No Shopping Challenge Day 1 - Cold Turkey

There's a lot to love about shopping in Sydney. Every day, somewhere in this city, there is a sale. Not just a measly 5% off sale. No, I'm talking about an 80% off-holy cow-look at that discount-sale. And then there's the online sales. And eBay. And even op shopping. Don't be in denial like me, telling yourself that op shopping doesn't count.  It does. Just the other day I walked out of a Vinnie's having spent $60 on things I didn't exactly need. Self control when it comes to buying can be hard to come by in this town.

Mr J and I watched a documentary called 'I Am' recently and it got me thinking about shopping. The doco is about a Hollywood movie director who gives up his possessions and travels the world asking religious leaders, academics, poets, and scientists two questions: What is wrong with the world today? What can we do about it? It's an interesting watch.

I try to moderate the way I buy by thinking about where products are made and if they're fair trade or not. But it doesn't always work out that way, and sometimes if I'm honest, I get caught up in the moment just like anyone else.

It's not really shopping that bothers me. It's more the culture of shopping. Shopping as a recreation activity, something to do in the weekends instead of being outdoors or hanging out with the kids at home. I dislike it intensely when the kids list "look at toys" as something they'd like to do as a family activity.


Now I don't want you to go thinking that I'm one of those crazy women with fifteen identical pairs of jeans in the closet all with their labels attached. I'm not a serial shopper at all and I'm by nature very thrifty. But I am sometimes impulsive when I like something and when I look at our bank accounts I can see that there are lots of little purchases eating a large hole in our savings plan.

Which brings me back to the documentary. I had a thought as I was watching it - that I've trained myself to spend. There are always things I think I need and as we get money we go out and spend to tick things off that list. It made me think. Could I go without buying for a month, two months, three? Shamefully, as soon as I had the thought another one popped into my head. The thought was: what about the new BBQ we want to buy? And that sealed the deal. I can't even think about not buying without trying to convince myself I need to shop. Maybe it's a habit, like biting your nails or never shutting the kitchen drawer. Maybe we need to break the shopping habit so that we're no longer on consumer auto pilot.

I mulled the idea over for a few days and decided to look for some blogs written by people doing a similar challenge. I found lots of them, it seems many people are like me - trying to give up the lure of the shops and save some money at the same time. I'd find an interesting looking blog, read the opening post about the challenge, then look for the follow up posts... and find nothing. Out of the ten blogs I looked at, only one had a follow up post, and in it the writer admitted to buying a new purse!

So my pledge to you is that I will follow up. I'll tell you how I'm going, and I'll be honest if I cheat (but I'm not going to cheat). 

The only thing left is setting the parameters for the challenge.

1. No clothes shopping, toy buying, book depository shopping (my weakness), no craft supplies.
2. No thrift shopping, no markets, unless I'm window shopping.
3. Food, petrol, household expenses are allowed.
4. Gift cards are allowed but only up to the limit of the gift.
5. Any birthday presents needed during the challenge will be hand made (it's OK, I can make cool stuff).
6. The challenge starts January 1st and runs until the last day of February - maybe longer!

So my first admission to you is that I've spent the last few days furiously trying to work out how I can get things before the deadline - like if I buy it just before Jan 1st is that allowed? See, I need help.

To make this even more tricksy we're going away for a week in January on holiday. Can I really not shop on holiday? I think I can do it. I'm going to try really hard to do it - because buying stuff isn't what a family holiday should be about anyway. And if I succeed in not buying anything other than the essentials while on holiday, then keeping it up when I'm at home should be easy right?

If you're game how about joining me on a month or two of not spending. Kind of like a post Christmas detox don't you think? Wish me luck, I think I may need it.