Laura and the shopping essay

Nothing has happened in my duller than dull life, so I have written another essay. Thank goodness Jeni is always on hand to provide me with interesting and thought provoking titles. Here is my latest offering:

'There are several approaches a modern woman may take to manage shopping and the environment. Evaluate 2 approaches, highlighting the pros and cons of each'.

This is an extremely thought provoking subject which I will attempt to evaluate using a scientific model, qualitative and quantitative research and my own well founded opinion.Indeed there are many approaches a modern woman may take to manage shopping and the environment. The first and most significant in my book, is to utilise the function of the charity shop or ‘chazza’ as I like to refer to them. Shopping for second hand clothes is extremely environmentally friendly and pays homage to the great need for recycling and sustainable development I learned about doing Jeni’s last essay. No world resources are used in the production of chazza clothes, as they simply arrive at the shop in bin bags already made. They are usually much cheaper than high street bought items too, which cuts down on the energy used getting in a sweat about the price. Also, chazza shops do not take ‘chip and pin’, which cuts down on electricity used to plug in these machines.

However, there are negative aspects to this kind of shopping. Although great for the environment, certain factors about chazza clothes cannot be ignored. Depending on the shop visited, the items can sometimes whiff quite badly and sometimes they are prone to rips, tears and flaws which are not always obvious until you get home. There is also a high chance you will find a great piece, but in the wrong size and then end up in a massive dilemma about whether you can really squash your size 14 ass into a pair of size 10 kex. It is also often difficult to try on chazza clothes before purchase. There is usually only one changing room which is often in the middle of the shop and is poorly sectioned off, with an ill hung curtain which does not pull all the way across and only comes down to your knees. It is a brave soul who will strip down to their undercrackers in these kinds of trying situations. My penultimate point about the negative aspects of chazzas is that a modern woman who shops here has to put up with pensioner conversation as they choose their garments. It cannot be ignored that most people who work in chazzas are close to pushing up daisies and have a pressing need to tell the world about their recent operation or attendance at the funeral of a close friend. Sometimes the health complaints are described so graphically that one feels they are actually in the operating theatre, passing a scalpel over to the doctor as he prepares to cut out a dodgy hip joint. To finish, I must state that chazza shopping is behind the times in many ways and has not responded to market forces. By this I mean that you can now get brand new items of clothing in the Primark for the same price as chazza clobber and so to 'undercut' the competition the chazzas should really lower their prices further, to attract more custom.

My second point about how a modern woman may manage shopping and the environment is to make clothes oneself. This creates the dual function of allowing the modern woman many new items of exciting garb, without putting further strain on the 3rd World sweat shops. It also encourages creativity and deft fingers and stops the modern woman from becoming bored in the home and causing trouble. However, there are many negative aspects to this method of shopping and environment management. Making clothes at home requires some degree of skill and mastery in the area of sewing. If one is not completely proficient in these skills then chaos can break out. I once attempted to make a skirt and was completely bamboozled by the process of putting a zip in it so I didn’t bother. This led to me going around looking like a meff with my unprofessionally finished skirt. This problem can sometimes be avoided if one has creative friends who are better than you at sewing. In fact I have had a couple of really great skirts made for me by Sarah. However, once back in the mists of time, another friend and I were so desperate for new skirts, we chopped up her baby daughters quilt cover. Whether this amounts to child abuse I do not know and despite the fact we ended up with very fashionable lower body wear, I cannot recommend this as a sensible action.

In conclusion, it would seem that the methods I have listed in order for the modern woman to manage shopping and the environment, have both their pros and cons. It is difficult to ascertain if either should be recommended or prioritised in any way. Ideally, one would have enough money so that one could buy those ‘organic’ type clothes which are touted as the best way of being environmentally conscious. But until I manage to earn more either by promotion or developing the confidence to become a prostitute, I think the best thing is just to carry on shopping at Primark.