My Year of No Shopping. December 2023.

The year ended and we survived it. We cut back on shopping and I learned so much. Mostly I learned about myself, my patterns - both thoughts and actions - and how they inform my day to day.

But this is not an epilogue. I’ll save that for next month. I plan to revisit this whole journey and list out just exactly what I did buy beyond what was set in place at the top of the year. You’ll be waiting for that rundown with bated breath, I’m sure.

But for now, this is about No Shopping in December. And it, like most things, is anticlimactic.

Not shopping in December is brutal and doable all at the same time. I’ve been at it for twelve months now, so it’s definitely doable. But/and: December is a month-long celebration in our home. Not only do I have an Advent calendar of activities that magically appears on the 1st, but the month is sprinkled with birthdays as well. My daughter’s is in early December and my husband’s is two days before Christmas. We go big in December. I love it terribly and it is terribly exhausting. No matter how adept I am at organizing December, there is always another errand to run and the tasks always take longer than what my brain thinks is sufficient.

As far as shopping goes, gifts weren’t much of an issue. Having a child with a birthday near the holidays, I tend to gather gifts for both the birthday and the holiday in advance to make sure both are rather evenly accounted for. My husband and I are not big gift-givers to each other, so that isn’t an issue. Gift cards are my go-to for all those who make life a bit more livable: the cleaning lady, teachers, the dog groomer, the viola teacher, etc. Having already gotten our parents Storyworth, we gifted the books they wrote to our brothers. But those gifts were purchased in the summer. (I can’t recommend Storyworth enough. It is the written version of heirloom albums and it’s priceless.)

So gifting was rather cut and dry… but my favorite jeans tore irrevocably in early December. Right after I’d abstained from buying a pair during Madewell’s Black Friday sale. This particular style of jeans goes on sale so rarely that I kicked myself for letting the opportunity pass me by only to need replacements a week later. I checked the sales page. This activity translates to - wait for it - shopping. But it’s also a replacement item that I need, so it didn’t count. Perhaps? Who’s to say? Shall we split hairs? Let’s call the whole thing off? Potato, potato.

In any event, when my style went on sale in black denim, I purchased.

My daughter gifted me a “like cashmere” sweater from a Target for my stocking stuffer and it’s so cozy and bright that I found myself rather delighted with it. According to my husband (who actually purchased it), it was on clearance. So, on December 30th, two days shy of the new year when the No Shopping ban would be lifted, I bought two more in different styles and bright colors.

Friends, I did the best I could.

But also, in all honesty, I wasn’t counting down the days. I wasn’t aching for it to end. The urges and desires to purchase came and went in waves throughout the year. But when it was over, I wasn’t itching to stockpile tons of items that I yearned for.

Maybe that’s because I bought more than the allotted 2 items this year. Maybe it was because we’ve just finished a season of excess, even if I wasn’t shopping throughout it. Maybe it’s because, when New Year’s Day rolled around, I was content. I was surrounded by old friends and my family and I wanted for nothing.

But more likely, I simply just wasn’t in one of my waves a desire to acquire. I know the wave will come again - that’s what this year taught me the most. My pattern to possess comes and goes. But it always returns. And I can observe that without judging it. That feels kind. I can observe it without necessarily attaching worth to the item. That feels like detachment.

Maybe this year taught me more than I fully realize just two days removed from it.

Whatever the lessons learned, the changes that may or may not stick, I’m glad I took on this experiment and followed through to the best of my ability. I’m also glad it’s over.