How I Quit Shopping (without trying to)

Some years ago, I would go to the shops to fill time, and to perk up my day. I can’t say I ever shopped excessively, though I shopped enough. And when I did, I bought things I would be convinced I needed, when I saw them.

A proportion of those things I would use. A bigger proportion I would use once, before I stopped caring.

Nowadays, I find things in my wardrobe that need replacing: a belt falling apart, a worn-out pair of shoes, swimwear fraying from overuse. I note that I should replace them.

Once in a long while I venture to the shops, attempting to replace them. I go to a few shops, maybe two or three. I detour, pick up some bok choy or tofu instead, and come home.

It isn’t that I don’t like clothes-, shoe shopping anymore. Or that it is conscious frugality. It’s just that, now it feels wasteful of my time. And when I attempt it, I no longer have patience for it.

What’s actually changed, is that I’ve found my way to things I don’t tire of — that reliably fulfil me in proportion to what I put in. When I finally committed to making those things a priority, a must everyday, they pushed out the time-fillers, and I see them for what they are.

When you consistently turn up for the things that actually fulfil you, you have less time and patience for things that are often merely illusions of happiness.

Those overused things in my wardrobe eventually do get replaced when I don’t have to go out of my way for them, and after (months of) consistently turning up for my most important tasks.

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