First Shopping Trip of the Year

Six days down! One big thing I did was unsubscribe to all the clothes emails I receive – Lulu's, Nordstrom Rack, and Victoria's Secret are the worst. And yes, I have done some online shopping (no clothes!) and I took my first excursion to Target and TJ Maxx (two huge weaknesses of mine when it comes to cheap fast-fashion clothes). Let me just say, this whole situation is so strange! I never really realized that clothes shopping is such a big habit of mine.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1wvmewsZlVa7WtcOU9dKmFHrWQ6wUT2N4
(Outfit for church and brunch on Sunday: Polka dot sweater from Bargains Unlimted Resale Store, gray jeans from Ecology Sports in Sister Bay, and red flats from Target, all items that were already in my closet.) 

My online purchases included food from Thrive Market (an awesome place to buy items if you have dietary restrictions at amazing prices and with free shipping), L'ange Hair (this blond needs her violet shampoo!), and Amazon (I needed to get new bedding and pillows for my Airbnb rental). Not a single piece of clothing was added to my cart! Side note – I ended up returning everything from Amazon. None of it was of great quality and the colors weren't quite right. 

My trip to Target started out pretty well. I had some Christmas returns to make, then completely avoided the clothing, accessories, and shoe sections as I walked in. I took a hard right, headed straight towards the areas where I knew I needed items (basically all things I returned to Amazon I found at Target), then checked out without a second thought! Ok, I thought, I can do this. Baby steps.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1srBEx3bhVbeIsrYRW20r3rFDx2tQo0nd
(My clothes shopping weakness, TJ Maxx.)

TJ Maxx was a different story. All the women's clothes are literally right in your face when you walk in, as well as while you’re walking around the store. I had several urges to just touch the yoga pants and chunky sweaters and winter coats. I even started making scenarios up in my head — I could just buy some socks or a scarf or a sports bra.... those things don’t count towards this resolution, right?! I started to feel anxious, like I needed to buy something, anything, to feed my need. What the actual f**k. 

After much deliberation, I ended up buying a cooking pan and two throw pillows (all things I was already planning on buying there).... and didn’t buy a single item more. And no, I didn't even touch any clothing. Kind of absurd, but this is absolutely unheard of for me while shopping at TJ Maxx. But I did it! No clothes were purchased.

Though it hasn’t been quite a week, I can’t believe how hard (yet not-hard at the same time) it is to do this. I also took two trash bags of clothes to Bargains Unlimited Resale Store, as well as cleaned out my sock, pants, pajamas, and tank top drawers. So not only did I get rid of some clothes, but I didn’t add any more to my collection. When I dropped off my donations, I didn’t even go inside to browse around (and most likely buy some clothes). Also unheard of. Little victories. 

358 days to go! xo Laurel

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