Last week I shared my thoughts on why I started my shopping ban. It was pretty much stepping into the unknown. It was a challenge I wasn't sure I could endure up to the end, so I allocated a six months' period pretty randomly. I thought: let's say six months, and if I cannot make it, well... that's it. Nothing too serious. The initial idea was six months without buying clothes, but soon I extended it, so it was six months without buying clothes (except for one pair of jeans because I really needed it), decorative cosmetics (which shouldn't be too hard, as I use minimal make-up), nail polishes (ok, harder, because I'd been eyeing a shade or two), glossy magazines (hard!), candles (sad, because I was really used to their lovely light in the evening), flowers (super hard, as buying tulips in the Netherlands is the most natural thing, plus it's incredible how much they always brighten the desk), jewelry (not that hard, but then again, I had to remember not to buy it!), Starbucks coffee (at that point not that hard because Groningen had Starbucks at the main railway station and I almost never went there). In a nutshell: I was banned from buying things I didn't absolutely need.
