I’ve fallen into the the SALES! and DEALS! and “hey if you’re buying something for this person, add this thing for you and get FREE SHIPPING!” traps. (My inbox for all of December pretty much looks like this.)
This essay by Kimberly Harrington–“Nothing You Buy Will Change You“– could have been written by my better, funnier self. I, too, once did a shopping fast, and I have been trying (until this month when J. Crew started 60% off sale and Madewell had 30% off for Black Friday, ahem) to only buy ready-made clothes from responsible sources. Clearly I’ve fallen off the wagon, so maybe I need to use Kimberly’s trick:
When I’m considering buying something I ask myself, “What am I hoping for from this?” and 9 times out of 10 I leave empty handed. Most importantly, I no longer look to any of it and think, “how can you change me, thing? How can you make me better?”