halfway through #buynothingnovember

So, this is kind of anti-climactic but, here goes.

I’ve not bought a single thing for 3 weeks now. I’m still alive. I’m not particularly suffering.

That’s it.  And that’s kind of the point, right?  That so many of us have everything we really need?  That all this extra stuff is really just for pleasure, or convenience, or…whatever? That’s not to say I haven’t been tempted.  I had to forcibly restrain myself from buying another one of these dresses, because I bought one last month and I really, really like it.  At a MOPS meeting a couple of weeks ago, we had a great speaker and she was selling prayer journals and I almost bought one until I remembered that I couldn’t.  I packed lunches when we went to the zoo last week even though  it would have been easier to just stop and pick up something. I had to pry myself away from the book table at Costco when I went for groceries. And for some reason, I can’t get the idea that I need maroon leggings out of my head.  Consumerism at its strangest, guys.

So I’m not saying it’s been easy; I’ve been challenged.  But you know what? Saying no to yourself feels good sometimes.  It’s freeing. Freeing to realize how little I need to be genuinely happy. How little my family needs. How, even without buying a single extra thing, we still have more than enough to share with others.  We say things like this all the time, how grateful we are for what we have.  But at some point we come to a place where true gratitude means saying, “We have enough.”

All that said, I’ve got the rest of the month to go, and as we get closer to Christmas, the sales are starting to beckon and I’m already compiling a shopping list in my head.  I’ve found that sales and good deals are my enemy- so I need to be on guard with myself for that.

Those of you out there who are joining me… how have you been faring?  I’d love to hear about some of your successes and pitfalls.