4th day... of my 367 days shopping ban

You can get it here 

Well... I did survive the "Black Friday" week end... off to a good start I guess...

Did a lot of thinking... and talking with my husband... the timing to start this project is actually not the best... but it will be interesting.  I am going to some personal tough times...  where I would usually react by shopping a lot more... and now I can't! But really I could... there is no LAW per say... but I don't want to! I want this challenge to be successful! I am looking forward to it.

I also want to use this project to figure out where my money goes... technically, each month we have an extra 500$ or so... without my husband doing overtime.  Therefore, my debt should have gone done by 500$ each month... but it did not! Therefore it is pretty safe to assume that this money is obviously going somewhere...  but not toward paying debt or in my back account...

This is why I will pull out 210$ per week for groceries (and in my case groceries also include non food items such as soap, lotion, light bulb... and cat food/litter...)  I am pretty sure that this is not quite enough as toward the end of the week, I, most of the time, end up using debit at the grocery store.... but I also know that I use part of that for coffee and treats that should more likely be in another category of my budget.  By keeping all the bills of anything spend out of that 210$ per week... and by using this amount for grocery related items only, I will figure out where that money goes...  and if it is really needed, I can create another category in my budget... and if need be adjust my weekly grocery budget so that it actually reflects what it is. Having a much more accurate budget certainly is the key in my case. And knowing what could and should go towards debt re-paying will surely make it work - my goal is to actually have an amount assigned in my budget toward paying debt that won't be random month per month...

I am doing this because debt is slavery and savings are freedom!

I am currently reading the book "JOY in every moment" by Tzivia Gover.  It is quite interesting....

I liked it where she mentioned that "...the sun and stars are always shinning..." It is true...  and it reminded my that when we have a cloudy day (weather or life related) we tend to forget that the sun is still there... and so is our inner JOY or happiness.... it may be overclouded but not gone.  At any time, we should remember that and be able to tap into it!

Be who you are... DREAM your life... LIVE your dream...
namaste

love&peace,
chloe
xox
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couple of days left....

I am a couple of days short of my 367 days long shopping ban!

I am still not freaking out and pretty confident I can do that this time around. Unlike the first year I tried it and lasted 6 months...

I would like to add to my "rules" that if I ever replace something that broke.... or have a weak moment and actually buy something, I will, for the sake of transparency share with you what it is, where I got it and how much I paid for it... and add a picture.... unless it is underwear... in which case I will skip the picture as this would just be "weird"!   After all, I do get to see some of my readers on a regular basis...

And if I do "fail" once, I am not off-the-hook!  I still am into this for 367 days!  Last time around, once I failed, I went back to my old habit...  not this time!

My main concern, or what I think my weakness will be is if I do get to see stuff I like, and by stuff I mean clothes, as I can pretty much resist anything else, I know I tend to make myself believe that "it is really my style", "it was made for me", "what if next year there is nothing I like"...  "it's a really good price", "but it's on sale"... and all that bullshit!  Years of shopping addiction can make you come up with the silliest excuse to buy something you do not need!  Then I might give in and buy something...

What should help me is "The true cost movie" and all the documentaries I have seen in general...
I should remember why I do that:

I am trying to find more sustainable solutions... I am trying to lower my impact on the environment AND on the poor people working in horrible condition so that we can enjoy cheap/throw-away stuff here in America.

I like to think that if I can remember why... it will be easier!

I am ready!
I can do this!

Be who you are... DREAM your life... LIVE your dream...
namaste

love&peace,
chloe
xox
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My shopping ban!

Hello!

remember a few days ago I posted something about the documentary "The true cost" ? I had also said that it triggered in me a desire to jump on another challenge...  but I had to work on the details...

Well here it is:  I will go on a shopping ban between Friday November 27th 2015 (yes Black Friday) and Friday November 25th 2016 (which is most likely going to be next Black Friday) inclusively!

I chose that day to start as it is one of the worse shopping day of all year in America and I certainly do not wanna be part of it!

If you remember correctly, I started this blog to help me with my shopping addiction and because I had declare a shopping ban for 2011.  It lasted just about 6 months and then I gave in...  I must say that over time, I still worked on my minimalism and shopping issues and after seeing this movie, I felt like I needed to do that. Shop much less and smarter.

My motto is now:

Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.

I had many discussions with my husband on how to address this in a sustainable way and to avoid setting myself up for failure again...  I wanted to be strict... but also allow for some fun...  I wanted to be able to do stuff I like while not hurting others as much...  I wanted to decrease my carbon footprint furthermore without feeling like I cannot enjoy myself or get stuff I need - and sometimes just want.

Now, about needs and wants...  I need to define those terms... as we tend to have transferred all out wants into needs.  At least here in America.  We need this new perfume... or this new winter jacket!  We absolutely need this new color of nail polish... or that purse!  And who could live without this new Christmas china???  But all those created needs are not real needs.... they are barely what our society makes us believe we need even if we can't afford it.... just so some of us (no you nor me obviously) gets richer while all the others get poorer!

Therefore, as of next week, a "need" is going to be something I absolutely can't do without cuz my life depends on it! And that should not be many things as our life really do not depend on that much aside from some food, a roof over our head and some clothes...  after all, it is kind of cold here in Moncton New-Brunswick!

Therefore, after several discussion and debate with my husband, I cam up with the following rules that I will need to follow and that he will try and follow with me.  Please note that this really is just my thing....  as usual, my husband is lovely enough to jump on that crazy new adventure with me but I will not hold a grudge if he jumps off when he's had enough... Also, this, in no way, does concern my son.  Although he is a very reasonable shopper, I understand that being a teenager is not the best time in one's life to stop/avoid consumption of goods.... but I am teaching him to think before he buys... only buys if he has the money... prioritize his needs/wants and most of the time the one-in-one-out rule so that he stays away from clutter... I must say, he is much better then I was at his age!

Rules:

1)  I can only buy personal stuff if I need to replace something. One-in-one-out kind of!

  And if that happens, first I need to look at locally what I can find...  then second hand...  if all that fails, I am allow to go to a store BUT I must make sure that I will beat the crap out of this item and that it will need to die before I replace it with something else.... and that I get the best quality I can afford.
And I MUST say, that as it stands now, I really do not NEED anything for my personal use.  I have enough clothes/jewelry for all seasons... enough stuff for my kitchen... enough books to read...  and these are really the only things I buy for myself.

There will be one (OK two...) exception to the second hand stuff:  underwear/socks and footwear. I really do prefer to buy those new for hygienic reasons.

2) I will accept gifts...  but strongly suggest to people wanting to offer me something that it be something that I can use up (food, tea, candles, incense...), something that is local... or second hand. Or a plant!

3) If I want to give something to someone, I will gravitate toward the same thing as in 2)...  or something I made! And do not thing this is me being cheap... I need to do this for a year!  You will survive if I can!

4) If I run out of books.... or want to read something different... there is always the public library!

5) Obviously, magazine are out the window...  because their only purpose really is just to make you wanna buy stuff... The only exceptions would be a National Geographic or Scientific America type magazine... and then again, only if there is something in there really interesting me.

I think this covers pretty much everything...

As for leisure, I am still allowed to "do" stuff like movies...  or other type of entertainment... or take time away in other cities...
I can still go out for meals or tea with friends...
I can still take a yoga class...
I can still support some local artisans from here and elsewhere in the Maritime...  but not use this as a mechanism to spend all my money... it has to be random and justified...

My main goal is to learn to shop yet more intelligently and spend my scarce money in a much better way!  My second goal is to pay off debt  and put some money aside for early retirement.  I am starting with 1 year but secretly hoping I could do this for 3!  And then retire...

Is there anything you think I may have forgotten???
Anything else needs to be covered that I cannot think of?

Be who you are... DREAM your life... LIVE your dream...
namaste

love&peace,
chloe
xox
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And yet, another year as passed by...

As you may know already, I like to reflect upon my life when my birthday comes by...not on New Year's day or around that time... to me, the years are marked more by the time I was born then anything else... It is more significant to me.

It makes birthday not as easy and perhaps I should stop doing that...  I had said to myself, that this year, I would not do it...  but it started happening again this year over the week end. I couldn't help it...

I will soon be 43!  And I really have no problem with that...  I am at a place in my life that I enjoy...  I have a loving husband and a wonderful teenage son.  I can work less hour doing something I love...  I have sufficient time to do the things I love like reading, cooking, baking, walking and enjoying tea with friends... I have plans for short and mid-term... I am almost done with debt...

I am becoming more and more who I wanted to be... although, I will never be a psychologist, like I would have wanted to, I am becoming more at peace with that and I am trying to see that even without the degree in itself, people do come to me to talk things through - like they always did!  I may not get the pay that comes with it, but the rewards of helping others is still there... and worth more then then money that could come out of it.

I am happy to say that 12 years after being diagnoses and just about 18 years after my first symptoms, I still have vibrant health...  Becoming vegetarian, then vegan was the best thing I ever did for myself...  Jumping on the minimalist wagon was the next best thing I did.... and as years passes by, I do not regret those decisions... and I am becoming more and more convinced that these are the best ways to live a healthy life...  for myself, others and the planet. In doing so, I live a more compassionate life then I ever did...

I have become more assertive of those values of mine...  as well as being a pacifist and environmentalist...  I have had my share of ups and down about being able to "change the world" but I think that in a way, as long as with all of you guys, we are changing it.  Slowly... but surely... I also discovered that I cannot be quiet about those things... and I cannot change my mind...  Being a minimalist and vegan are the healthiest way to live...  I wish everyone was... and then we would probably have peace on heart and a wonderful planet to live on...  If I could, with a snap of my fingers change it all, I would.  But I have come to realize that it doesn't happen like that.... I can try and talk about it and plant seeds in people's head but I cannot make that seed grow... it is up to each and everyone of them to do so.  However, what I can do is keep on planting more seed.... and leading by example...  Gandhi said "be the change" and I will keep on doing just that.

Time will take care of the rest...

Of course, going against mainstream comes with a price... but I do realize now that the rewards are so much more then the price to pay...  it is all worth it!  I can sleep better and look at myself in the mirror without being ashamed of who I am - as I am the best version of myself I could ever be... and day after day, I try and work on it...

Over the past year, I have lived a very simple life - simpler then ever before...  I read a lot...  met amazing people... traveled a little to discover my new part of the country...  Perhaps I did not do as much yoga as I wish I could have done...  I will work on that this year.  Also, I probably spend, still, too much time on social media and not enough in nature...  I will also try and address that this year...

All in all, it was a good year...
This year, I want to do more yoga and less social media...  I also want to learn to spend more time in nature... These objective will help with mid-term goal.

I am looking forward to the next 3 years as I see my son mature and become a young adult...  He has amazing plans that I am helping him on... He is turning into an great guy... and I am so very proud of him!

I am also looking forward to a few years after that as our retirement plans are awesome and I can't wait to do them. (Yes, as you can add up the years, I am planning to retire a few months before I turn 46!)

And yet, enjoying more and more here and now. I now feel free to have good and bad days... I feel free to be quiet...  I feel free to not get back to everyone right away.... I feel free to do things that I like/love and not the other stuff... I feel free to cry when I feel like it.... smile when I want to... and laugh as loud as I feel like!

As my life becomes more and more enjoyable, I have an easier time to be here and now.  I am not trying to run away of make up for things I don't like in my life...  because I have cleaned those up...

In retrospect, being 42 was good!  And I am expecting 43 to be even better...  and I know it will be because I am the one to choose how my year will go.... no one else can do it for me!

Be who you are... DREAM your life... LIVE your dream...
namaste

love&peace,
chloe
xox
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The true cost

http://truecostmovie.com/


hi lovely readers!!!!

Last week end I watched the above documentary...  It made me cry my face off...  It was really just so sad... And it got me really upset!!!

To be honest, it has been on my list on Netflix for a few weeks now but I was avoiding looking at it...  because I kind of knew what was in it.... and I preferred avoiding it! I knew that my life would never bee the same after...  and as an ex-shopaholic who sometimes has week moments, I suspected this would not make my life easier.... I was being selfish.

Well, after watching this, I can say that it was ALL I suspected.... and much much more!!!

It opened my eyes even more on that industry.... the superficiality and selfishness of it... and of us consumers! In general.

In resume, it brought me to think about the impact my $ spent have around me...

I am at this point where I am becoming more aware of the impact each and every one of my move has on our capitalist system...  and most of the time, they are not a positive impact!

I am not quite sure what impact the viewing of that documentary will have in my life... but I am thinking about a few options and one big challenge...  I need to refine details but you will soon find out!

What I know is that I cannot tolerate and be blind to the conditions the textile workers in Bangladesh and other countries are working in... I cannot pretend I do not know the impact all that pesticide laden cotton fields have as an impact to the workers and surrounding citizens - here and elsewhere on the planet...  I cannot pretend I do not know that all those heavy dyes and pesticides applications are not hurting kids in India with cancers and mental illnesses... I can't ignore the chemicals cheap leather worker have to endure...

Our behavior as a consumer in America has an impact on pretty much the whole planet...

Because:

-of pesticides used to grow cotton - impact on the land and people
-of chemicals use to dye fabrics
-of chemical use to treat leather
-of horrible working conditions textile worker have to endure (did you know that some of them got beaten because they tried to get a union in to protect themselves?)
-of throw away fashion that is not biodegradable and ends up in third world countries land fields...
-of polluted water source in India to mention only one place....
- death of workers working in really bad shape manufactures

and I could go on and on... but you could watch it for yourselves...

Our cheap-throw-away-after-a-season-clothes are actually tinted with blood.... the blood of those who loose their life so that we can have a pair of jeans at 20$ and a t-shirt at 7$ in some very well known stores...

But how did we get to that point?  Well someone somewhere...  probably more then just one person...  figure out that if they could provide us with cheap clothes, we would be more likely to buy them.... and change them more often.... and hence they would make more money! In the same line of thoughts, instead of having 4 collection a year, some store now have 6 to 7 collections per years... and one well known store even has new stock coming in weekly!!!

And us, as consumers...  did not realize what we got ourselves into...  we bought and bought and it slowly got us hooked...  and we didn't even see it coming...  advertisement is such a wonderful thing!!!

It makes us believe that as we change our clothes, we are following trends...  and making friends... and being loved...  and looking young... and sexy...  and pretty... and it also gives us the illusion that if we change our clothes more often we are RICH! Rich people do not wear the same things over and over again... so we believe!

However, if this was the case, if we were rich because we could afford to change our clothes at such a fast pace, how is it that we are more and more in debt???  Look at your credit card bill, bank statement..  how much $ do you put in a fashion industry while still feeling that you can't keep up with trends and that you have nothing to wear?  How much time do you spend at the stores every week?  How much time spent in front of your closet every day trying to figure out what to wear?

We are not rich... we are in debt.. with closet full of nothing to wear...  because we do not know what our style is... we are so often bombarded with images of what we should look like that we forget (or did not even find yet) what we want to look like!

Our clothes are suppose to tell a story about ourselves... our lives...  who we are... they are the outside image of what is inside...

Well, if this the case, I can say is that most people are just the same as they are all dress alike! But I know this is not true... we are all different... and is no one-size-fit-all fashion!  Despite what we are lead to believe!

Don't get me wrong.... I have been guilty of that for years too!  I use to spend hundreds of dollars on clothes every week!  New stuff would come into my home every other day or so... I had a humongous wardrobe... but still needed more... I was in debt... and stress... and sick...  I worked on this for years...  slowing and then controlling my shopping addiction...  but I am not out-of-the-woods!  I still have a weakness for "fashion" and "trends"...  but I have worked hard on figuring out who I am and what I love and what I want people to get from me when they see me walking down the street...

I went from a fashion victim to a stylish person...  is my style fashionable?  not at all...  but it is mine and it speaks of who I am...

All that said, I will now have to look into how I spend my $ on clothes...  and figure out what I can do to minimize my impact on those poor people... and our planet!

As I said earlier, I am giving myself a few more weeks to come up with something... some sort of a challenge to make things interesting...

Be who you are... DREAM your life... LIVE your dream...
namaste

love&peace,
chloe
xox
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And I will I keep on going... because this is my calling...

Hello!

I started this blog almost 5 years ago.... in January 2011.   I wanted to write to help me overcome my shopping addition... and help me go deeper into my minimalism... I did this for me, never thinking anyone would really read it...  I am not a writer!

It has helped me on my path to minimalism and veganism...  it has been that and so much more ever since...

It has helped me come up with major life decisions...  it has helped my deal with a great deal of emotions...

It has allow me to figure out who really cared for me and let go those who don't... it has allow me to meet new friends (awesome people) all around the world!

If you've been following me for a while, you know that...  you also know that I have had my ups and down about writing here...  I have taken breaks... and even shut it down on a few occasion...

I have a love/hate relationship with writing here...  a healthy one!  Let me explain...

Love:  when I do it for myself...  more like journaling... when I get feedback from you guys that I have helped you sort something out...  when it helps me deal with emotions and/or make decision... when I honestly express myself without thinking about what people will say... when I see things changing around me...

Hate:  when I take this too seriously and think of making a business out of it... when I censure myself not to offend/hurt anyone...  when I feel like I have to write because you guys are waiting for it... when I get nasty/plain mean comments...

I am now re-opening this blog once again...  yeah... you may think I am crazy or neurotic but really???  I don't care.... I want to write here when I want... about what I want...  what I am passionate about and what I believe in...  It is my blog...  I promised you guys I would be honest... and I have been... BUT, I have been quietly honest... avoiding stuff not to lie to you...  avoiding some subject not to hurt anyone I knew...  However, I am at a point where people I knew who loved and respected me will stay and the others are gone anyway...

I do not want to pretend/hide/tell half truth anymore... lately, I have my fair share or nasty emails from people I never though I would get them from...  I felt attacked... and betrayed.... and hurt... I never thought someone could treat me like that...  I will not even share with you as repeating those words would be just as horrible as saying them in the first place...  As I usually do, I pulled away to protect me and my son... but that doesn't help...  I am not happy when I am pulling away... I need this community to feel alive! I need to write to create whatever change I can...  by initiating small changes around me, I have to realize that there is the butterfly effect and, in the end, it ends up being so much more then just my small change!  Thanks to you guys!

I needed to find another way to protect myself.... and even though nothing is ever perfect, I think I found part of the solution...

In order to protect myself I had to recreate myself... I changed the blog's name... I needed to do this to start over...  Hope you won't be offended by this... and if you are, I am truly sorry... I also changed my FB name...  I know some people can still find me... but I am eliminating a few...  and if you subscribe here before, you are still getting emails of new post... I have no control over that...  I have to accept that haters are gona hate and just ignore them! Because it is not for them that I do this... but for all of you who llike to read me...  I also came to realize that anyone who doesn't go mainstream will get their fair share of nastiness but this is actually good news:  it means you are rocking people's boat!

So here, this is what I wanted to share with you...  I am back... I took time to heal and think how I could make this work... I made changes to this blog so it reflects me more...  I will be more honest then ever and more direct then I have ever been... because this is how I want it to be... if I want the world to change, I need to say how I think it should be and not pretend otherwise is still OK...  because it is not! We have work to do my friends... on ourselves and the one surrounding us!  If you are in for a lifestyle change and to make this world a better place I am happy you're here! I hope to hear from you soon....

I am becoming the real warrior I was design to be... because I am ready for it...

The caterpillar has emerged into a fierce butterfly!!!

After all, as I have read somewhere, without the eccentrics and crazies the world would not progress ... well, then, I will be as eccentric and as crazy as can be and we'll see what happens!!!

p.s. I am not promising any number of posts... at any given frequencies...  I am also telling you that I will not disappear again and take this off-line.. problem is solve now. No one will shut me up. Period.

Be who you are... DREAM your life... LIVE your dream...
namaste

love&peace,
nath
xox
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