Buying American Made?

How many things do you own that were actually made in America? I dare you to gather up 10 random things and check. Are you horrified? I would be if I played that game with myself. Manufacturing in foreign countries is so inexpensive for companies, that it's the best way to keep the final price of the item low enough that people will want to buy it.

I love love love buying things that are made in the United States, which is why I was thrilled to see a plug for American Made Market on page 4. This is an ebay collection of things handcrafted in America, and takes the guess work out of gift giving. 

I originally looked up ebay.com/americanmade to see if I could find some Mother's Day gifts, but didn't see anything I think either my Mother or Mother-in-law would like. I, however, would have liked one of each thing. I settled on a bracelet for myself, a throwback to the good old days of the preppy 80s, when hair was bad, music was...good-ish, and fashion was, um, let's not go there. It's a knot work, rope bracket that you slide on, and I think leave it through showering so that it shrinks a little and conforms to your wrist. It's this one from Mystic Knotworks (like Mystic Connecticut, setting of Mystic Pizza, another great nod to the 80s?)

Image from Mystic Knotworks, via American Made

I'll cut off the day after Labor Day, the official end of summer...or when it looks dingy and gross.