In January of 2018 I challenged myself to not shop for or purchase clothing, shoes or accessories for twelve months. Four months later I shared my takeaways to date from my shopping ban. It’s now February of 2019 and I wanted to check in and share what I’ve discovered that I believe could be of benefit to you. Before sharing, I must confess to the purchase of two banned items. Going into 2018 I was confident two … Read More
Reading time ~ 5 minutes Until recently, our minimalism journey has been focused primarily on releasing stuff we no longer need or want. My focus shifted a little last month though after noting how many people commented on a particular topic on a professional organizer’s forum I subscribe to. The topic was Ethical Consumption. Unfortunately most of my organizing colleague’s comments related to the back end of consumption, which I’ll call ethical disposal. This encompasses recycling, reusing, … Read More
As of May 1 I’ve completed one-third of my year-long clothing shopping ban. Through this experiment I’m learning quite a bit about my shopping, wearing and purchasing habits. Any of you out there who might be trying to curb shopping, reduce spending or just be more mindful about your purchasing might find what I’m learning helpful. 1) Shopping Habits: As expected, I continued to notice during the first few months of not shopping how strong my celebratory … Read More
Why Do You Shop? Have you ever thought about why you shop? If not, I urge you to give it some thought. We all shop for different reasons. We shop because we need things like food or shelter. We shop because we want things, like tools to make our lives easier or trendy clothes so we can feel stylish. We may even shop as a means of coping, what some term “retail therapy.” There was a time … Read More
In 2009, I reviewed a book called, I Shop Therefore I Am, compiled by April Lane Benson, PhD for the Chronical newsletter published by the National Study Group for Chronic Disorganization. Because I greatly appreciated that book, I was anxious to read and review Benson’s latest book, To Buy Or Not To Buy, an “interactive guidebook for that transformation” from over-shopper to shopper. Amy I have been working with an over-shopper, “Amy”, since June 2009. Amy is … Read More