The Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy in a Store

I still don’t understand why we are always so quick to push off the things we actually enjoy doing for the things that take just a little less effort.

compulsive shopper. I was a compulsive binge consumer of everything, really, including food and alcohol. I didn’t even know how to stop myself from binging on television for hours on end, something I wasted all the rest of my time in my 20s doing when I wasn’t out actually getting wasted.

Because I was only allowed to buy one new sweatshirt, as an example, it had to be the best. Not the best brand or the most expensive or the highest quality. It had to be the best for me.

people I spent more when I could have spent less. Even though

At the end of the day, remember this: The success of your shopping ban will depend on the stories you tell yourself throughout it. If you think it’s hard, you run a higher risk of quitting and even binge-shopping after. But if you appreciate what you have and actually use what you buy, the results could be life-changing.

I didn’t know how many habits I had that centered on drinking take-out coffee until I wasn’t allowed to buy it. Each time I craved it, I had to stand in the moment, pay attention to what had triggered the craving, and change my reaction.

Even doing something as simple as choosing not to finish a book I didn’t like gave me more time to read books I loved. And putting less energy into the friendships with people who didn’t understand me gave me more energy to put into the friendships with people who did.

It had to fit right and feel good and be something I could imagine wearing almost every day, because that’s what all the items in my new, tiny wardrobe did—they were worn almost every day.

before getting into my car for long periods of time, I would fill my water bottle and travel coffee mug and take them with me. After I did these things enough times, they became new habits. By mid-August, I was feeling good about the changes I was making.