Buying Less

Last month saw a bit of a change to my life which meant that I had to move most of my possessions into storage (the rest is with my parents at the moment).  While this wasn't a particular pleasant time the one thing it really showed me was just how much stuff I actually had.  I've never been a big spenders and have been good at getting rid of things over the last few years.  And yet, I have still managed to accumulate more things than one person needs and which I don't want to have to lug around with me.

Obviously I'll be going through and doing quite an intensive decluttering, but on the other side I don't want to be bringing anything else in.  So, I'm going to be going on a no buy for the next few months to help not increase the problem.  The only real exception to this will be the things I need to buy for work, the the emphasis is on the word 'need'.

Though there may be a few items I need to buy now and then, there are a few categories I really do not need anything in.  They are:

• Makeup - I most definitely have enough products in this category and the only exception to the no buy rule will be mascara.  My no buy for makeup will continue past the end of the year and I will only buy an item if I have completely used up every product in each makeup category.  Which will probably be never when it comes to eyeshadow and blush.
• Jewelry - this is another category I have a stupidly large number of.  And I say stupidly as I only tend to wear the same pieces over and over again.  I think the problem for me is that I usually buy the items during my travels and they end up having a special meaning to me.  On the plus side, I don't expect to be doing much travelling in the future so I won't be as tempted, but there's also the shinny things I see in the shops that are so cheap and I just want.  Time to start saying no, there is no way I need more.
• Scarves, hats, and gloves - now this is a category where work might mean I need to buy some, but for non work purposes I really don't need anymore.  This is another category which I tend to buy when traveling to keep with me as a wearable memory, but I have way more then anyone needs (especially when it comes to scarves).  I actually wear all of my hats, gloves, and scarves so it's unlikely I'll be decluttering any of them soon, but I can stop buying them.  This is another category which will carry on after the year ends and I will only buy new ones once all the anothers have either fallen apart or been lost (I tend to leave hats on the bus for some bizarre reason).
• Leisure clothing - I don't have the biggest wardrobe when it comes to cloth.  It's just never been my thing, probably because it's difficult to find anything that fits my body type, but I decided a while ago that I should only have 5 items in each clothing category.  I probably don't even need that number and already have less in some of the categories, but I'm going on a no buy until all the categories are down to five.  Then I'll just replace like for like after that.
• Books - a few years ago my Dad gave me a large number of his books and so I now have all the fictions I could possibly need, probably for the rest of my life.  The only books I'll allow myself to buy are reference books or non-fiction on a category I'm researching at the time.  However, this will only be if I can't find it at the library and I will try and buy the digital version instead of a hardcopy.

And so begins my no buy (or maybe low buy would be better as I will still buy things I actually need - like waterproof trousers).  An added bonus will be that I should also get a little help with my finances as well.