I realize that does sound kind of extreme, doesn’t it? Well, I first read about the idea of doing a self-imposed shopping ban over at Blonde on a Budget. She hasn’t bought anything except groceries, toiletries (only when they run out) and things like toilet paper in over a year.

Isn’t that fascinating? I’ve been wondering for a while how much money we really need, just to pay for food, shelter and use items.

One thing that really puzzles me is how my money just seems to evaporate, even when I don’t feel like I’ve bought a lot of things.

I’ve been living a more minimalist life for the past three years, so I do buy a heap of a lot less than I used to – almost no impulse purchases, no decoration, no clothes that don’t fit my style or are needed in my wardrobe.

Tangibly what that means is that when I moved in September, my stuff had fit into three boxes (+ furniture + kitchen supplies + towels). I recently counted the clothes I own and came to a startling number of 19. That’s without socks, underwear, jackets, and scarves.

But holy moly! That’s not a lot of stuff. Naturally, I don’t buy a lot of things to avoid cluttering things up again. Still, my money always goes out the window. It goes out the window for useful things: School books, books about topics I’m into, clothes to fill the holes in my closet, jewelry from Etsy and food on the go when I’m on campus all day.

So when I read about the shopping ban, I was intrigued – what would it feel like to not spend money at all?

Here’s what happened so far.

I realized how much I want to own new things.

I’m on a quest to update my wardrobe to fit my style and turn it into a fashionable capsule wardrobe. I love wearing high-ish quality things that make me feel good and I love curating my wardrobe by carefully purchasing new items to compliment it.

I spend so much time yearning for things and it feels really good to stop that need to have new things.  When I look at a pair of earrings that makes me swoon, I realize that I actually don’t need to have them – even though they are absolutely swoon-worthy. The cool thing is: I stop wanting to have them so badly.

The happiness of buying something quickly fades away. I buy very few things and when I buy something, I usually love that item. Recently, I bought three new bras – and I did need them because I only had two others that didn’t fit quite right. I’ve been living in a sort of bra-disease the last few years where I usually only had one or two bras that I could wear, and usually, those didn’t fit me properly. So I was super happy when I found three in a day that actually fit me and looked nice.

What puzzled me was how after a week or two of wearing them, it already feels so normal. I’m still happy when I choose one in the morning, but the buzz has faded.

I’m curious to learn more about my spending habits as the experiment goes on. Care to join (for a day or a week)?