My husband had a short business trip this week and I decided to go with him. We spent half a day travelling, enjoyed a leisurely lunch then spent the remainder of the day admiring the art at the National Galleries. It is nice to just wind down and enjoy each others company with no commitments or need for hurrying.
On the second day while he was attending his business conference I spent the day in the town centre of Canberra. I met my sister-in-law for lunch which was lovely but the rest of the time I spent just brousing around the shops.
I very soon discovered that I have very little or no interest in shopping any more and was really quite bored for most of the time. The only shop that really caught my eye was a local handmade crafts store at which I bought nothing but had a nice time checking out the handy work.
These days unless there is something specific I am on a mission to buy I have absolutely no interest what-so-ever in looking at mechandise I neither need nor admire. I feel liberated both spiritually and financially. Decluttering your home is far more effective if there is little chance that it is just going to get filled up again with a fresh round of un-needed items.
I have found there are so many bonuses that I wasn’t expecting by doing this 365 day challenge. It has given me time to evolve and grow as a person as I have learned along the way not only from experience but from those who are on a similar journey like Joshua at Becoming Mininalist, contributers from over at Unclutter Forum, Megan at Sanity In Simplicity, leo at Zen Habits and many more. So thanks folks you have all been a great help as I hope I am being to others.
ITEM 148Â OF 365 LESS THINGS
Another eBay item that sold for $20.00
Yes, yes, yes! I feel the same way. Unfortunately, I still have school age children who still NEED things like new shoes and WANT things like a Nintendo DS! Yesterday I went to our local huge shopping centre after school and spent 1/2 an hour buying my daughter winter boots (on sale!) and she bought herself a Nintendo DS with 2 years’ birthday and Christmas money. Much as I hate the idea of this, at least I wasn’t spending MY money, and she is finally realising – at 10 – that WANTS will require a big financial outlay on on her part 🙂 AND it only took minimal time, instead of 3-4 hours of aimless wandering around and buying extra crap.
In addition to not wanting anything anymore myself, the extra time spent not shopping and lusting after things on websites has given me more time to spend with friends or just relaxing. Bliss.
Well said Loretta,
It really is liberating isn’t it. All that time wasted looking for “bargains” just because you could can be better used exercising or spending time with friends.
As for your daughter you have clearly taught her that if she wants something she has to save for it. The fact that at 10 years old she has saved her birthday and Christmas money for two years to buy something she wanted is pretty impressive if you ask me. A Nintendo DS isn’t all bad either you can buy some very educational games for them. I personally have Brain Training 2 and French Tutor that I play on my son’s DS.
I like to browse specialty shops like you mentioned and consider it a type of museum – admire but can’t buy. Lots of fun. But going to the mall just to be going without something in particular in mind – no time for that.
I like to browse the craft shops as idea collecting missions because I am a bit of and artist myself and you can learn a lot from what other people are creating. Appart from that I am over it. Last week I purchased a small dining table at the furniture store where I work, my husband is going to use it for a desk. My manager took a photo of me swiping my credit card because they thought it was such a novelty that I was spending money. I told them I was only spending it on behalf of my husband. When I went to work on thursday evening they had set the photo up as the wallpaper for one of the computers. They thought they were very funny, they might find their handbags full of chads from the hole punch sometime soon. lol!
Great post Colleen! It really is liberating when you can go to the mall or elsewhere and browse around knowing you can like something without wanting to take it home with you. I had a baby 18 months ago, and my formerly organized and manageable house literally seemed to explode with stuff overnight. Since then I’ve been on a serious mission to declutter and streamline my life so I can spend more time with my daughter and husband. Now everything I own (or consider purchasing) gets the test: Do I want to clean you? Store you? Move you out of the way when looking for something else? Do you have a real purpose other than looking pretty? Will I be tired of you in six months? Do I want to pack you and unpack you when we move in a couple years? An item that manages to sneak past the first few questions usually fails miserably on the pack and move question. Those questions are even working on things I thought I’d never get rid of – my book collection and crafting (sewing, jewelry making, and needlework) supplies. Yay for more space and less cluttered life!
All my friends know I’m not a shopper. So today as I was spending the day with a friend (husband at board mtg in city), she laughed at us–we were shopping. I needed pants and found a pair and bought a second in a different color. Perfect! No more shopping for a while!
Hi Willow,
my friends rip me off when I spend money too, I just hope some of my thriftiness will rub off on them eventually.
I like your mantra I haven’t adopted a mantra yet maybe I should come up with one taylored specifically for me.