Recently in Make Do, Do Without Category

At the end of last year, I decided to try not buying anything except consumables for the whole of 2009. It was a pie-in-the-sky project with vague rules and no real consequences or penalties for failure. I blogged my progress and this is the final report.

The first few months sailed by smoothly. I restricted and restrained myself for about half a year without too much pain. I kept a wish list of things I wanted to buy but wouldn't. I retrained myself to not shop as a waiting game. The plastic smell of shops became unpleasant. My main failures were supplies - fabrics and hoop tubing - and gifts for friends and family.

When summer came, I gave in more easily to shopping temptations for myself. I bought some clothes and more fabric. Cosmetics sneaked into the house and so did a new pair of sneakers to support my sprained foot. I stopped keeping my journal in August. Autumn arrived with flurry of buying for Spin Matsuri, partially materials for the event itself and partially costumes for me. Our trip to Thailand and Singapore saw purchases of books and clothing. I replaced my filled up sketchbook with a new one. I bought an old, used telephone that I have wanted for years. And in the last month, I have caved in to the point that I bought all of my Christmas gifts and not many of them were consumables.

Shopping is a slippery slope. It is hard to put the brakes on and so very easy to get rolling again. Here is my scorecard, based on the original goals I stated last December.

No accumulation of things

Partial success. I ended up with more hoop costumes, hoops, makeup, and clothes than I started with but most of the durable goods I purchased were given away as gifts.

Purchase only consumables

Fail. See above.

Become mindful of my consumption

Success. However, consciousness and conscientiousness slipped later in the year.

Exercise creativity by repurposing what I already have

Partial success. I had a few good moments, like the shoe clips in May, but I found this surprisingly difficult.

improve skills in repair, maintenance, & construction

Partial success. Though I did repair and maintain things, I didn't do so with new or improved skills.

Build networks through bartering and trade

Partial success. I bartered and traded with friends as I always do, but did not build new networks.

Reduce my "ecological footprint" by decreasing waste and increasing the life of my things

Partial success. As an example, I eked another year out of our 12 year old mattress and put the 5 year old computer in for repair instead of replacing it.

Refocus my desires to more meaningful things, rather than an LED hula hoop

Fail. I still want hula hoops. They are meaningful to me.

This month has been illuminating.

As seems typical, very few of my purchases will remain in the house. I've bought gifts for friends' birthdays and supplies for Spin Matsuri and other hooping events. I think I can justify these things without guilt. I splashed out on a trio of Uniqlo shirts & a pair of purple leggings to fill in little gaps in my wardrobe - I've already worn all of them but I could have survived with out them, so that was a fail. I bought a hat at a flea market. The woman and her smiling baby made me feel good about it, so not too much of a fail.

I also put together an emergency kit in case of earthquakes - resupplying our stock and adding some new essentials. That is a "I hope this is never consumed" item that I do not regret or feel at all guilty about shopping for.

Tod & I started tracking our daily purchases, including monthly bills & transportation costs. Basically anything that comes out of our wallet gets marked down in a notebook at the front door. It is surprising how much money we spend, even without many durable goods. Our daily average is 12,000 yen for the past month. That is pretty amazing, since I don't think we spend huge wads of money. But I guess I have the notes to prove we do.

Where does it go? Well, utilities are high, we don't skimp on groceries, we are generous with gifts and we eat out a couple of times a week. Trains and taxis cost us 34,000 this month; utilities totaled over 30,000; I had a 5000 yen hoop class; the emergency kit set us back 8,000 yen; Tod's workday lunches about 1000 yen daily. So anyone who thought I was going to ruin economic recovery by not shopping...you were wrong. I am still spending plenty of money.

At least not too much of our cash is spent on things that persist.

Short report: FAIL.

Long report: I have a lot of interesting new clothes, many of them from a second-hand shop.

Of the above, two pants, two skirts, one jacket, and three tops are brand new; one skirt and five tops are second-hand. In other words, 14 of my 44 wardrobe pieces are newly purchased.

It was my intention to go window shopping with Jeanette last Sunday, not to actually buy things. It was meant to be a lesson in cut and color but the clothes fit so well and they were on sale...I got stuff at 3 different stores. Here is my shameful accounting: 8000 yen at H&M for 2 skirts, 2 pants and a jacket; 7000 yen at Zara for 3 tops; and about 9000 yen at Kinji for a skirt and 5 tops.

I should feel guilty but I have a completely coordinating wardrobe that gets me compliments when I wear it. With so many matching pieces I will be able to don a different outfit every day for the rest of the summer (and the next couple of summers, too), so I have no reason to want any more clothes.

Shopping is a slippery slope. Now I want shoes and accessories. Sigh. Brakes on. Can not have.

Clothes weren't my only fail this month. Feeling the sadness of not having any glowing toys for our weekly evening spin gatherings, I bought 4 Cyalume LED glow sticks to make glowing poi. They are quite spectacular in motion. 890 yen each. I knitted the leashes myself, at least.