NO SHOPPING MAY: I Did It!

I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT!

NO SHOPPING MAY is over, yall. I made it a whole month without buying anything!

Everyone is proud – my mom and Bay and all the pals and R and lots of internet friends too :) I don’t think people thought I could actually DO IT (yes I’m talking to you Bracha. Your gchat saying “Did you REALLY not buy anything? Are you SURE?” = unnecessary.)

Last night I was talking to my mom and she asked me how it felt to set this goal and achieve it. Well, let me tell you…

IT FEELS GREAT. I am always hesitant to make my personal goals public on the blog. Let’s face it, lots of people who know me in real life read this thing, and I absolutely hate the idea of setting my mind to something, not doing it, and having a jillion people who I run into at the mall or at temple or at lunch ask me how it’s going, only to remind myself of my own failure.

This was different. I felt like this was something I had a solid grasp on. It had a start and end date, for one, and let’s face it: no matter HOW much I love to shop, if I truly could not go 31 days without buying something, we would have a much bigger problem on our hands.

So what else have I learned? Well, something important, which I truly didn’t realize beforehand: I impulse shop. And I do it in two very specific ways.

First of all – I sit in an office in front of a computer all day. During breaks or if I’m eating lunch at my desk, I’m usually clicking around online. And SO OFTEN – so often that I didn’t even realize how often I was doing it! – I would see something I liked, mentally determine that I could afford it, add it to my cart, and BUY IT! A thing I did not even know existed a few minutes prior! And just like that, money down the drain!

The OTHER way I impulse shop? This one is going to be a little harder to break. See, I leave my office at 5pm. I work in K-Town, which is really far east – about 40 minutes away from my apartment in Brentwood. If I’m meeting a friend for drinks or dinner, I won’t go back to my apartment beforehand, leaving me with an hour or more to kill in between the time I leave work and meet up with my friends. Where do I usually kill time, you ask? I think you know the answer… the MALL. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone into the Beverly Center or the Grove to “window-shop” and walked out with a shopping bag in my hand.

The good thing is that now I know. I honestly think that this month, though difficult and long, will make me much more aware of what I’m buying and why I’m buying it. IE, Am I buying those shoes because I need them? Or am I buying them because I’m bored?

Now, I know I’m not perfect. Let’s face it: I’m never NOT going to love to shop. But hopefully now my spending habits and shopping patterns will be a little different.

Anyway! YES, to everyone who asked (seriously, like fifteen people asked starting at 7:30am) if I had already bought something… come on. Of course. But it was a thing that I realized I actually needed during this long, drawn-out month! So tomorrow I will reveal the very first item that I purchased once the ban had been lifted. I’m sure you’ll all be waiting with bated breath.

And truly, thank you to all of you who called and texted and emailed and tweeted your support and encouragement. It was a long month but it’s over now so let’s let the fun (in moderation, of course) begin!