Well, yesterday was Day 30 of my break from shopping. How did I do? Not as well as I’d hoped, but about as good as I expected! I did buy a few new things, some out of necessity, some out of plain ol’ greed. I also bought some used items. However, as much as I did buy, it doesn’t begin to compare to what I didn’t buy! Let’s see, shall we:
Items purchases June 12 – July 11, 2007:
Necessities:
- Self-watering tomato pot and potting soil – my patio tomato took a sudden turn for the worse in it’s tiny pot.
- Insect spray – cucumber beetles attached my garden.
- Bra – I went to a dance workshop in another town without this item. Don’t ask.
- Belt – halfway to my destination, I realized that my shorts were not holding themselves up any longer.
Not-so-necessary, but used to finish several craft projects:
- Ribbon
- Snaps
- Velcro
- Rhinestones
No reason at all, just couldn’t stop myself:
- Pink coin scarf pink belly dancer tank top, pink necklace, copper necklace and earring set
- 3 yards denim fabric
Used items:
- 2 jackets (to be altered and embroidered)
- Ties (for a project)
- T-shirts (to be reconstructed)
Now, let’s see what I didn’t buy this month:
- Magazine subscriptions
- lawn chairs
- new fabric (other than the denim slip-up)
- books
- cheese-maker
- more Melodia pants
- t-shirt dress
- art work
- bread bowl
- ORG t-shirt
- reusable grocery bags
- recycled backpack
- surfer shoes
- jeans – from new “Bitten” Sarah Jessica Parker collection
- cool peacock feather-print t-shirt (Bitten)
- shoes (Bitten)
- Jewelry (Bitten)
- Dress (Bitten)
- Matching undies for new bra (Bitten)
- New embroidery patterns
- Wings of
- Velvet fringe belt
- Leaf-coin belt
- 2 pink hip scarves
- Bedazzled Melodia knock-offs
- Sari-print veil and pants
- Pre-order dvds (tribal-fusion belly dance)
- Countless items that flitted through my mind as potential splurges and treats
Actually, not that I look over my not-purchased list I’m surprised there isn’t more. Maybe I spend enough time reading Voluntary Simplicity that a little of it rubbed off on me? Or maybe my subconscious was relying on the fact that 30 days isn’t really that much time and I would be back to normal shopping habits soon enough… Will I? I don’t plan on reverting entirely to my material-driven ways, but I will buy some things. Fabric for sure, the new dvds perhaps, the embroidery patterns definitely, the jeans maybe. Any new-clothes shopping sprees will be short-lived as I am signing up for the Wardrobe Refashion pledge that starts in August. I won’t have a lot of spending cash anyway, with a workshop roadtrip on the horizon and a jaunt to NYC with my siblings this fall to pay for…
All in all, this an interesting little endeavor. I don’t feel like I “found myself” or anything that profound, but I have a little more closet space (or will once I clean said closet!) and a little more self-awareness… And those last two don’t cost a thing.
