Twenty-Eight (and not shopping)

Works Cited
pants: gap
top: ruche
sweater: j crew
wedges: clarks
bangles: bought in new mexico

This is a simple outfit for a day polishing up my syllabus, sitting in a super air-conditioned office, and surviving some meetings. I am loving the versatility of this top, which I've been wearing like a tunic (like here) and tucked into skirts and shorts. This outfit isn't particularly exciting but I love the color combination of olive and teal--I like how the greens are in the same color range but the combination is a bit jarring.



I'm finally getting close to the end of the 30 for 30 and thus, close to the end of the ban on shopping. I went on a shopping ban once before--for four months or so in college. My reasoning in college was that I was buying items because I thought they would make me happier--I would tell myself "If only I had this sweater, then I could feel good about this outfit and be happy." Of course, clothes can't make you happy and once I realized that all I was looking for was contentment, it was easy to stop shopping and look for fun elsewhere.

This ban was far more fun than I anticipated. I don't have much money to shop with in the first place (thank you, public universities, for so generously funding your young teachers), but I do pick inexpensive things up every few weeks, which has resulted in a closet full of things I sometimes feel ho-hum about.

Seven weeks of not-shopping-at-all later, I feel palpable relief. After the first few days, I didn't think about acquiring new things. I didn't browse online or in stores; I occupied myself with different things--reading new books, backpacking, sorting through and purging the clothes I don't wear often enough. It was so liberating to work with fewer items in my closet that I've decided to purge lots and lots of what I don't wear, so that only items I love remain. And I think I'm going to keep going on this not shopping thing (with maybe a brief hiatus for the annual back-to-school outfit trip with my sister). I thought I would feel constricted being unable to shop, but in fact, it's the opposite. I feel freed by my resolve not to buy.

Have you ever gone on a not-shopping ban? How did you feel? I'm really curious!