Another day, another no dollars!

Ok, so that is kind of a lie. I did spend money today...but not on things! Only on food! That is saying a lot too, because I spent the afternoon at Borders being tempted by books, movies, magazines, and assorted cheap/adorable items.

I took a hefty stack of books and magazines to look through and left feeling satisfied. I snapped a quick shot of things to look up later (I am still buying used things! And I am expanding my creative horizons!)

Today was a good reminder that you can still have fun at a store without buying anything. My thought is that I will continue to document the things that I am interested in on this blog and either look up free or used alternatives (i.e. http://www.edinburgh.org/ instead of buying travel books), put them out there as potential gift ideas for my friends and family, or work on making my own version of it via upcycling.

As usual, stay posted for updates. Also, I feel a blog name-change coming on, so watch out!

This weekend was the best weekend to stop shopping!

So, as I stated in my last post, I am no longer being a glutton for new clothes/things all the time, and that means that while I am in DC I am basically on a consumerism fast (minus food and other necessities that I am forced to buy at CVS). It turns out that this weekend was the ultimate time for me to stop shopping, as there was a small *coughhugeforanyonenotfromthenorthormidwestcough* snowstorm in DC.

Currently the city is attempting to dig itself out, preparing for (more, can you believe it?!?) snow tomorrow and Wednesday, and canceling my classes to give me time to work on my thesis! haha. Ya, sure.

ANYWAYS. Back to the point. I realized that it is pretty easy to stay inside and not spend money when the weather sucks. I'm not much of an online shopper...too picky about the way things fit....but what is hard is managing to do something productive! That is my goal for the future. To replace my shopping/spending time with accomplishing work or broadening my artistic skills in the realm of baking, sewing, designing, etc.

So, hopefully I will get there soon and will have something less narcissistic to say in my next post.

Also, pictures of the snow in my next post!

A new endeavor

For those of you who know me personally, you know that I am always changing my mind about things or trying to figure out some new challenge for myself. I really do not have a defined purpose for most of these challenges besides gut instinct. They are arbitrary, they are formed on the basis of incomplete arguments, and frequently have little to no explanation but I do them anyways. Today is the day that a new one begins....I have no idea how long it will last (or how long I will post about it if it does...) but what the heck, what have I got to lose?

This is my challenge: Go the rest of 2010 without buying anything (other than food, toiletries, etc.) that is not previously owned. IE: No "new" items.

I am doing this for a few reasons. First, I was inspired by the Great American Apparel Diet. I do not know if I have the ability to abstain from shopping entirely (we will see if I have the ability to even abstain from some shopping...) but I think this is an awesome idea, that I want to be a part of in some way. We really need to tone down our consumption in this country, and I think by reusing things that are still good instead of just buying more I could have at least a small impact.

Also, I am looking for a way to be more crafty, and this seems like a great way! By getting used items and putting my own twist on them maybe I will have the chance to be a little more unique and to feel real accomplishment when I get dressed in the morning, or use something else that I have made/updated.

Last, I am obviously a starving college student and I need to save money instead of blowing it every weekend at Express or J.Crew. Self-explanatory.

Soooo.....this is all to say that hopefully this blog will become productive, and since I won't be shopping maybe I will do more baking for www.tastyface.com! Keep an eye out :)

Also, I am going to change the name of this blog to something more clever once I think of it.