Almost there….

Day 363: Items Purchased:0, Temptation Radar: 0 

Thursday, December 29

Well, I’m feeling a bit under the weather today. But two weeks home on vacation from work with your family, a crazed Christmas holiday and minor health ailment will do that to you. Expecting to be fully operational soon. What an amazing year it has been!   A year ago today, I was mentally gearing up for what I imagined would be the greatest challenge (and perhaps the most pain-staking decision of my life): to give up shopping for one year. Actually, the last clothing purchase I made, with my own money and not a gift card, was this:

A Greyline blouse, purchased from Hattie’s Branches on December 22, 2010. I wore it on  Christmas Eve.  I remember the the looming sense of anguish sensed, as I paid salesperson The anxiety was mulit-layered. First, the realization that I was purchasing yet again on a whim, a quite expensive top, 3 days before Christmas, with no regard for my current financial situation settled in. Second, it was abundantly clear to me at this point that I had a bit of an compulsive shopping struggle. Third, I finalized the decision in my heart, painful as it was, to do something about it. This, the very last purchase for clothing out of my bank account in over a year was, and still is, a very significant and memorable one.

I walked from the store, clutching the bag as tightly as possible, knowing that this one would need to last awhile.