Challenge accepted — Say NO to buying new stuff for a year
I love challenges, and I always have a few under my sleeve. This is one of the ways, that I believe I grow my character. Among many of my challenges, I also took up one, which was about not buying any new things for a year. This specifically included not buying:
- clothes
- makeup
- jewelry
- electronics
- furniture
And I made that decision because every time I had to move, I had so many bags and boxes full of things, and I was asking myself: how much a person needs? It could not be true that we need so much.
I am also the type of person, who is not a fan of shopping, spending money, and having a lot of things, but through the years, things pile up.
I also come from a poor family, and when I was a child, we had very little. We would only buy one new pair of clothes per year. So when I grew up, and good well paid job, I believe I wanted to compensate for that and had a few years of buying more than I needed.
So I have this huge wardrobe at home full of clothes and one day I was cleaning it and it took me so much time, that I thought it is a waste of my life to be sitting here and ironing, washing, folding my clothes for 5 hours! And also at least 50% of them I do not wear or wear very rarely. So I made a decision that for a year I am not buying anything.
And to my surprise, it was the easiest challenge ever. I did not even feel I was missing anything. I also cleaned up a lot. I sold 100 pieces of clothes and gave some to charity and I still had more than enough. And I am not even a person that buys much. My clothes also are like 10 years old. So I am not a shopaholic and still I managed to collect more than needed.
The advantages of not buying:
- saved much more money
- got more space
- saved time (not so much cleaning, washing, ironing)
- increased happiness (order at home reflects the order in mind)
- contributed to environment
- inspired others to do the same
- created a habit (after a year of buying much less than before, almost nothing, it was enough time to form a new habit)
Now I still want to do even more clean-up. There are many things I do not use and I wish I could find someone who would enjoy it. Someone´s garbage can be someone else’s gold. Because I remember, when I was little and would get used clothes from my cousins, I was all over the moon.
Do you have any suggestions on who can benefit from my cleaning and organizing clothes experience? I even have a system to know which clothes I used this year and which I did not:) I am that control freak :)
Need help with your wardrobe? :) Will you try this challenge for yourself?
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