I have a plan. And as as an ex-'shopaholic', it's an exciting one.You know the U2 song 'Beautiful Day'? There's a line in it that goes, "What you don't have, you don't need it now." Well, my plan for this challenge is to stop shopping for crap I don't need. Because if I'm honest, I probably do have everything I need by now.
I've been on my new 'not-shopping-for-crap-I-don't-need' regime for a few weeks now and it's really rather nice. Instead of mooching around shops, I'm finding all sorts of other things to do with my time. Kitty and I are exploring the local area, checking out new playgrounds and watching grazing bullocks. We've been snooping round derelict houses and collecting shells and pine cones. We've planted seeds and watched bulldozers in action. I've found bits for the garden on Freecycle and paid visits to people I've not seen for a while.
And I've decided to just forget fashion; I'm too old to keep up these days anyway. The plan is to buy the clothes I need, only when I need them. (Hopefully M&S will start selling Fairtrade versions of my staple boys uniform polo shirts soon.)
Anyone else got a money resolution to share?
5 comments:
Mine is to really carefully think about whether I really need/want something or whether it is just a kind of wanting-to-acquire-something-new feeling. I suffer from this with respect to camera equipment!
Can I encourage everyone in SofaChurch to have a think about this fourth challenge, as it is the most important in a way. I think that it will be very powerful to decide together as individuals to commit to changing ourselves. It could be a pledge to try something for a month or two and seeing how it goes, rather than a lifelong commitment.
I really should take a leaf out of both of your books.I too often buy on impulse for that certain,I have something new feeling.Not sure how well I'll do but maybe like you have said Andy, try it for a month or so and see how it goes.My favourite impulse buys are clothing, Dvd's and Cd's.Ow this could be very hard for me but it will mean I can save more,on a positive note.Choccy (Blogger is being funny!)
It's hard, isn't it? A nice little 'something' can really help to lift a crummy day. I find internet shopping gives me the same buzz - plus, you get packages arrive out of the blue, which is very 'it's my birthday' exciting.
I was thinking today about how to differentiate between purchases that I need (do I need to dye my hair, for example?) and those that I just want. I've decided that there's a definite excitement about those purchases that I don't really need...
Say I was considering buying a red spotty teapot from a nice local interiors shop (Chocs!) Would I be buying the teapot because I needed a teapot and liked that one? In that case it'd be a sensible purchase.
But often I buy things like spotty teapots with other motives. You'll think I'm ridiculous, but I have been known to buy funky, colourful kitchen items with the idea that it'll brighten up my life/make my home a cosy place that people want to be/show people what fun taste in interiors I have.
When I'm giving objects values like that, I know I'm not just buying something I need.
If you want some inspiration, this website has lots of good suggestions:
Generous
Oh Suse, I would definately say that if you didn't have a teapot then therefore perhaps it would be an item worthy of purchase.However if you were to buy it and then never to actually use the aforementioned teapot then it would change the 'need to' get it somehow into a 'want it!' ;-)
Giggle.
Yes it's a tricky one this not buying stuff for the sake of it but perhaps it is worth a go eh! x x x
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