Starting tomorrow, I’m going to embark on a six month journey of no shopping. That’s right – no more TJ Maxx finds, no more awesome Athleta outfits, no more spending $100 as soon as I walk into Target. If you’re female, you know the drill.
Before we moved, the thought planted in my head. Why and how do we have so much stuff? Our old house had a basement, both a blessing and a curse. Didn’t know what to do with xyz? Throw it in the basement. Then I had Claire. I told myself I’d “definitely get organized before the move.” I had Claire. We moved 3 months later. It didn’t happen.
Now that we’re in a different house and I am still unpacking, all I’m finding is junk. I’ve been trying to create a peaceful, organized home. It’s not really happening because we have so many things, many of which I don’t even like that much.
Because we moved, I’ve had to do a ton of shopping to make this particular house liveable. And to my great dread, we are moving again in another few months. Knowing that we’re moving again and will most likely continue to do so for a while, I want to get a handle on my stuff. So what do I do?
Stop bringing in the stuff. Not a new or novel idea, but an idea that has yet to come to fruition in my life.
Besides having mass amounts of random stuff lurking in my life, I use shopping like a drug. It’s an addiction of sorts for unhappiness, boredom, jealousy, sometimes just for fun. For years I’ve wanted to “shop less,” but never put any restriction on myself, any kind of accountability for what I spend money on or why something makes it into my shopping cart. I’ve often told myself, “it’s not that bad, I could be like her.” And yet, I look at most my clothing and wonder why I never wear it, question why I can fill two suitcases full of shoes, & have but a few things that I “can’t live without.”
I also know deep down that I have a root issue with materialism. For years in my faith, I’ve felt the Lord telling me that my trust is in the wrong place, in worldly things, in things that simply do not last instead of Him. Well, that’s bad enough for me to want to make change. And I feel silly that it’s taken me this long to want to do something about it for real, but better later than never I suppose.
So, I’m not just going to say “I won’t shop for six months! The end!” and hope that it sticks. I’m hoping that by setting a set of specific rules for this, it will actually work. It doesn’t mean it’ll be any easier. In fact, I’m expecting it to be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. But alas, the rules.
The Rules
- No personal shopping for myself, including: clothes, shoes, accessories, home decor, candles, dishes, purses/bags, baby clothes/toys we don’t need, and so on.
- I can’t spend money because I haven’t spent any in a while or because I’m bored. I do not want to buy something just for the sake of buying something.
- Stop frequenting the places that I normally shop or the parts of stores that I normally want to spend money in (Target Baby section, we’re breaking up for a while, sorry).
Just because I am not shopping for six months doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to spend money the entire time, though. Some exceptions are:
- Personal products that run out (i.e. shampoo, lotion, etc.) but I’m not allowed to buy “another lotion” if I already have some. I want to learn to use what I already have.
- Personal services like a pedicure or hair cut
- basic items for Claire. She will need more clothes, socks, shoes, etc. before this fast is over but again, I can’t go spend $150 at Carter’s on every little baby thing. Just the basics. She’s going to grow out of it soon anyway.
- Gifts for other people. I would actually really like to use this time to spend money on others over myself
Two exceptions I want to make are books for Claire because I love reading to her. We have very few books for her. Note to self: do not go buy her 10 books on Friday. And I just signed up for BirchBox so I will be getting that. I’m hoping that count as a little treat each month and keep me from buying any beauty products since I already know I’ll have them coming in the mail.
My husband and I also agreed to basically skip Christmas this year, for ourselves anyway. I might buy Claire a thing or two, but I’m pretty sure our family will have us covered in that department and Claire is too little to even know you’re supposed to get presents for Christmas anyway!
Some tactics that I hope will help me are making the next six months about going through my stuff and really only keeping what brings me joy, what fits me, what is in style, and what is worth moving from place to place from here on out. I have also been a little neglectful of self care lately, as in reading a book or taking more time for myself to just relax. I really hope to replace my shopping habit and being on the go so much with first giving Claire as much attention as she needs, and second focusing on refreshing myself by reading, journaling, and just being instead of distracting myself with stuff.
These next six months aren’t going to be perfect. They’re going to be painful because material things have such a hold on me. But I hope I can move toward seeing the world differently, appreciating what I do have, and realizing that shopping is just a big band aid that doesn’t fix any of my problems but actually creates problems.
I’ll probably give some updates throughout the fast, if anyone would find that interesting. Maybe an update every other month or so. Wish me luck!
Questions for You:
- Are you frustrated with how much stuff you have or how you spend your money?
- Could you ever not shop for a month, six months, a year?
I think that going through your stuff and enjoying what you already own will definitely help! I’m impressed with your decision to cut down on shopping during this time of year–I’m so excited about shopping for gifts in the next few months. But there’s definitely a difference between buying gifts and buying for ourselves.
Around the holidays, I usually get so caught up in shopping that I buy gifts for myself instead of others! I never thought about the timing of this fast, I just timed it to now until my next move. I just really don’t want to move more stuff and am hoping to move less than we came with next time around.
Good for you! I’m planning on really diving in and going through all my clothes when I get out (and fit in!) my pre-pregnancy clothes. It’s been amazing how little I got away with while I was pregnant, so I know I could do it! The amount of clothes I put away is ridiculous and I know I did clean out a bunch when I packed them up. I don’t think I’d be good at this no shopping for 6 months thing haha. I’m bad with challenges and this would be when I found things I really thought were cute or I’d somehow be out shopping more than when I didn’t take on this challenge! haha
The same thing spurred me on to do this challenge. I put away two sets of clothes about a year ago: pre-pregnancy clothes and work clothes since I wasn’t wearing (or fitting into) either. Most my work clothes I’m keeping just in case but I lived without my pre-pregnancy clothes for so long. Now that they are back, I am still not wearing them! Pregnancy and nursing has made me have a very limited wardrobe. I actually don’t mind wearing the same things all the time. I’m tempted to try a capsule wardrobe, but since I move around, it’s hard to do that with different climates. It’s really amazing how little clothing we truly need and actually wear!
Good for you! Haha, the only thing I buy is groceries!
Oh I’m in the same boat as you! We just moved into a new place and even though it has more living space and technically more storage space in the form of a crawlspace and a garage, we are very tight in the bedroom and closet situation. I’m pretty much going on a shopping fast simply because I have nowhere to put the stuff I already have, let alone new stuff! Hubby and I are doing a “one gift only” rule for Christmas, and any toys we get for Lil Ziggy will be purchased with gift cards. It’ll lessen our spending, help us learn to be content, and help us get and stay organized!
So smart, mama! We are struggling with all those issues too. I don’t even have a garage & only have very small closets right now so I can SEE all the crap all day long. I like the one gift rule. I think we will do something like that too and then it’ll mean more 🙂
What a great challenge. I totally agree, I find that I go through my stuff and donate things I don’t wear or use, but then I still feel like I have so much stuff! I don’t think I shop a lot, but I just can’t seem to get to a place where we are de-cluttered. I will be following you and see how this goes! I am very interested.
I used to think I didn’t shop that much either, but again – the clutter is not going away! Moving quite a few times recently has really made me question what I hold onto. When you have to reorganize everything often, it becomes so apparent that you have way more than you need and aren’t using half your stuff! I’ll definitely update through my challenge and give my final thoughts when it’s over 🙂
Wow, I love this. Just in the past 6 months, I’ve been realizing how much extra stuff I have and clothes and such that I just don’t need. And once I convince myself I don’t need it, it’s kind of freeing to just get rid of it. <3 I can't wait to hear updates on the shopping fast!
Yes, it feels so good! My new motto is if it doesn’t make me happy the second I look at it and I find any reason why I don’t like an item, it has to go!
I am soooo on board with this!!! I’m actually doing a similar thing, but I’ve been buying some clothes at a consignment shop. I found awesome Loft jeans and boots for only $14 bucks. But I want to clean all the junk out of my house. I’m so over having stuff!
Right? Having a baby sure doesn’t help either since they are constantly bringing in new stuff! I am determined to keep Claire’s stuff under control and organized as we grow out of things or stop using toys. I’d really like to try shopping for baby clothes at a consignment place too instead of always buying new.
Ohhh… I love new clothes 🙂 My husband would love this, but I think I’d go a little crazy! I do try to keep myself in check on a smaller scale… if I feel like I’ve overdone it one month (or my credit card says I did!) I’ll go on a little fast for the next month or two. 6 would be hard! I’m
super proud of you though! (hit enter before i was done— doh!)
I SO needed to read this!
For months, even pre-baby, I’ve felt the same way! I really don’t buy that much lately, but we have so much accumulated JUNK that I can’t take it. I have a post in my drafts about mental AND physical clutter and you’ve just inspired me to revisit the idea. I never made a written “vow” to quit buying things, but I have been holding off after making a pseudo promise to myself to cut back. Part of my problem is I am VERY sentimental about things (I have boxes of junk from college, 10 years ago!!!, I never made into scrapbooks like planned. Plus, my husband’s family (& so many friends) lost their belongings (again, 10 years ago) in Hurricane Katrina that I’ve felt this growing antipathy toward having too many things.
Anyway, thanks for sharing. You’ve just inspired me to commit to my own fast & purge.
That’s awesome, Catherine! I was pretty much in the same situation as you: I kept telling myself less needed to come in but I never really made a commitment to what I wanted. This was really the only solution I could think of that would work. Best of luck to you! We’ll have to keep each other updated on how it goes!
I love this idea! I need some new postpartum clothes but after that I might consider doing this too. Now If only groceries didn’t cost so much. I swear that’s where most of my money goes.
With all the baby stuff and then kid stuff coming our way in the next few years, it’s just too much stuff!
I hear you on groceries. What helps me is to ONLY buy what’s on my list and never go shopping hungry, in a rush, or without a list. Easier said than done though!
Good for you! I’d love to this, mainly because we make more than enough money, but we’re always left saying “where are we spending all our money?!” Cory is a finance guy, so we have a budget in place, and we’re not frivolous spenders by ANY stretch of the imagination. We just end up spending a lot of money on little things here and there that we don’t need, and it’s stupid. In regards to Christmas, we rarely buy each other gifts, but do spend money on an experience, which I really do like. I’m excited to see how this goes for you!