Chit Chat

I love to shop. Like really love to shop. I love shopping for myself. I love shopping for others. I fully and happily embrace that I am a girly girl who loves all things shiny, glittery, and frilly. But those shiny, glittery, frilly items that I love so much do not come cheap.

A couple days after an overindulgent Christmas where I purchased great gifts for everyone I love and a few super nice things for myself I stepped back and thought about how much money I had actually spent during the holiday season. I came to the realization that I needed to brace myself for the scary credit card bills that would be coming my way. I quickly decided that in order to get a little more control over my finances and compensate for December, January would become a no shopping month for me. I was a little hesitant about my ability to meet this challenge. An entire month without any new trinkets, sparkly jewelry, or pretty new clothes! It sounded like a huge punishment to me. I comforted myself by reminding myself that I had just received so many amazing gifts for Christmas and those would tide me over until I could purchase something new.

So how did I do? I made it through January without purchasing single (some may say superficial or frivolous) material items. No new clothes, shoes, jewelry, or handbags entered my house. Was it difficult? Most definitely. To be honest the wintry weather over the last month that has kept me home more often than usually has likely greatly helped me avoid stores. What has been the hardest is not giving in to internet shopping (my greatest weakness). When reading magazines, surfing Pinterest, checking out my favorite blogs, and preparing my own blog posts I have spotted plenty of new, pretty items that I could and really want to in the moment buy. I have even wistfully complied a little mental list of items some of which I may eventually purchase.

For some reason I have always loved a good challenge and the feeling that comes with accomplishing the goal. With January behind me with my goal met I decided to extend it to February. So far so good. I have two weekends planned out of town for March so I will not be carrying my goal over another month but it is invigorating knowing I can overcome my consumption habit and my wallet has seldom been happier with me. I plan to challenge myself to a mini shopping ban every year.

What is the longest you have ever lasted without shopping? What benefits did you discover and what did you learn?

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