So . .. .anyone that knows me KNOWS that I am a news junkie . . . ABC, CNN, MSNBC, FOX, Presidential debates, elections, national events, you name it . . ... I'm the one that shows up for work with a Starbucks (add extra expresso) coffee in the a.m. because I was "following the story" as long as I could stay awake!! If Mom could break her addiction to the national news, we'd actually have dinner as a family WITHOUT the television on. I try . . . I really do, but from the moment I took the poli-sci class my freshman year at UNO, I knew I wanted to be involved in politics. However, I had many, MANY people in my life remind me that I HAD the brains and drive for it, but I lacked the thick skin. How right they were. Fast forward 18 years. Here I am . . .a mom, a wife, a product analyst for a telecommunications company, a sister, a friend, and a former hopeless optimistic and more recently a realist!
There's been a story on ABCNews the past month that has captured my and my oldest child's attention. MADE IN AMERICA. Could you live in your home furnished, eat delicious meals, and go about day to day relying solely on items that are made in America. It struck a chord. I have a family member that was out of work for seven months because "the stimulous money ran out". .... and in the grand scope, that's a SHORT amount of time.
I'm not a fanatic .... but my 5th grader and I decided we'd try to see if we could live with MADE IN THE USA. This blog follows our journey!!! It's not meant to be political, it's not meant to be offensive . . . it's meant to see if the statistics are real......if each resident of the USA spends approximately $5.00 more for made in the usa brands can actually create upwards of 1,000,000 jobs. It's also meant to incent others to possibly incent others to take a second look and wonder if that "extra dollar" for X product is worth keeping the jobs in America.
We are not perfect. We will continue to have foreign products in this house when necessary . . .. but can "word of mouth" and "taking the extra time to look" be contagious and catching. Grass roots . ... that's where all great movements started, right?
DAY ONE:
Hy-Vee Grocery Store
Now granted, groceries SHOULD be the one thing that is easy to find "in country". For the most part it was. However, there were a few things we had to change our mind on.
DOG TREATS.
All but two were made in China! So, instead of buying 20 rawhide sticks for $6.49, we bought the 10 "proudly made in the USA" rawhide/bacon sticks for $5.29
COOKIES.
I am store brand mom. There are very few things I feel the need to buy name brand (except cheese singles, ranch dressing, pop, and cottage cheese). Here's something we found interesting. The Hy-Vee brand of cookies ... vary in their origin. We usually get the sugar wafers ( you know the vanilla, chocolate and strawberry flavors you can pull apart?) ... guess what . . FOREIGN MADE ... however, the Hy-Vee brand chocolate covered grahams and fudge stripes (for the same price) are made in the USA.... guess what ended up in our cart!!!
That's just a sampling. Overall, it wasn't too bad at the grocery store.... and I didn't pay any extra. The one obstacle we couldn't eliminate was mandarin oranges. There was NOT a brand offered that wasn't "MADE IN CHINA" ... so China got $ .92 of ours times two .... but I feel vindicated for the items I purposely bought that kept companies here in business...even $1 or so at a time!!!
Can you do the same .... take 10 seconds to look at the tag!!! Tomorrow my Target trip ..... not as successful, but good choices and good emails!!
Til then ... RED WHITE BLUE!!
