I have one & only one New Year's resolution this year:
to buy absolutely nothing new
The only exceptions are food, fabric, underwear & art supplies. For clothes I will buy vintage, charity shop or 2nd hand online. For CDs I will download music (not sure if this counts or not?) or borrow or buy 2nd hand again. Books will probably be the hardest. Not because I don't love charity bookshops, but just because working in a bookshop means I constantly find things I want to buy. But that's it. NOTHING NEW.
I don't need anything that's new. I could just wear the clothes I have for the rest of my life. Of course, I don't want to do that, but there are way's around it & every time I visit that mystical universe that is "town" my heart sinks, I get angry & shaky & very very sweary. I'm a hypocrite, yes. But I haven't shopped in Topshop for over 2 years now & I haven't missed it. Even though 2 of my favorite dresses are from there, I can honestly say that I do not feel the need to walk into a Topshop ever again in my life, so why not cut out everything? I've done a pattern making course so I can make stuff if I can't find it 2nd hand, & I should make stuff really.
The only thing that bugs me is stemming from a trip to Primark I was forced to make last week taking a small family friend Christmas shopping. A velvet skirt I've been mulling over? There. In every colour. For like £5. Aviator jackets, bomber jackets, practically perfect, again every colour & only £15. It's so easy, it's not fair. I am a "head-shopper" as my friends & family have dubbed it, I have a habit of thinking up garments that don't exist anywhere but in my imagination & then spending like a year, 2 years looking for the perfect version of it. Usually I find it...eventually or I get over it. & it fuels my ugly superiority complex when it comes to things like clothes & music. I feel like it was my original thought & I went so some pains to find it, but it's a little soul destroying every time I walk into one of these shops who appear to have a carbon copy of my imagination. Is this just me? Or is everyone ok with this now & should I just shut the fuck up?
Ok rant almost over. Just one more thing: I have realised the more I continue to exist that to do anything I may remotely want to do (whatever that turns out to be) I need money. & so spending my months wages a couple of days after I get paid is not going to work, especially when I'm not at college or when I venture out into the cruel real world. For now the only money earning skill I have seems to be the Saturday girl at Blackwell's & so I'll have to milk this as much as possible until I get that avidly awaited lightbulb moment. I just wish it would hurry up. Hopefully, though, in the meantime this resolution will give me something to fixate on, to strive for & think about. & save me a bit of money!
What are your resolutions?
to buy absolutely nothing new
The only exceptions are food, fabric, underwear & art supplies. For clothes I will buy vintage, charity shop or 2nd hand online. For CDs I will download music (not sure if this counts or not?) or borrow or buy 2nd hand again. Books will probably be the hardest. Not because I don't love charity bookshops, but just because working in a bookshop means I constantly find things I want to buy. But that's it. NOTHING NEW.
I don't need anything that's new. I could just wear the clothes I have for the rest of my life. Of course, I don't want to do that, but there are way's around it & every time I visit that mystical universe that is "town" my heart sinks, I get angry & shaky & very very sweary. I'm a hypocrite, yes. But I haven't shopped in Topshop for over 2 years now & I haven't missed it. Even though 2 of my favorite dresses are from there, I can honestly say that I do not feel the need to walk into a Topshop ever again in my life, so why not cut out everything? I've done a pattern making course so I can make stuff if I can't find it 2nd hand, & I should make stuff really.
The only thing that bugs me is stemming from a trip to Primark I was forced to make last week taking a small family friend Christmas shopping. A velvet skirt I've been mulling over? There. In every colour. For like £5. Aviator jackets, bomber jackets, practically perfect, again every colour & only £15. It's so easy, it's not fair. I am a "head-shopper" as my friends & family have dubbed it, I have a habit of thinking up garments that don't exist anywhere but in my imagination & then spending like a year, 2 years looking for the perfect version of it. Usually I find it...eventually or I get over it. & it fuels my ugly superiority complex when it comes to things like clothes & music. I feel like it was my original thought & I went so some pains to find it, but it's a little soul destroying every time I walk into one of these shops who appear to have a carbon copy of my imagination. Is this just me? Or is everyone ok with this now & should I just shut the fuck up?
Ok rant almost over. Just one more thing: I have realised the more I continue to exist that to do anything I may remotely want to do (whatever that turns out to be) I need money. & so spending my months wages a couple of days after I get paid is not going to work, especially when I'm not at college or when I venture out into the cruel real world. For now the only money earning skill I have seems to be the Saturday girl at Blackwell's & so I'll have to milk this as much as possible until I get that avidly awaited lightbulb moment. I just wish it would hurry up. Hopefully, though, in the meantime this resolution will give me something to fixate on, to strive for & think about. & save me a bit of money!
What are your resolutions?
Oh my that's an impressive resolution. I honestly don't think I could do that. Though I am sort of half way there - I do make a lot of clothes and shop vintage/charity shops/second hand online. I'm like one of those vegetarians that eat chicken. And I am exactly the same vis a vis thinking up clothes and hunting them down regardless of their actual existence.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a resolution yet, so should probably hurry. Perhaps something really boring like do more work or maybe to get back to watching a film every day because I have never been as happy as when I did that. Anyway, happy New Year!
Awww, wow, i really hope it goes well for you :D there is amazing vintage and second hand clothes out there so i'm sure you won't have any problems ;)
ReplyDeleteI do exactly the same with thinking things up and then searching for them for years, i'm just going to make them straight away this time!
Hope you have a wonderful new years :)
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good luck!! I hope it works out - those are awesome goals. I tend to get over-zealous about new years goals so I won't tell you ALL of them but a small sampling would include: save money for a roadtrip, actually put some effort into doing my hair, buy and wear more pants, put lotion on my feet, make clothing of my own, read, and, of course, eat more vegitables :)
ReplyDeleteHappy 2011!!!
totally do it!
ReplyDeletehead shopping is the best ever haha
happy new year sister!
xx
i really admire you for going through with this, admittedly it is something that's been circling round my head for the last few months or so, partly due to my insufficiency in the funds department and partly due to my disgust towards the reckless consumer in me. i don't know if i could go cold turkey like that for a year, which is why for me it's better to maintain my bi-monthly shopping regime (which has the advantage of challenging me to stretch it - I have shopped once since september, and only to treat myself to a nice party dress for the holidays!)
ReplyDeletein short, i wish you luck knowing i have the same ambition: cutting down on the absurdity of wanting, needing, and having the things that we're already fortunate enough to take for granted