My Year of No Shopping. August 2023.

This month brought a level of comfort and ease I haven’t felt in a while. I didn’t crave shopping. I didn’t long for items that showed up in my feed. Maybe because the end is in sight, sure. But also I’ve noticed a pattern in my shopping habits. I noticed this pattern in years past, but now that all is on pause, I’ve gained even more clarify.

Even when not experimenting with A Year of No Shopping, I prefer large swathes of Pause Time. Pausing allows a reset, a consideration of options, a time to contemplate and discover why I really want the items that tempt me so. And then, a couple times a year, I make decisions and buy.

Without the outlet to purchase mid-year, I got really grumpy. I paused, I found clarity on current wants and needs… then I couldn’t follow through.

But then —

Then I got over the hump, I moved through those grumpy feelings, and peace set back in.

And I think it’s worth noting that I continue to declutter. I continue to take inventory of household items and notice when one is no longer serving us. This past month I offloaded 4 no-longer-needed chairs + a side table to a family starting from scratch (love these No Buy groups on Facebook). I also sold some other items on the local resell Facebook page.

I clearly declutter as much as I window shop. And it’s such a reminder: where once I viewed an item as something that I had to have, now I look at it as a cast-off. And, if I continue to declutter, as I am, then that means I keep finding cast-offs. So when the desire to buy overcomes me, can I pause even more thoughtfully and decipher if this current Want will quickly become an Eventual Cast-off?

I don’t like seeing stuff sitting on shelves that has lost its value to our family. And because I was raised to take good care of my things, I *know* they could be useful to someone else. So I give them another life.

Ann Patchett released her latest book this month too. I am 3,567 in line for it at the library. I’ll wait. Not only am I a fan of her writing, but I also was inspired to take this No Shopping project on BECAUSE of her writing. When I struggle, I compare myself to this queen and judge my struggles. This month, I reminded myself that Ann took this challenge on at a different stage in her life. I’m a bit younger, I have a growing child, and life is in flux. Perhaps, another takeaway from this year could be that judgment of myself in comparison to others is just plain unnecessary. I tried to learn this lesson time and again. Perhaps it’s one of those lifelong lessons that I’ll continually get the chance to relearn again and again.

Why do we compare our insides with another’s outsides? How does that serve anyone? How much time is wasted in that headspace? Maybe letting that habit go is more important than letting go of shopping.

But don’t worry, dear reader. I found space to judge this month, despite the last two paragraphs of wisdom. A package from a certain clothing conglomerate arrived on our doorstep two weeks back, addressed to my husband. If you could have seen the look on my face as I handed it to him. But since you didn’t: it was judgy, m’kay? He bought a new pair of running shorts but then had to throw in a new workout shirt to get free shipping. He is a sucker for sale pricing. It matters not if he works out once a week, he has to have those shorts because the price cannot be beat.

I couldn’t believe it.

A week later, I found myself on Pinterest, deleting a bunch of items that I’d pinned when in the throws of longing last month. Look at me, I thought. I don’t want anything.

Just then, my eye fell upon a mauve sweater I’d pinned ages ago. It meets the criteria for my new color palette, a palette that better suits my silver hair.

I clicked on the sweater and when the site opened up, I learned that it was $100 off the original price. Final sale.

And I became my husband. The very human I held my nose up to for being wooed by sales.

Look at that price! It can’t be beat!

And I used the proceeds from the recent resell sales, and I bought it.

Let this be a reminder, I am no better and no worse than any other person on the planet. I, too, am subject to whims and desires and immediate gratification.

It is humbling being me.

It’s a beautiful sweater. It really is. The pockets aren’t perfect, though. And there is this tiny voice in my head that is posing the question: What if this mauve sweater, the current must-have, becomes next year’s cast-off?

How can I purchase in a way that guarantees a high percentage of items never become cast-offs? Truly. Answer this question for me, if you can. I’m all ears. Email me at maura@lessismaura.com.