann...and a Canadian made couch!

I think we aren't doing much for Yule this year, other than get a dog!!! Hopefully he isn't made in China too.

LaDitsterNo1 said...

chuchmuch! i just want to say i love you thiiiiiis much. where are you and what are you doing?! i guess i could facebook you....i'll get to that after.
ummm, what i wanted to say was that i don't think it's necessarily a terrible thing to have some goods from china, but things like spoons are something you should be able to buy in your own country...especially when your country is a source of lumber for others lol
also, where did you find said spoons?! I want some!!

Keira-Anne said...

Perhaps in a future post you can share some of the tips to ditch the China habit that you found online...I'd be interested to read that!

Alissa said...

When I visited home a few months ago, I grabbed a toy at my sister's house for my baby to play with, and my 4-year-old nephew said to me, "Sophie can't play with that because it's Made in China." My sister had evidently taught him about the toy recalls. Bless his heart.

Popcorn string can be a locally made christmas tree decoration! :)

chuch said...

we find a lot of stuff at HomeSense and at Costco.

Hopefully you find something!!

Lindsay Dee said...

*fingers crossed guys*