daily consumption

I just saw a cool art project about daily consumption and it got me thinking...I consume more here than I do anywhere else. And, well it is mainly because I don't have a kitchen so I have to venture out on my own to buy food and snacks. But at the end of everyday, I come home with tons of receipts. Usually back in the US I say "no receipt" or just immediately throw away my receipt, but here I collect receipts because there is a lottery number on there. Taiwan does a drawing every two months, and there are many cash prizes. There is one grand prize [if you match all the seven numbers] for $2million NT, which is about $62,000US. Then there are three first place numbers if your all the digits match, then 2nd place prizes if the last six digits match, and so on...all the way til if the last three digits match any of the 1st place numbers. And last month I won that last place prize~~$200NT! So because I consume so much on a daily basis, there should be a pretty big chance that I would at least win some money.

Anyhow, I never really thought about how much I was consuming until today when I saw the art project and opened my desk drawer to see a thick pile of my receipts, just from April so far. I went out earlier for less than an hour and already spent 23NT to print out powerpoint slides, 85NT for tomato shrimp rice meal, 190NT for a pullover sweater, 25NT for one small yogurt, and 60NT for a bottle of oatmeal drink. On any given day, my wallet is filled with at least four receipts when I return home. In the beginning of this semester I actually kept a log of what I was buying and how much I was spending. Taiwan is a cash-based society, which I wasn't used to since I hate carrying around cash and just use my card whenever. But now I always carry cash and rarely use my card. So it was hard keeping track of what I was buying since by the time I got home ready to pencil in my purchases, I had already forgotten most of the stuff I bought that day. This logging merely lasted for a week!

I have to admit, however, that sometimes I feel like I am consuming an excessive amount. I always usually stick with buying things that are necessary, but it's hard to resist when there are so many clothes, shoes, breads, cakes, and vendors in my face, enticing me to buy something. At one point a couple weeks ago I felt overwhelmed with having to buy something everyday. I buy all my groceries at different places because there is no big supermarket near me, and certain fruits are different places range in prices. Like I buy grapefruits (4 in a bag) from Wellcome, a small British-chain grocery store, for 40NT, then 8 Gala apples from a fruit vendor near school for 100NT, guava already cut from 7-11 downstairs for 27NT per pag, and bananas wherever is cheapest. The prices of fruits are always fluctuating. I miss grocery stores where I can buy everything I need under one roof. There are international grocery stores in Taipei, but they are extremely expensive and not in walking distance.