What's in Your Shopping Cart?

It's that time again,back to school shopping! I usually love shopping but this year it was just too much! I think everyone had the same idea as C and I. We went to the uniform shop, busy. We went to Target, busy. As we were almost done at Target I remembered that C needed a "dressy" pair of shoes and my little niece needed a birthday present. Being that my niece is 3 I knew there was a good chance that some of her favorite things had been recalled.Which in turn reminded me that I am trying my darnest to boycott China. I was looking for My Little Ponies and some of her other favorites. None were to be found. They were recalled, I suppose. Then I remembered I had promised her Playdough. When she was over 2 weeks ago she and G had played with it and she loved it! I had told her next time I saw her I would bring her some. So I was off to find the Playdough. We found it. I figured it was there because it wasn't made in China. WRONG! Playdough is made in china?! Yup. Did I give in? Yes. Why? I made a promise and I couldn't find any substitutes. After that my guilt ridden self took C to the Target shoe section. All I could find were made in china shoes! I'm not saying ALL of Targets shoes are made in China, but all of the ones in her size and of the dressy persuasions were! Geez! I was tired from shopping but determined not to give in again, so I asked C if we could go to Once Upon a Child and see if they had loafers or something there. She was fine with that. (Thank God!) I don't have alot of time to shop and run around for shoes, but I figure if the item is second hand I can live guilt free, right?

After are shopping I was exhausted. It was a while before I decided to unload our days purchases. As I was unloading it dawned on me to look and see where everything had come from. This is what I found:

Made in China

• Body Loofah


• Foohy Erasers


• Crayola flash cards


• Rose Art Washable Markers


• Elmars Glue


• Target Bandages


• 2 Piggy Banks from the dollar bin


• Starpoint Tinkerbell folder


• Focus folder


• Sweet Art folder


• Maybe it's time,inc folder


• AND the big heart breaker......High School Musical Folder

Made in USA or else where

• Cotton Cotton balls, USA


• PaperMate pens, Mexico


• PaperMate pencils, USA


• Bic pens, Mexico


• Crayola Colored Pencils, Brazil


• Crayola Crayons, USA


• Color Sharp highlighters, USA


• Target Disinfecting Wipes (their answer to Clorox wipes), USA


• Method aroma spray, USA


• School Uniforms, USA


• Norcom construction paper, note books, and loose leaf paper, Mexico


• Fruit of the Loom tank tops, El Salvador


• Hanes crew socks, USA

As you have seen from my list, not all of Crayola's products are manufactured in the same country. I found this to be true with several companies. I'm sure there are many more. Target's Circo brand, for instance, had blue knee socks made in China. Circo also had similar socks that were made in Mexico and the United States.

As I have fully realized,from today's adventures, boycotting China is not easy. However it is necessary. The companies of the USA and China have to see that we know what goes into Made in China and we care about what goes into Made in China. I am willing to read labels and do the best I can to stop buying Chinese manufactured products.

Lastly, I have to comment that buying Chinese manufactured products isn't always cheaper. Many of the competing products out there are BOTH made in china. I picked up 2 packages of undershirts. One was Fruit of the Loom the other was some Target off brand. The off brand wasn't in it's rightful place, so I decided to take both packages to the scan station to see how much it was. Turns out the off brand was a dollar more expensive for the same about of undershirts and the off brand was Made in China. I suddenly had two good reasons to go with Fruit of the Loom.