A Month Without Shopping

I have reached the end of my month without shopping. It did not go exactly the way I planned, but that was the point — to find out what would happen.

The New Shoes

When I took on the challenge of going for a month without shopping, I felt sure that something would break during the month and I would have to buy a replacement. I did not know what that might be, but I was certainly not thinking of running shoes.

The Year of Less

The idea of going without shopping or spending for a month came to me in March after reading a book by a blogger who took on a more limited shopping moratorium that lasted for a year. It is only right that I should tell you about the book.

Minimalism on YouTube

There is a great deal we can all learn from minimalism, most of all from the people who have gone to the trouble of creating a minimalist lifestyle for themselves. They have done the study and research to discover how one thing can take the place of two and how a smaller effort can take the place of a larger effort.

The No-Shopping Month Exceptions

I am writing this post in the laundromat, which tells you already that I have found an exception to my month-long no-shopping, no-spending policy.

A Clutter-Busting March and a No-Shopping April

One hidden purpose of March of Trash and its clutter-busting challenge is to get you to change your shopping habits. It is easy to see that in the long run, shopping has to change before you can live a clutter-free life. It does little good to take away clutter if you then replace it with more of the same. If the goal of clutter-busting is to keep only what you will use and benefit from having, the goal of shopping must be to add only what you will use and benefit from having. If clutter habits resist change, though, the same is true of shopping habits.