Checking in on the month of not buying...

Yeah...

I bought things. Thing 1 I have decided not to count because it is the pre-order of "The Hollow Crown" which I have been waiting ages for the opportunity to own (Shakespeare fans note: it is very good. I saw it last year in the UK and have been impatiently waiting to buy the DVD ever since). So as that is very the opposite of an impulse buy I have decided that it is okay. However... the make up and the yarn and the 2 apps... well. I bought things.

The make up in particular is interesting for me to reflect on because here is what happen. Last Friday my day went sideways early on and just got progressively worse. The short version is that I ended up in the Bartell's in Bellevue looking for acetone. What I bought was 3 pieces of NYX make-up that I definitely do not need (and the acetone which I did). I got sucked in because "it's on sale" which would be fine if I actually NEEDED any of it, which I didn't. But the interesting bit was on the way home I had my moment of self realization "GAH! I just did the thing. I bought crap I didn't need because I am having a bad day!" This is not something that happens, ever. So even though I broke my rules I am feeling like I was more mindful of what was happening so not all bad. Perhaps next time I can catch myself before.

And then there is the yarn - yeah... I was on vacation for like 10 minutes when I got fidgety and realized I needed a project. Enter nice yarn store... so I will have a lovely new alpaca wool scarf (sooner or later). Better planning could have thwarted this - I know I like to have projects when I am on vacation and I have plenty of yarn (it just happened to be 2000 miles away at the time).

So apps. Funny story. When I was writing the outline for this post, I remembered the apps at the very end and realized I had mentally not counted those as "things" because they aren't physical. But all the same buying psychology applies (at least for me) and they cost money and take up space on my phone... I bought two apps. One is arguable required; it is a signing/voice lesson companion app to help me in practice. The other... fidgety vacation Joanne strikes again. "I don't want to read the books I brought... I have been wanting to read more poetry... BUY APP NOW" I could have just picked up any one of dozens of books in the house. Nope. Want this shiny app.

All that said I have been more mindful in general about my shopping. I haven't really been shopping for the sake of it. I didn't buy a bunch of crap before vacation or random stuff while on vacation. It is not all bad. In fact I think it is mostly good. There is also going to be a September of not buying things since the August of not buying things hasn't been perfect. Plus frankly more to learn about myself.