I Forgot Minimalism Existed

Aka I had the opposite of a no-buy year

You read that right. In 2021 (and late 2020), I kind of forgot that minimalism existed or was a thing. I made a lot of purchases that made my day-to-day life more enjoyable.

(If you’d rather listen to today’s post, click here. Otherwise, keep scrolling).

A couple of years ago, I did a no-buy year. This year was basically the opposite of that.

I’m not writing this post to chastise myself, or you (if you had a similar year). But, I do want to be honest about my consumption and spending habits to date. I haven’t been a very good ‘minimalist’ - if you define minimalist as a purchaser of few things.

Before the pandemic hit, I would agonize over every single purchase, no matter how small. Even if it was a relatively minor purchase, like a $5 knitting pattern, I would have a vicious internal dialogue/battle with myself over whether or not I should make the purchase.

9 times out of 10, I wouldn’t. And then I’d be grumpy. Because I felt like I was depriving myself of something.

Early-on in the pandemic, I made a concerted effort to use what I already owned, to lessen the strain on supply chains and the Canadian postal system.

But starting later last year (around the time we moved back to southern Ontario), I started letting myself buy things I ‘wanted’, rather than only needed.

These things fell into one of two categories: hobby stuff (stuff that I could use to pass the time) and clothes (stuff that could fill the gaps in my wardrobe).

Hobby Stuff

I bought embroidery kits, weaving kits, patterns galore and yarn (lots and lots of yarn).

I also weirdly got into self-applied acrylic nails (and I just say weirdly because I’ve never been into nail stuff, so that was a discovery for me).

During lockdown, these things helped me pass the time (and keep my sanity relatively in check).

Clothes Stuff

This was a big area of spending for me this year. In a normal year, I buy a few items to fill in some gaps. This year though, I pretty much replaced 80% of my wardrobe. Because nothing fit - especially pants.

This is because I’ve gained 20ish pounds since March of 2020. I tend to carry my weight in my lower half which means that I’ve gone from a size 6/8 to a size 12ish (depending on the brand of course). As you can imagine, pretty much nothing fit me anymore.

I also bought quite a few tops and bras. Because, as it turns out, when the bottom half of your body increases in size, so often does your top half.

So what?

There’s a part of me that thinks I should feel bad about all the stuff I’ve added to my life this year. But I just don’t.

Emotionally speaking, denying myself things to help me pass the time during lockdown or clothes that actually fit my body and didn’t make me feel like crap, would have done me more mental harm than buying them did.

From a sustainability perspective (and I say this from a place of privilege for sure), I purchased 90% of what I bought this year either secondhand or from local businesses/Ontario Etsy sellers.

Do I want to maintain this level of consumption moving forward? No, not really (and hopefully I won’t have to now that I’ve restocked my closet).

Did my consumption serve a need and the situation of the last year? Absolutely it did. And I wouldn’t change any of it.

Have your consumption habits changed over the last year? I’d love to hear about it in the comments (you can also email me your thoughts).

P.S. Want to keep Tiny Ambitions ad-free? Head over to contribute.to/tinyambitions. There you can contribute as little as $2. As an added bonus, everything you give will be doubled up to $1000 until November 19, thanks to Contribute.to. If you’ve ever wanted to support Tiny Ambitions, now is the time! (I’m at about 25% of my goal, let’s see if we can get the other 75% of the way there)! To those of you who have already contributed, thank you so much. It honestly means the world to me.

Until next time, keep living that tiny life.

-Britt

Image Credit: Cam Morin on Unsplash