In episode four of Debt Heads, we search for memories and meaning in the clearance aisles of TJ Maxx. Follow Debt Heads on Instagram, TikTok, Substack, Patreon and YouTube. Credits:Writing/Editing/Production: Jamie Feldman & Rachel WebsterTheme Song: "Pay For That Money," Written and Performed by The Defibulators, PigCow Publishing (ASCAP)Original Score: Ali HelnweinAudio Mix: Jeff SeelyeFact Checking: Jennette Selig ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Chapter 1: What memories do we associate with shopping?
This week, we'll take a few trips down Memory Lane, up the Garden State Parkway, and across Queens Boulevard to visit not the closest, but the very best TJ Maxx. Growing up in my family, there were two seasons, pool season and mall season. Every Saturday during mall season, aka winter, we'd sit in traffic... trek over multiple bridges from Queens just to go to the mall in New Jersey.
When's the last time you were at this mall?
When I could walk.
Well, actually, we were driving from Queens to New Jersey just to spend time with my Nana at the mall.
So we like to work in this mall at lunch.
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Chapter 2: How did shopping become a family tradition?
73.
74.
74. 47.
74. Okay.
Back when she could walk more easily, her favorite place to walk was here, in the mall. What's the first word I ever read? Macy's. Why do you think that was my first word that I read? Because we were always... In the mall? Always. That's all we did. Why did we come here every week? Because it was an activity.
There's nothing else to do. That was entertainment.
Mm-hmm. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Do you think that coming here all the time made me a shopper? I don't know. Dom is nodding.
Well, maybe.
Like, maybe if you brought me to museums every weekend, I would... Do what? Maybe if you brought me to the museum every weekend... Maybe I became a more... More of an academic. Yeah. Instead, I just like stuff. Okay, maybe I was putting them on the spot. But this mall was the backdrop for my childhood.
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Chapter 3: What impact does consumerism have on our relationships?
Over the years, it became like the sort of special family outing thing, the downtown thing.
dims on saturdays every year my mom's birthday was during the nordstrom half yearly sale that was like such a girl's day that back to school clothing haul you know like get cute little outfits getting new supplies i loved it the mall provided a neutral space a common ground where each of us could find a reflection of ourselves even when we didn't see it in each other
I had a super toxic relationship with my mom. And I think that's how the relationship I developed with shopping started. Every memory I have with shopping revolves around us post-argument and never arguing while we're shopping. That's where we had a connection and that's where we got along.
Our consumer culture is like an invasive species that has its roots intertwined with our deepest memories and emotional connections.
Our behaviors and values are shaped by its gnarly vines.
This organism has been growing for our entire lives, and its branches are so wide-reaching, we've come to believe our very survival depends on its shelter, because it's all we've ever known. But I don't want that to be all I've ever known.
I want to know more. Like, who planted this seed? And can we plant something else in its place? Welcome to Deadheads. Welcome. Deadheads is an investigation into the American economy. From the perspective of people in debt. Like us. Like everybody. I'm Jamie. And I'm Rachel. And we named this podcast after ourselves.
Because we know firsthand what it's like to lose sleep over debt.
To live in denial over debt.
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Chapter 4: How has consumer culture evolved over time?
See all the red tags? That's what I look for. See, like, if I wasn't here with you, I would spend, like, three hours in here looking at every one of these things. Oh, my gosh.
I used to give her a time limit. Every so often, it'd be, okay, we got a half hour here. And in some places, I don't mind waiting if there's a place to sit down. But sometimes it's like, yeah. I can look at every one of these boxes. Like, look at this. I just love to look at the fun stuff and feel it and touch it. And she's not into that. She just likes to get something.
And even though they spend 90% of their shopping trip on different paths, it's still very much a social experience.
They love to check in as they pass each other to review their selections and vet their carts.
Sammy, I didn't vet your cart yet. That's another thing. So we put everything. It doesn't mean we're going to buy it. We just put it in the cart and then decide at the end, like, do we really need this? We'll put it in the wagon. We can decide. Okay. That's how we do it. We put it in the wagon and then I decide later.
Do you feel you've picked up tactics from each other over the years of shopping together? I haven't. Because she's just, I think you're either just good at it or you're not good at it. She's just natural. You know? He's just an asshole.
Humans have always enjoyed beautiful things. We're artists. We decorate our houses like we decorated our caves. We've always cultivated and exchanged objects that have no use but to be admired. But the common narrative that our love of beauty means we all have an insatiable thirst for more shit is inspired by a very small chapter in the history of the human story.
This so-called insatiable thirst didn't even become part of our story until about 100 years ago, when we were completely gobsmacked by an unprecedented level of material opulence.
I'm really interested in this period between about 1880 and 1920. Rough dates. This is a period in which the whole relationship that people had with the material world changed radically.
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Chapter 5: What role does branding play in our shopping habits?
Chapter 6: How do our shopping experiences reflect societal changes?
Chapter 7: What are the emotional connections tied to shopping?
Chapter 8: How do we navigate the clearance aisles of TJ Maxx?
Pass me the peanut butter.
We definitely couldn't give up celebrating life with a couple of cold glasses of wine.
Fill it up. Fill it up to the top.
But I found comfort in the fact that box wine had become much more sophisticated than the yellowtail jugs that lined the counters of my sorority house. Is it filled to the top? It also lasted us through long, leisurely dinner parties that we were throwing at home. And in public parks that exist everywhere.
Cheers.
Okay, so I didn't invent the concept of enjoying a simple life, but it did feel revelatory to me. Especially the part where I was not miserable. At all. I was happy. Happier than I had been in years. So I kept going. And as the months went by, I felt capable of looking at consumerism more critically. Like the anthropologist I might have become had I not spent every weekend at the mall.
I had questions.
Like what drew us into stores? What kept us coming back? And when we shopped, what else were we doing besides procuring goods?
And since I wasn't shopping myself, I'd have to find another willing subject to study. Someone who loved me enough to let me document every single step they took.
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