Six months into this bizarre year of 2020 also means six months into my year of no shopping.
It hasn’t been an ordinary year so far and this has most definitely affected my experience of not buying anything for myself apart from essentials (e.g. toiletries). It’s affected the experience in several ways and has given me additional layers of reflection, so I thought I’d share some of them here.
External influence & pressure
When the whole world stops, in a way my generation hasn’t experienced before, it gives us this weird new perspective on life, on living, and on co-living with others on this planet. This pandemic has forced us to take a break from living our normal lives, from going to work, from seeing friends, from being out and about, and we’ve instead had to spend our time with ourselves, mainly in our own homes.
Going out shopping hasn’t really been a thing this spring, but neither has being amongst people in general. No parties where one might feel the need to buy a new dress, no trips where some new attire is needed, and no activities with others where we might be inspired, influenced or even pressured by others to buy something we’re missing.
This has certainly made things easier for me in terms of not buying anything. I’ve barely had any reasons to actually buy anything, at all, during these last few months and I know this is because of the fact that I’ve been isolation with my boyfriend. Not having to show up in public means I’m just using/wearing whatever I can find at home. The pandemic meant I had to go cold turkey but it’s also shown that I have a lot of stuff, more than enough, that I can and should use.
The online aspect
These days, a lot of our external influence and pressure comes from social media rather than people we see or meet in real life. During a pandemic where everyone’s at home, probably spending an awful lot of time on their phones, this is obviously even more prominent. Some may have increased their online shopping during the pandemic but since I’ve never really been into online shopping, this hasn’t been the case this year either.
And is it just me or have we actually seen a decrease in shopping-mania on social media during the pandemic? It might just be my own filter bubble, but I feel there’s less talk about shopping and that people have been genuinely less interested in consumption.
As people are losing their jobs, as the economy is crashing, and as we’re all feeling uncertain about the future, feeling less inclined to spend money is natural. But since I’m doing this no-shopping year anyway I’ve also had the chance to reflect on this from a more long-term perspective, and I think many others have too. Reflecting on what we actually do want to spend our money on, not just now but when we’re on the other side of the pandemic too.
Taking the time to prioritise
The key thing that’s made my no-shopping year pretty easy so far is the fact that I’ve barely had any opportunities to shop or even to be tempted to shop, because I’ve barely visited a shop all year. If you don’t put yourself in the position of actually being inside a shop full of things you’d normally want to buy, not buying anything isn’t actually that hard.
I’m hoping I can keep this up, post-pandemic too. To not tempt myself by going to shops I like just to browse, but instead to be more pragmatic and to take the time to prioritise and to plan my purchases.
During this no-shopping year, I’ve got a list on my phone that I keep adding things to that I feel like I need or want. I just leave them on there and some I’ve deleted because I realised after a while that I didn’t actually need or want them. Some might stay on the list this whole year and I can then reflect on whether I still need/want them and whether I should buy them in 2021. My aim is to keep this list going after this year too. To be able to make conscious purchases of things I actually need and to wait a while before buying them to see whether it was something I really wanted.
The result so far?
So far, it’s been pretty easy but I’m conscious of the fact that it probably wouldn’t have been this easy if it wasn’t for the pandemic.
Early on I realised I needed a new sports bra because the ones I had were old and not supportive enough. I made the decision that breast pain during exercise was a good enough reason and an exception I had to make, so I bought a sports bra. And a couple of months into the pandemic, when I desperately needed something to waste time with I bought a jigsaw puzzle for our small household.
But apart from that, I haven’t felt the need for anything really. What I’ve missed though is the excitement of walking through an antiques or second hand shop, looking through the shelves for some interesting/beautiful finds. I haven’t been to any shops though, mainly because of the pandemic but also to not tempt myself.
On a day trip the other week, in the rural countryside of Småland, we ended up in a small shop to buy ice cream and realised it was also an antiques shop. They probably don’t get a lot of customers normally, and probably even less so during the pandemic so my urge to support them got the better of me. So I bought a pair of small, ceramic candle holders.
A couple of slips and a necessary purchase to be able to do exercise during the pandemic. I feel that’s an ok result after 6 months.
I’m pleased it hasn’t actually been that hard and I’m most definitely motivated to carry on. I thought I might have felt more inclined to shop because of these weird/upsetting times but instead it’s actually helped me to truly think about what kind of life I want and what I want to spend my money on. Let’s see what the second half of 2020 brings.