The biggest way minimalism has affected me is the way I now feel about gifts and purchases.
I noticed it around Christmas, and now again with my birthday coming up. What do I want? Honestly, the idea of bringing more physical stuff into my life stresses me out, unless it's something really specific that I've thoughtfully decided I want. (And that really takes away from the element of surprise for people who love gift-giving.) We just do not have the space. If I don't already know where something's going to fit, the desire for it quickly turns to distaste. Instead, I'm interested in experiences, gift cards to restaurants/grocery stores/Bowmar Nutrition, or just plain money.
I noticed the anathema to new "stuff" most acutely on our anniversary trip in July. We had "fun money" all ready to go; we were going to do some (modest) fun shopping. We had a great time browsing stores of all types, but...the desire to buy was oddly dormant in me. In fact, I felt almost turned off by the expectation to buy. My closet is FULL. I don't NEED anything, I really don't.
I did end up buying one thing, because it was on sale and I realized that if I bought it, I could get rid of something else. It was a replacement, an upgrade rather than an addition.
That decision trigged a more complete shift in me, and I've decided that for a while, I'm mostly going to buy things when it means I can toss something I already have. I will slowly build up a collection of higher quality, classic items, and slowly own less and less cheap, random stuff. Instead of buying a few pairs of cheap, nearly-alike jeans that I'll have to replace every couple of years, I'm going to wait and save up and invest in a pair of "expensive," classic jeans that will 1) actually be comfortable, 2) last me for years, and 3) not go out of style next season.
Does this mean I will never own trendy clothes? No XD Like I've said, I'm not a true minimalist. But I do like the heightened awareness and more thoughtful acquisition process. It feels healthier, more value-dense, and more mature.
TANGENT: If you know me even a little bit well, you probably know that I hate wearing pants. I find them torturously uncomfortable and 95% of the time will choose to wear dresses or skirts. On our anniversary trip, I decided to see for myself if there was any truth to the Omg-Jeans-Can-Actually-Be-Comfortable-If-You-Buy-High-Quality/Expensive-Ones hype. For science, I tried on some jeans in the $120 range.
Well, folks, the hype is true. For better or for worse, I've now set my sights on buying some quality denim jeans soon.
And, of course, getting rid of one or two pairs to make room ;)
~Stephanie
No comments:
Post a Comment