I’ve been considering doing a shopping ban for months now, but haven’t been able to fully commit to zero spending until now. Between overspending my budget each month and wasting too much time maintaining my new purchases (trying them on, finding time to return the ones that don’t work, and not having anywhere to put the ones that do work because I already have too much), I’ve finally reached my tipping point and feel like now is the perfect time to rein in my spending before the holidays hit.
To clarify, I will still be spending money on food, housing, and travel. Those things I consider to be essential to my life and happiness. But my real problem areas are shopping for clothes and home goods, and so this is where I will be cutting shopping out completely. I would love to not any spend money in this area for an extended period of time (I’m thinking 3-6 months), but I feel like it’s safer for me to start with a single month and extend it from there once I feel comfortable in my new habit. Sometimes starting out small and building from there makes changing a habit feel much more approachable. (Rather than saying I won’t shop for an entire year, losing steam one week in, and giving up on the idea completely.)
P.S. – You can read all about Cait Flander’s super inspiring year-long shopping ban in her book, The Year of Less.
What I Want Out of the Shopping Ban…
For me, I feel like shopping has become an unhealthy part of my lifestyle. One that takes up too much of my time, energy, and money. Resources that I would like to put elsewhere–like finishing up my downsizing efforts, spending more time with friends, investing in my life with Allen, and exploring new hobbies such as photography, painting, and reading.
Additionally, packaging from shipping (not to mention the air pollution from transportation) is likely my number one source of waste right now, even when you consider the fact that I’m recycling all the boxes. Because recycling still takes valuable resources and energy, friends! And if you remember from this post earlier in the year, one of my goals for the year is to cut back significantly on the amount of waste I’m producing. So not only will this shopping ban help me to cut back on spending and increase my time of productivity, it will also help me to eliminate a major source of waste in my home.
Understanding the Problem…
And more than realizing what new, improved changes a shopping ban can bring to my life, I think it’s equally important to understand why the problem exists in the first place. Understanding this can help me to avoid triggers and motivate me to find healthier solutions in the long run. I think awareness of why an issue exists is one of the most important parts of any solution. And after examining my own shopping habits over the past year, I’ve realized that shopping has become a type of coping mechanism for the extreme stress and anxiety I experience in my life. It has become, quite literally, retail therapy. And I think this is why it has been so difficult for me to stick to a budget…ever, really. Because cutting out shopping is not just a simple matter of will power, it’s a matter of eliminating a coping mechanism without anything to replace it.
Another aspect of the problem cause is the ubiquity of excessive consumerism as a normal lifestyle culture in our society (and especially in my generation). I think in today’s day and age with the rise of fast fashion and fashion blogging, people have come to believe (subconsciously) that shopping every week is the norm. I have a whole other blog post on this topic and the responsibility of influencers that I’ve been working on for months now, so I’ll save my detailed thoughts on that topic for another time. But I think it’s at least worth mentioning here that this culture of spending exists and has definitely affected my perception of what’s normal to spend in a given week.
Identifying My Triggers…
Which leads me to understanding my two biggest triggers: new arrival emails/VIP-type promotions from retailers (perhaps the least surprising and easiest to fix) and fashion bloggers on social media. Yep, I went there. Fashion bloggers. The entire culture around today’s fashion blogging is to persuade you into believing that the clothes you have aren’t good enough and that instead you need to buy this newer product to complete your collection/look/self-worth. And while there are definitely some incredible influencers out there who preach and promote responsible fashion, slow living, and a healthy perspective on self-image, many influencers out there do not.
Posts on Instagram tend to capture a highly stylized and edited moment in time more than a realistic, unedited lifestyle. (I’m even guilty of that.) And we’ve been trained to believe that we can attain such a purely magical and emotional moment ourselves with the purchase of physical things. We are told to “like this photo and get this look sent to your email.” But in reality we hear “Like this photo, buy these things, and be just as happy as me.” Not only does this fashion culture on social media encourage us to constantly shop, but it increases overall discontent with what we have (or don’t have) in our lives. And you know what they say… “Comparison is the thief of joy.”
In fact, this concept of social media as a cause of constant comparison and discontent versus what I believe was its original intent to share real moments and daily doses of inspiration is one which I have been struggling to understand and approach/deal with as a type of micro-influencer myself. It’s one of the main reasons I have never considered using shopable links on my Instagram and one of the major reasons I no longer use liketoknowit for people I follow on social media. I never want to feel like I am promoting the purchase of things as the sole reason for my blog. Trust me, it’s not! I share my stories here because I enjoy writing about the experiences in my life that bring me joy and happiness. And anytime I share topics related to style (careful not to use the word fashion), it comes from a place of putting things together in new ways or sharing tried-and-true style combinations that have worked for me, rather than promoting the purchase of new things all the time. But it’s a fine line, right? And I’m still figuring out the best way to share things I love in a way that doesn’t sound too sale-sy. Which is one of the reasons I haven’t been keeping up with the Monthly Edit posts too. They started to feel a little too retail heavy for me, which was never my original intent with them. (I’m hoping to bring them back soon in a new format.)
Anyways, I’ve started going off on a bit of a tangent here, so I’ll save the rest for another post at another time. But all this being said, I think it’s important to understand that one of the biggest triggers for me (and likely a lot of other people) comes from following fashion bloggers on social media. And understanding this can help me (and maybe you too) to avoid such marketing ploys and spending triggers in the future.
Finding A Solution…
Understanding triggers is the first step, and eliminating them is the next step. So as a solution moving forward, I have unsubscribed from ALL retailer emails and promotions and will be significantly limiting my time mindlessly scrolling on social media over the next few months. Hopefully by cutting down on my exposure to these types of ads (because fashion blogs can become ads disguised in friendly banter designed to make you spend money), I can eliminate my desire to purchase things I would normally see there. By not allowing myself to see the ads in the first place, I don’t have to rely solely on my own will power to resist them.
My hope is to replace the time I would normally spend shopping online with interests and hobbies that bring me lasting joy and make me a better person overall, as well as strengthening my relationships by physically spending more (un-distracted) time with people I love. I also hope to gain some perspective and realize that life doesn’t revolve around acquiring the next great thing. And in fact, life can actually be even better without it. Happiness and confidence come from within, not from the things we think we need to surround ourselves with. Overall through this exercise/experiment I hope to gain a better appreciation for the things I have, and to learn that if I do see something amazing on another person, I can appreciate it without having to own it myself. The latter of which is a simple yet impactful concept I heard Caroline mention the other day.
So here we go! No shopping for one month. Let’s do it!
And if you decide you want to join in on the fun too, let me know in the comments below!
You might also like…Living With Only 100 Things Challenge and My Favorite Minimalism Books.
Photos by Noah Berg
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Get the Look…
Top: Express | Pants: Everlane (styled in white here and pink here) | Shoes: Madewell (similar; last styled here, here, here) | Purse: Urban Outfitters | Scarf: Free People | Bracelets: J. Crew, Madewell (similar) | Necklace: gifted
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