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Allright! My first month has passed… For one month I did my best not to buy any stuff and to reduce my waste.
In addition to food and medication, I have bought this month: pants and panties as I had already mentioned in this post, a special feeder for my cat (a lot of hassle with dietary complications, this is not something for me, but for the cat), a toothbrush (a bamboo toothbrush to replace the electric of which the head was worn), some cotton bags to put vegetables / fruit / nuts in and a ball of sisal rope to make dishwashing sponges. The toothbrush and the dishwashing sponges are consumable stuff, which fall under the category of stuff I can buy, just like medication, toothpaste and food. With the sisal rope I can provide myself with sponges for a few years now; that means the purchase of a whole bunch of sponges is no longer needed!
When I went to buy that one pair of trousers a few days ago, I noticed how strongly you feel pulled or ‘called’, once you get to a store or a location with multiple stores. Immediately your attention is drawn by anything and everything. “Maybe there’s something else I need?” went straight through my mind. To which I replied: “Nope, we will not buy any more stuff this year; just those one pair of pants and then back home.” “But that sweater looks good …” or “I’m sure there are some interesting items over there, maybe I should check them out?”
It does require some tenacity not to go into those thoughts and not to come home with more than planned. So I have to admitted: I went into a shop where they had herbs and a sandwichspread that I wanted to try. So food, no stuff. Yes! But that was close …
It’s unbelievable how all those displayed and advertised things seem to call you and pull you! This shows how easily all these displayed items arouse a feeling of restlesness or dis-ease in us that we think we can only calm down by buying something. Look how much power this stuff has over us! What really stopped my inner restlesness was to drive away, back home. Once I was out of that shopping environment, the restlesness was over. Interesting observation … I’ms so happy I rarely go to shops; at most a supermarket that does not offer much more than food.
In the past month I have also been challenged to look for other solutions. It turned out I needed a leash for my cat to teach her to walk and play around outside my tiny house without panicking. Once she has overcome her fears and can quietly explore the area without running off scared in all directions, the leash becomes unemployed. So it’s 
senseless to buy something like that, even without a challenge. Luckily I could borrow a leash from someone from our local LETS group (more on this later)!
I am also looking for clothing for the 3 wedding parties I have to attend to in May, August and September. The last ten years I have rarely attended to weddingparties, but this year everyone seems to want to get married. And no, I’m not going to buy new clothes. I want to borrow some outfits and return them after the party. I have already received nice offers; it should be possible to appear neatly on these parties without breaking my challenge!
And regularly there are those nice things that you suddenly think you need: a certain book or a handy bike trailer so that I can do all my groceries by bike. But if you let those ideas sink in for a while, they appear not to be all that urgent anymore. That is why I now use my ‘wish lists’ at online stores to list things I think I need. I wonder how much of the items on these lists will still seem to be necessary within a year!
On to a second month in which I don’t buy any stuff. I wonder if the call of all this stuff in stores will be less strong if I don’t buy anything for a longer period of time.
There is only one way to find out …
Oh yeah! I forgot to report this: even though I don’t often go to shops, this challenge clearly keeps my mind busy. More than once I dreamed at night that I was about to buy something or had just bought something and then suddenly came up with a panic “oh no! I was supposed not to buy anything! ” B-)