No Shopping Challenge – Final Review

I did a 1 month update on this challenge which covers most of my thoughts on the challenge and is probably more helpful to read than this post if you’re considering the challenge. I stand by everything I said in that blog post. Here I’ll just add on a few new comments, as well as one major commitment I want to make going forward.

At the end of February, I started on a diet of sorts. Not a calorie counting diet, but something where I was trying to eat 80% plant based and just keep it mostly fruits and vegetables. I noticed that my urge to shop really increased around the time I started that diet. There’s this theory that discipline is a finite resource, which I agree with. Basically, when I had to exercise more discipline in terms of my diet, I had a harder time exercising equivalent discipline in my shopping/spending.

Second, I cheated a few times starting mid March. It’s so sad because I only had a couple weeks left, but here is where I cheated and why:

• I ran out of mascara during this 3 month period, and I was allowed to buy one to replace it, as the challenge allows you to replace items you run out of. But I also bought a second one to make a comparison video/reel
• I bought 2 things on Mercari which were amazing deals and which I had on my list for 2 months and would have purchased immediately after the challenge ended anyways. So when I saw them for less than $15, I hit purchase.
• Finally, I had planned for allowing myself to get my hair colored before March 21st, the Persian New Year. I didn’t end up doing that, so I allowed myself to purchase a few lip products that I had been eyeing. 1 lipstick, 1 gloss, 2 liners, and a lip scrub. I’m very happy with all of my purchases 6 weeks later, so no complaints there.

I’m only sharing these things because I don’t want to lie and pretend I successfully completed the challenge when I did cheat a few times.

I learned a few important things during this challenge:

1. Putting things you’re eyeing on your ‘list’ and then sitting on it for it a while is a great practice because you will inevitably change your mind about some things. Maybe you’ll realize that there’s something else that will serve you better or you’ll just stop liking something. Either way, I love this practice.
2. Our consumption practices here in the US are pretty excessive. During this 3 month period, I began following a few accounts that talk about sustainable fashion and the environment and about reducing consumption. Suffice it to say that I’m down a rabbit hole and I now see consumption as a much larger issue than I did before.
3. My love for DIY-ing and working with fabric to make things has re-surfaced a bit and I hope to explore that more after this summer (I have a busy summer with USMLE STEP 2 and a rotation in July).

Going forward, I have one major commitment that I want to make, and that is that I want to swear off fast fashion for the remainder of 2021. I already shop on Poshmark and at consignment stores so much that it shouldn’t be too hard, but there are the occasional Zara and Mango purchases that really catch my eye. But regardless, the impact that fast fashion has on the environment is so detrimental that I want to make this commitment and try to pull through. Maybe I should allow myself 3 fast fashion purchases this year just so that I have a bit of leeway. But either way, you won’t see me partner with Lulu’s anymore either, as it’s a fast fashion brand and I don’t want to promote that anymore. I’ll see how it goes this year and then re-evaluate, but I’m feeling good about this commitment.