An update on my shopping ban after 5 months

I wanted to give a quick update on my shopping ban. I started the experiment in December 2019, and I meant it to be a disruption to my usual buying habits. In the mean time we got another disruption which has pretty much turned my shopping ban into the new normal.

If you want to find out more about what and why I set out to do this, then check out my first video or read my blog post on the concept of my shopping ban.

Here’s this post in video form in case you prefer to watch videos:

An update on my shopping ban after 5 months

Watch this video on YouTube.

If you can’t see the video above, watch it here.

I meant to do this update in February or March, and then suddenly the virus and the lockdown situation was here. So let me talk about the shopping ban before all of that happened for a minute, and how things changed afterwards. For the first three months, I have to say it wasn’t too difficult to avoid buying art supplies, since I have a lot of them, and I got rid of some. Using what I had left felt really good and efficient. I simply kept what I use most and what I know I will need. I had accumulated a lot of things I wanted to try out, or them were given to me over the years, and by now I have a pretty good idea about the supplies I use regularly. A few colors of ink in classic colors, paints, a few pens, brushes, pencils. I still have a lot of supplies though.

So I decluttered a lot, especially books and art supplies. I also got rid of some personal stuff like old diaries, which was a welcome side effect.

Then the pandemic happened and I immediately stopped all my decluttering activities, selling stuff over the internet and bringing it to the post office didn’t seem the best plan. At the end of March I also had to order some new paint because I was low on a few of my supplies. I had planned this in as things I’m allowed to buy, since I obviously need paint to run my business. And I have to say that was a moment when I gave in a little bit to the hoarding panic that almost everyone of us felt during the first few weeks of the pandemic. I bought more than I needed at the moment and felt I need to stock up, just in case. It’s fine and I’m okay with it, but I thought it was an interesting psychological effect. So now not only my kitchen is well stocked up, but also my art supply drawers.

And to be honest, since the pandemic started, I’m not thinking a lot about shopping or buying anything out of the ordinary, so I haven’t had a difficult time keeping to my shopping ban. I find buying groceries once a week stressful enough, I’m relieved when I’m home again, I’m relieved when I don’t have to answer the door for the post guy, and apart from a machine to help my with kneading my bread, and a few seeds for my garden, I don’t even have any wishes. (I almost gave in the other day, but I then figured I can always still buy a kitchen helper when this project is over, or after my small hand mixer breaks apart from too much bread dough)

So that’s essentially it, as I said, the shopping ban experiment is not really a challenge for me right now, it’s more like the new normal. If anything can be normal these days. We’re definitely in a weird and unusual situation, so to be honest I would be totally ok with ending the experiment before the year is up, but right now it’s working, and I don’t see a reason to change a lot. I definitely came a lot closer to some of my own fears and thoughts by sticking to it, so it’s a good way to keep your head clear and remember what’s helpful and important right now. So even though I’ve stocked up on my groceries to be prepared, I still don’t feel the need to buy all kinds of emergency things or stuff to keep me busy. But I’m really thankful for my library subscription right now, and for my community gardening project, which is still happening!

I’m also thinking a lot about social media these days, and maybe I’ll do another update on social media during the pandemic soon.

So I’d really love to hear how you are doing right now. How have your shopping habits changed over the last two months? How are you getting through this crisis? Let’s share stories in the comments.