Watch Out For Flying Pigs

You've heard the saying, "When pigs fly".  Well I'm about to do something that seems almost as impossible.  The idea came to me Black Friday.  I was at a party for Lance's boss and having fun meeting new people among whom was a wonderful woman who turned out to be a fellow shopaholic.  During our conversation, she told me she lived alone in a three bedroom house and every closet in her house was stuffed to overflowing and most of it were things she never even wore.  It sounded a little familiar to me.  Now I am way to organized to overstuff closets, but as we talked further I realized that we were both very much the same in our compulsion to acquire new things.

As we talked further, my new friend told me about something amazing she had done.  In 2011 she'd had enough.  She realized she didn't have room for one more thing and so she decided that she wouldn't buy any new clothes, shoes, or accessories for herself the entire year.  Instead she took the money she would have spent (she figured around $300 a paycheck) and put it in savings.  In early 2012 she had enough money saved up to take her and her 18 year old daughter to Europe for 10 days.  I was intrigued, and I admired her, but soon the conversation changed and that was all there was to it.  After the party, though, I couldn't stop thinking about what she'd done.  We were the same caliber of shopaholic so I knew she completely understood my feelings and drive to shop.  She had experienced the same pleasure that comes from just being at a beautiful shopping center with beautiful window displays as far as the eye can see.  She was like me and yet she was able to go without for an entire year.  And so I decided if she could, I could.

Now this is my challenge for 2013.  I am going to go the entire year without buying any new clothes, shoes, accessories, and (I'm adding) home decor for myself.  The only exception I'm allowing myself is my birthday.  I can go shopping for myself for my birthday.  I can also shop for other people.  My girls will need new clothes as the seasons change because they are growing and I'll still have to buy birthday present for friends and family, but nothing new for me.

So tomorrow it begins.  I've already unsubscribed my email from all my shopping websites.  I'm throwing away catalogs without even looking at them.  I can do this.  Lots of people who know me, keep saying they don't think I can, but that just makes me more determined.  I'm not saying it won't be hard.  It will be.  I'm basically trying to alter my genetic makeup with only sheer determination.  But most worthwhile things are hard.  Plus, I've done hard things before.  Now the question is, what will I do with all the money I save? Is that Europe I hear calling?