I tried to do this about 6 months ago, only because I went crazy shopping during my holiday trips in the middle of the year. I went cold turkey back then, and it didn’t help at all. In fact, it back fired on me and made me shop even more in the next few months. I got into the habit of seeking some retail therapy when I needed to release some stress or displayed an unhealthy amount of sympathy for myself. I called it treating myself; that is never a good reason to do it. The realisation struck, and i devised another plan. I decided that I was going to shop all I wanted up till boxing day, and that will be my last for a year. If I’m well stocked up, I wouldn’t need to buy anything. #It’sCalledPrePlanning
I had a list of things that I needed to be wanted. It was a lovingly compiled list that I spent hours looking online and in shops and wanted to wait for the sales in December. Come December and the long-awaited shopping day, low and behold, I did not get any of it!! Not one thing from my list! I just got a few bits and pieces here and there, and I wasn’t even happy with it. To make matters worse, my husband ordered a pair of black converse online, and it was delivered on 31/12. I tried it on, and it was so good!!! It was what I needed and didn’t have the common sense to think of before! Why doesn’t he have a size 4 feet like me! I contemplated ordering it online with the budget that I had left from my ‘Final shopping in 2018’. If I used that money, it’s not cheating then it is. But I didn’t do it. It’s hardly a need is it? Now that black leather hi-top converse is number 1 on my list for 2019 Boxing Day shopping. 355 days to go. #JustSaying
Every day after this I kept obsessing with the ads that was flooding my inbox. Everyone seems to be selling everything that I needed wanted now. The only way around it was to unsubscribe from all of it. I loved looking at all the sales and new items. All the ideas I got from everywhere. I just love online shopping and browsing. I look at everything and store it in my head for some unknown,unforeseen future reference. I wanted to be up to date with the latest fashion and promotions. #NotLikeIAmAFashionDiva. My nieces are probably better dressed than me sometimes.
I also felt important that I had so many emails in my inbox, but the painful reality was that 9/10 emails every day were either ads and bills payment confirmations this week. Sigh. Welcome to adult life, where bills take over fun shopping. I spent one whole painful afternoon unsubscribing from all the emails that came through to meand spent the next day being upset that I wasn’t receiving any emails. I am not as important as I thought I am.
While one side of my brain is telling me to stop shopping, the other side of the brain noticed one of my colleague's work wear style and got fascinated. I said to myself that I need to try that style rather than prints and florals ALL.THE.TIME! On a side note, I finally packed my summer clothes this week and noticed that ALL my skirts were florals; ALL my summer tops had busy prints! I don't know how i matched those together. probably why i hardly wore my skirts. What a shame that such realisation only comes when I keep telling myself that I cannot buy.
At the rate advertising and consumerism is heading these days, unsubscribing from emails just won’t cut it. I would need to delete my Instagram account, Facebook account, YouTube, stop reading blogs, and sit under a rock! Literally. There’s influence from every corner!
This rule doesn’t apply to holidays and experiences though. It’s not like I go on holidays every month, and holidays are not the same as shopping. What is going to be challenging is shopping while I’m on holiday. Back when we were really broke and did budget holidays, I only bought fridge magnets for myself as remembrance while I bought gifts and souvenirs for the family. I was still satisfied with it. As times changed, fridge magnets weren’t good enough for me anymore. I increased my shopping with each holiday after that. I enjoyed buying things that I could use and has a story to tell.
Like a crystal water jug that I got from my trip to Athens, that I’m so precious about it only comes out for dinner parties, where I proudly tell anyone who bothers to ask ‘Oh, that’s from my holiday to Athens’, ‘And my coasters are from Paris’, ‘I got that pot from Dubai, as you would’. ‘Nice earring? They’re from Germany’... and so on. Maybe I’ll allow myself to buy one thing when on holiday, in addition to a fridge magnet, and a little something for the house perhaps. I definitely have to stop buying more new bed sheets this year at the very least. The new-bed-sheet-addiction is really I tell you, so real.
By the end of this saga, I hope to have come to the realisation that I’m not sacrificing anything at all. Shopping isn’t all there is to life. Being on top of the fashion game is not everything. I am after all someone who wore the same clothes to work 5 days in a row. Albeit not being happy for my own personal reasons, I survived it. This time, I hope to survive with much more grace than feeling sorry for myself.
I’ve decided, and there’s no more turning back now. I really want to see how I can cope with it, and how it feels. So the rule is; no shopping for a year, however, if something I already have is broken/finished, I will get a replacement. I’m just not going to get new clothes or shoes. I can, however, accept (hope to receive) gifts throughout the year in addition to anniversary, my birthday, and Christmas. CC: Please take note, my family and friends, if you are reading this, especially Laxman Sivanathan! I’m a size 8 for clothes and a size 4 for shoes. ;)
