40 Acts of Lent: day 25 - Stuff

Act twenty five - Stuff  by Rachel Aston

Hands up if you buy and hold on to things that you don't use, when they could be just what someone else needs. Give your wardrobe, garage, or loft an overhaul.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, 

and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

                                                                                                        Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV)
             
From a young age, I loved clothes. My childhood was spent dressing up Barbie and creating outfits on my Fashion Wheel; my teenage years scouring Bay Trading for bargain buys; and my student years developing a serious sale-shopping habit. As I graduated into grown up life, and an income, I began to build my shoe empire.

Now, I never fell into any kind of financial trouble because of shopping. However, I knew that I was developing a habit of shopping as a 'pick-me-up', when I felt that a new outfit would help me to feel renewed and better able to deal with a challenging situation or disappointment.

Yet, as a Christian who didn't want to be defined by stuff, a feminist who didn't want to be defined by appearance, and with twinges of conscience about the impact of consumerism on people and planet, I found myself seriously challenged by God to quit my habit. In particular, having started work on a major campaign on the commercialisation of childhood and taking the campaign test to see if you really needed to buy something (what will happen if I don't buy it?!), I committed to giving up clothes shopping for a whole year.

To keep myself accountable, I wrote a fashion blog, featuring my outfit of the day (#OOTD) and updating people on my progress – financial, spiritual, emotional – and it ended up being a truly enriching, creative and freeing year.  I did return to shopping at the end of it, but having let go of the compulsion to buy stuff to 'feel better'. I would urge anyone else pondering a 'stuff detox' to give it a go!

Choose how to complete this act...
GREEN OPTION:
Put a Post-it note in your wallet/purse that says 'Do I really need this?' If you don't, put it down and put the money you were going to spend to better use (maybe in a future challenge).

YELLOW OPTION:
If you're buying something new, make the purchase more meaningful. What it's going to replace? What are you going to do with the old item instead? Who could it be of use to?

RED OPTION:
Assess your stuff. What do you really need? What can you give away? Are there hoarding habits that need to be changed? You can use Freecycle/Gumtree/foodbanks/charity/buy-swap-share to move your things to people who might make better use of them.