Spending fast, not quickly

Joslyn of Simple Lovely issued a challenge: no new purchases for three months. I'm in.

Here are my ground rules:
- groceries, toiletries & house stuff (home improvement, gardening, etc.) are okay
- purchasing used things is okay
- gifts for others & items for my quickly growing daughter are okay, if done mindfully
- things purchased on trips are okay, if done mindfully (I am going to NYC in February (yay!) and it would be cruel, cruel, cruel to not allow myself to pick up a lovely thing or two from Muji or Purl Soho)

(Pretty forgiving, eh? Well, I'm hoping this will be part of a lifestyle shift, not just a crash diet.)

My reasons are five-fold. It is not, as my husband joked, to drive the knife deeper into our faltering economy, but to be more aware of the difference between want & need, to go on a consumption diet after the holiday gluttony, to make more & buy less, to keep a little more money in our pockets for a rainy day, and to bring less stuff into our teensy house.

The last reason is a clincher. We have a very small house & yet appreciate openness, light & airiness in a home, so the less we have, the better. We also must approach furnishing & decorating our home as an editor or curator must. Ideally, our house should have very few things visible and all of them must be things we love. The idea of my husband & I as curators is very appealing to me right now, especially after reading this article, which describes how some struggling museums have revitalized themselves in the weakening economy by looking into their vaults & reorganizing what they already have. It's such a basic concept & one that I hope to keep in mind as the years go by.

A scarf from my closet to change up a winter outfit. A dear old packed-away polka dot table cloth pulled out to freshen up the dining room. Things like these will be my secret weapon in staving off want.

Who else is in?