It's been 1 month since I started my shopping ban! The month of October has been interesting. I purged many items, stayed under my two week budgets, and learned a lot about my consumer habits.
First thing I did was go through and declutter a few areas of my house. I went through office supplies, gear, clothing, various closets, linens, and kitchen cabinets. I counted and tracked every single item - every paintbrush or marker I gave to a teacher friend, every CD I recycled, every broken food container I recycled, every clothing item I donated, etc. All told in my October purge, I removed 845 items from my possession.
Donated: 566
Recycled: 196
Trash: 41
Gifted (or to be gifted): 29
Sold (or to be sold): 13
I have a few items I found that I will gift to others in the upcoming holidays, so I'm counting them in the purged category. I also have a handful of things to sell, but I have been traveling a lot for work and haven't quite had time yet.
The decluttering and purging felt so good. I love cleaning up, and making things happen, and it felt very freeing to get rid of things I didn't need, didn't remember I had, that didn't fit me anymore, etc. I will continue to declutter more in November and see how that goes!
The second thing I did was start a tracking file of everything I brought into the house (sans food). All told, I purchased 1 gift, a 2 pack of contact solution, 1 toothbrush, and 3 bike parts. Gifts, toiletries, and bike parts are all on the approved list. So that was pretty good! I had no real urges to buy anything, honestly. I imagine that might get harder as this experiment goes on though.
The third thing about this month is that I noticed a change in habits, perceptions, and reactions to things. Commercials on TV kind of disgust me. Especially with the upcoming holidays and and high shopping/consuming time, it is very disturbing. I don't actually need anything, and if I had a thought where "oh having X might make Y easier" I forced myself to think of alternative solutions. I turned it into a creative process and that was a bit of a challenge but I enjoyed it.
I also found myself getting sucked into a few marketing emails so I unsubscribed to the majority of them. I kept the outdoor shop ones but got rid of pretty much everything else. So that's been nice too! I never realized the mental challenge of constant marketing bombardment. It was almost subconscious. See marketing email, open email, see sale, click on link, browse items, see something that could be cool, think about it for 5 seconds, worry the sale will sell out, purchase item. But in reality, 2 minutes earlier I had no need for that item. So why do I need it now? I don't. So I unsubscribed to basically every marketing email. I had fallen into the consumer trap and now I'm trying to claw my way back out!
I also had to purchase some items for work, and felt very weird about shopping even though work was paying for it and it was necessary items. It was a strange carryover from the shopping ban into my professional life. It'll be interesting how those 2 versions of me coexist for this!
So far I haven't purchased anything on my "approved item list" either. I am sure I will, but so far nothing.
I did one other cool thing this month - I rented a dress for my formal event last week. I could have worn something I had, or I could have bought something, but I wanted to try something new. The experience was pretty good, I feel environmentally responsible, and I saved money by not spending $100+ on a fancy dress I'm going to wear for 8 hours and then not again for the foreseeable future. I felt good about the decision and it worked out great!
Spending and shopping go together with financial goals, and I managed to stay easily under budget this month. The shopping ban definitely made me rethink ALL purchases like eating out and grocery choices. I definitely still did eat out this month but far less than I normally do. That was not a goal of the process but an unintended side effect. I don't feel like I am deprived of any experiences so I won't overthink it!
So basically, I stayed easily under my financial budgets, started to be more aware of all the marketing around me, spent less money on accident, and had a successful first month!
No comments:
Post a Comment