Living poverty: a year without new possessions

[beatitude]

Well, obviously I'm still going to buy myself essentials like food and toothpaste. But from today I'm putting an embargo on all other things (books for pleasure, clothes, etc), as in the past few weeks I've been noticing my spending creeping up and up - I've bought shoes and clothes I didn't need, a few pieces of jewellery, and some religious items and books I didn't need and couldn't really afford. I'm aware of why I'm doing this. Shopping for nice things (especially religious items like icons and rosaries) can be a way of distracting myself during difficult and uncertain times. Rather than accepting my poverty of spirit and allowing God to bless it I'm grasping at these comforts, and I've realised that I need to detach myself. The simplest way to do it that I can see is to spend at least a year without buying anything non-essential. As soon as I made this decision, a weight lifted. I thought I would share the decision on VS because it may give me interesting things to write about, and who knows, others may feel led to join in.

[MarysLittleFlower]

That's often why I buy stuff too... It is an attachment / distraction. Except I don't always realize it that sounds like a great idea! 

[marigold]

Cool. I'll be interested to see how it goes.

[Yaatee]

Well, obviously I'm still going to buy myself essentials like food and toothpaste. But from today I'm putting an embargo on all other things (books for pleasure, clothes, etc), as in the past few weeks I've been noticing my spending creeping up and up - I've bought shoes and clothes I didn't need, a few pieces of jewellery, and some religious items and books I didn't need and couldn't really afford. I'm aware of why I'm doing this. Shopping for nice things (especially religious items like icons and rosaries) can be a way of distracting myself during difficult and uncertain times. Rather than accepting my poverty of spirit and allowing God to bless it I'm grasping at these comforts, and I've realised that I need to detach myself. The simplest way to do it that I can see is to spend at least a year without buying anything non-essential. As soon as I made this decision, a weight lifted. I thought I would share the decision on VS because it may give me interesting things to write about, and who knows, others may feel led to join in.

Good plan, Beatitude

[beatitude]

It is already tough. I was seized with a sudden urge to apply for a training course that I tried to tell myself was very necessary to my future career, and not like buying material possessions that will only clutter up the house, but obviously this is just another technique for distracting myself from the work I have in hand. It's going to be a tough year. In a good way.

[NadaTeTurbe]

My parents did this (atheist, but they are a lot into living simplicity, etc...), before they had kids, and also one year when I was 10/11. It is amazing, and you learn and meet a lot ! You discover that there is a lovely library next to you, you learn to sew, etc... :D And for me, it was really educational (They did not stopped me from buying stuff, but they always asked me "Do you really need that ? Maybe you can have this in another way...". 
I don't know if you plan/can do that, but my parents saved the difference and give the monney to an association (a refugee camp). 

[beatitude]

I don't plan to save the money with an explicit purpose in mind, as I think that could just become another distraction - knowing me, I would be tempted to set a target for how much money I should save towards the good cause, and the whole thing would just disintegrate into a fund-raiser. I hope this year will lead me to be more generous to people in need, but in a spontaneous way that won't lead to me keeping track of every penny I give.

It sounds like you have terrific parents, Nada.  And for a pair of atheists they certainly raised a good Catholic!

[NadaTeTurbe]

I see, you want to detach yourself from monney ? It's very hard in our world. Monney is just a tool to live our world, but we give too much importance to this tool. But I'm sure Brother Charles will help you spiritually ! He is perfect for that. Mon père, je m'abandonne à toi... 

They are amazing and have good values. My dad always told me "Less is more". Since he have a simple job (he's a nurse), he have less monney, wich means he have more time to be with his family, etc... I really hope one day they convert. 

[beatitude]

Not just from money, but from my tendency to be so goal-orientated that I am always planning for the future instead of thinking about the present.  If I were saving money for a charity I would be thinking about how much I could raise for them and working out how to do it most effectively, as opposed to cultivating a spirit of simplicity and prayer.

Yes, Br. Charles knows a lot about this - he was so much attached to money and nice things that his family had to take steps to stop him spending all his inheritance. I'm not quite that bad (and not being very rich and aristocratic like he was, I don't have as much as he did to spend!) but I will certainly be taking tips from him and I ask him to pray for me.

I will pray for your parents' conversion.

[Basilisa Marie]

That's a fantastic (and difficult!) idea.    It'd be neat to keep people posted on how it goes. 

[puellapaschalis]

I tried a moratorium on buying new books once.

*sigh*

[beatitude]

I tried a moratorium on buying new books once.

*sigh*

I am a PhD finalist, so I will still need some books.  However, I have a university allowance to purchase essential texts, and I will not buy any book that can't be billed to the department. (This prevents me from adopting a very loose categorisation of 'essential'.) It also forces me to choose which books I really do need to have on my own shelves and which books can be borrowed from a library, as the allowance is limited.

[Carson]

You know what, I've been wanting to do something like this for a while. I'll do it too!

[Swami Mommy]

If you add discarding or donating a boxful of unused items in your home once a week, too, your home will become an even truer reflection of beauty, simplicity and intentional living.

[BarbTherese]

Really good suggestion, beatitude - with helpful hints as the thread unfolded.  One can go through all of one's possessions, including shoes and clothing and donate what is not needed, or simply just clutter, and donate it all to Charity.  After that for a year resolve to buy nothing new or even secondhand that is not actually needed ( this might preclude books for spiritual reading etc.).  Re-assess where one is at after a year.

My biggest hurdle is in the clothing stakes with a reluctance to wear the same outfit too often. This is a vanity and bowing to the cultural 'fashion stakes' wary, even fearful, of the opinions of others.  When looking at oneself, good to get past what one is doing as to analyse why one is doing what one is doing.  One way I have found round it all is clothing that I continually wear I regard as my uniform and to stick to my uniforms with nothing else required.  This has asked me to work at changing my thinking until it is no longer effort and just the way I think.  Personally, I would much prefer a standard type of unchanging secular 'uniform' but I am very wary indeed of being thought of as a religious sister.  If perchance I should be thought of as a rather eccentric Catholic laywoman I can run with that without problems.  For a while, I used my sons as an excuse not to attack my wardrobe tastes so that they would be proud of me.........but nowadays I realise my sons think of me as eccentric without problems and are quite happy with their Mum in every way...........except for the fact that they cannot stand my hair undyed.  So I dye it, but would prefer not to do so and am currently considering abandoning the dye.  My sons have simply grown accustomed to Mum with dyed hair auburn. I feel my sons would get used to Mum with grey hair eventually.

In my vocation under private vows, I am very conscious that The Lord first made me a mother and that this vocation continues for the life of my sons and as I continue my journey with private vows.

[JessicaKoch]

I bought two new skirts because I want to wear more dresses and skirts, I may need at least one pair of leggings which I wear under skirts because of modesty.

I also do need another pair of shoes but I can hold off until my current pair really develop holes. (I just super glued the soles today)

However I FIGHT with myself all the time over my "drug" of choice - soda(cola)  I know its bad for me but I cant live without it.

I'm in for not buying anything not needed.

[Swami Mommy]

Sometimes when I have an urge to buy things just for the fun of shopping, I go to a local store (Target) and roam the isles, filling up my cart with things I like.  When I finish my 'shopping', I go back and return everything to their respective shelves.  I feel perfectly content with having psychologically 'owned' the items for the short time they were in my cart, and I get a real wake up call when I realize that not a single thing I selected was actually needed, just desired.  

[Gabriela]

For a whole year? Oy. I'll consider this for Lent, together with Swami Mommy's "box-a-week" idea.

It is a really good idea, though!

And @beatitude: Your department buys you books?!?!?! 

[Kateri89]

I did this for Lent one time and I actually really loved it.  It's tough to do it but in a way it was even tougher when Lent was over because I'd experience guilt over buying things that I wanted and did not need.  I felt like I was being wasteful.  In fact, I still do oftentimes.  Maybe I'll try to do it again.  I don't know if this would be helpful to you Beatitude but I find that in my own case, I have a better chance of succeeding if I set smaller goals or intervals.  Instead of trying to live this form of poverty for a year, I would focus on a week or a month and then go from there.  If I had been determined, I probably could've continued to live that way after Lent ended.  It can do wonders for your spiritual life if you're open to grace. 

[puellapaschalis]

This is inspiring.