My Shopping Sabbatical Begins...Now!

As weird as this sounds for a fashion blogger, it seems like lately all I ever do is shop, and the act of shopping and buying pretty things is starting to lose its lustre for me. I'm buying things that I want and I know I'll definitely use, but nothing that I particularly need. Compounded over several months, you can see how these habits can amount to a lot of stuff. Suddenly, I feel a severe bout of consumer's guilt as I contemplate how my spending is contributing in its own way to killing the planet. I did some hard thinking last night while talking with a friend and came to a conclusion.

I, Lisa, will be going on a self-imposed shopping sabbatical for the next 4-5 months. I will buy no accessories and no clothing. I figure I have more than enough clothing and accessories to get me through the summer and beyond, especially considering there's stuff I've bought over the last two months that I haven't even had the thrill of wearing yet. (In my defense, the weather's been lousy! No skirts and open-toed sandals when there are winter-like temperatures outside.)

Now, here's what's really cool. If I stop shopping cold turkey and don't buy anything for the next 4 or 5 months, I will have saved at least $2000. I can then take that money and splurge on one really fabulous and cool item, like a Chanel handbag. That way I avoid wasting money on something I don't really need, and I can buy something that would otherwise seem overly expensive and out of my reach. If I can make it through the summer without buying anything, I'll likely buy the Chanel purse in September around my birthday, so the bag will be an extra-fabulous birthday present to myself!

So, if I ain't gonna shop, what can you expect from my posts in the coming months? For one thing, I'll re-assess the clothes and accessories I already have in my closet and try to wear what I have in new, more interesting ways. I'm also going to do more posts about fashion finds on the web, advice posts regarding certain items, opinion pieces...in short, anything that catches my fancy and doesn't involve me dropping dough on impulse purchases.

In the meantime, I've got a bit of closet-cleaning to do, a pair of ruined shoes to take to a shoemaker, and a zipper on a cardigan that needs to be repaired. I'll take care of all that eventually.