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no retail shopping challenge: 1 year later

May 26, 2012 | A better way, Cultural chaos, Flashback, No retail shopping

It’s the one year anniversary since I finished the no retail shopping challenge.  Why did I do the challenge?  Straight from my original blog post:

I wanted to live differently, meaning finding creative ways to not buy stuff I really don’t need, to share stuff with others, to not be wasteful and to be more environmentally friendly.

So what did this accomplish?  Looking at it one year later, it accomplished a lot more than I could have ever imagined.  Since I blogged it every day for the entire year, I have a great record of how the year progressed and all of the lessons I learned through the challenge that many called crazy.  Let me share a few of the posts with you.

Top 3 blog posts, as chosen by readers:

My 3 favorite posts.  Okay, so it’s really 5.  I couldn’t decide.

What’s changed after a year?

To tell you how it’s going a year later, I’m going to copy parts from the day 365 post and respond to them. It started off as a year of no retail shopping, however it ended up as a year of so much more than that.

Anytime you do something radical to change your life, there will always be some unexpected outcomes.  On a scale of 1 to 10, I expected a 2 – 3 change after it was over.  It really ended up being more of a 7 – 8.

It’s changed the way I think, not only when it comes to shopping, but how I live my life.

Yes, I over-think every purchase I make, which I see as a good thing.  If you see me wearing something new, you can bet I agonized over making that purchase over a period of days and tried to a way around it.

Another outcome, for some odd reason, is my awareness of how much disposable stuff is in our everyday lives.  I thought my next challenge would be something around that, but right now that’s looking like a few blog posts on the topic with no time challenge attached to it.

The truth of the matter is, I’m human and I struggle with all of the same things everyone else does, I’ve just chosen to take a few of those struggles a step further.

I’m still human.  LOL!

I’m not going to go back to retail shopping like I shopped before this year started.  Yes, I will probably start again at some point, but it will be a much different process.

No impuse buys.  If I see something I want to buy on the rare occasion I might be in a store, I wait 24 hours and then go back and get it.  The 24 hours usually yields an “I don’t need to buy this” answer.  You can’t believe how much money this process will save!

Think before buying.  Sounds ridiculous on some level, but I try to mentally ask myself a few questions.  If I’m satisfied with my own answers, then I’ll make the purchase.  Okay, so it’s more than a few.

 1.  If I buy this, will I use it today?  In a month?  In 6 months?  A year?

 2.  Have I been wanting or needing this item?

 3.  Is there an alternative?  Used?  Borrowed?  Less expensive?

 4.  Am I supporting a good cause by buying this?

 5.  Am I supporting companies with good business ethics?

 6.  Is it good for the environment?

 7.  Is this setting a good example for my kids?

Shopping won’t be a hobby, it won’t be something I do when I’m bored, it won’t be buying on impulse and it won’t be something I do very often. 

It’s a rare occasion that I step foot in any big box retail store or mall.  Grocery stores and thrift stores are my norm.  At one point in my life, before the challenge, thrift stores had become a hobby.  I would buy things just because I could get a good deal.  I stopped that.  I apply the no impulse rules now.

This might be the last day of the challenge, but it’s the first day of something much bigger.  It’s the first day of whatever I want it to be.  I might do another challenge of some sort because I just do stuff like that.

I’m planning my next challenge, which really, by definition, will be more of a project or experiment.  Details soon to follow…

I’m not going to start shopping or run to the store, but I am going to take a short break from blogging.

I took a much longer break than I had planned.  I’m back in the blogosphere!

I will continue using rethinkgood.com to do post-challenge updates, including telling you what I have purchased retail.

I didn’t post things I bought like I said I would, as that would take up a lot of time that I just don’t have these days.  I think my time would be better spent on new challenges and finding more ways to communicate the wonderful impact of this change in my shopping habits.

I can’t even imagine shopping now.  How uncomfortable will that be?!?

It is highly uncomfortable.  I didn’t expect that.  I went to the mall a few days ago to buy a pair of TOMS wedges so I would have something to wear for a speaking engagement.  I couldn’t help feeling like I had just been dropped into some alien world, a place where I needed to figure out the answer to stopping this piece of economic chaos so I could see the “game over” and be out of there.  I bought my TOMS and quickly exited.  I won’t even get into the mental gymnastics of “should I really keep these expensive shoes or take them back” insanity.

Let me also say that I’m judgmental when I shop.  Yes, I know this is not good.  I fight it when I’m in places like the mall or retail stores.  At Aldi, I look around and smile because I’m judging these people as really smart.  They get it.  They know my secret of shopping simplicity and frugality.  We’re in a secret club that anyone can easily join, but it’s not a sexy club or a culturally desirable club.  It’s a club of thinking differently than our surrounding culture and a club of simplicity.

One part of that is making my blog into a resource for living differently than the way society says we should.

Haven’t had time to do this yet.  :(

I know where I’m not going, but where am I going?

I am going to downsize more and keep going in this direction, which by evaluating all of the results from my endeavors, seems to be really good.

I’ve talked about writing a book, and along with that, I have many other ideas of what I can do with this year of online journaling.  This will all be a waste if I don’t take some action on it.

I’m still rethinking good.  ;)

Now that I think about it, this has been my identity over the past year.  It’s been a rare occasion that I would meet someone, or be introduced to someone without the “…she’s doing a year of no retail shopping…”  Explain.  Answer questions.  Give them my blog name.  But now what?

A year later, this is still somewhat still my identity.  I’ve just added to it… recycling radical, ditching disposables, fighting for social inclusion and the list goes on.

If this has truly been my identity, then in this case, I hope someone steals my identity.  A good case of identity theft? 

Please, steal it.  During the challenge, I often wondered why I was doing the challenge and taking so much time to blog about it.  Each time I felt that way, inevitably, someone would come up to me and thank me for such and such blog post and how it changed something in their life.

I’m happy to report that this is still my identity a year later.  That’s not going to change.  Thank you for being a part of it.  So, I guess my bottom line here is…

I’m changed, for good.