End

It has been over a year and my challenge fell short of the mark. I believe I would have been successful had it not been for moving across the country.

Since it didn't make financial sense to move all of our mediocre furniture with us, we left everything behind except the bed and bought new furniture at IKEA.

Nothing at IKEA is made in the USA, but I have always been pleased with the quality of their products. You do have to weed out some cheaper pieces, but we've disassembled and reassembled our IKEA bed frame twice now and it is no worse for the wear.

The lessons I learned from my challenge were:

• If you stop and think about the quality of what you're buying and how it was made you end up buying a lot less stuff. This was extremely useful and I will continue with this mindset.
• There are some items for which a USA made alternative is impossible to find (most electronics and plastics).
• Locally made does not always equal better quality.
• It is fun to map where items come from.

In the future, I will continue to look to support local producers. It makes good sense environmentally and it cuts way back on unnecessary spending via impulse buying. Most cheap deals are really just cheap deals and we are validating that business model when we buy low quality products produced in undesirable conditions. The flipside is that we live in a global economy and the trade of goods can be an amazing and positive experience for all.

And with that, I put this blog to rest.