New year, new goal: Low Buy Challenge

How have you been coping with the COVID pandemic?  I admit that I have been having a hard time and my 2020 consumption reflects that.  Retail therapy, even secondhand, is not good for the environment.

I ended up buying 27 items of clothing, including two linen dresses, three cashmere sweaters, two pairs of jeans, two pairs of sports leggings, two sports bras, socks, tights, a straw purse, a red belt, a black belt, a leopard dress, a black lace top, black wool pants, a red dress, cycling shorts, pyjamas, a black jumpsuit, a silk dress, a pair of navy sandals, a black patent clutch and a beige clutch.  Ouf!  A lot more than I expected.  Many of the items I bought were to replace clothing made of non-sustainable fabrics like polyester and acrylic.  Once you start to wear natural fabrics and enjoy their breathability and comfort, it is difficult to go back to the alternative.  The only non-clothing item I bought was a linen dishtowel from a small, local Montreal manufacturer.  Out of the 27 clothing items I purchased, only 7 were new.  All the others were preloved.  This represents a significant shift in my way of shopping.  I always try to buy second hand before buying new.

While my purchase of 28 items in 2020 might not seem like a lot, it is for someone who is on a journey to minimalism as I am.  I want to reduce the things that I own so that I can have a simpler, less stressful life.  My biggest challenge is around clothing because I continue to have a hard time parting with it.  More on that in another blogpost.

In 2018, I completed a “no buy” clothing challenge.  It was a good way to detox.  While I can do another such challenge, much like a strict diet without treats, it has an element of deprivation to it.  As a result, my goal for 2021 is to complete a “low buy” challenge.  A “low buy” challenge is exactly as it sounds.  You can check out one of my favourite you tubers, Signe at Use Less for inspiration on a “low buy” year and her guidelines

LOW BUY 2020

 I decided on buying 12 items for 2021, which represents an average of 1 item per month to cover every sphere of my life (home, clothing, hobbies, etc).

I have started to make a list of my 2021 purchases.  So far, I have a black cashmere cardigan, a sustainable blush/lipstick (doubles as both) from Elate Cosmetics, a pair of casual joggers or a casual jumpsuit and a bicycle.  Yes, a bicycle!  

In 2020 I sold my 30 year old bicycle.  It was actually’s my mothers bike, an old, heavy Velo Sport that no matter how hard I tried, I could not go fast in.  My husband had been bugging me to get rid of it and buy another bike but I felt it was wasteful and resisted.  When I started riding my daughter’s bike and saw how much faster and more easily I could ride, I was sold.  With the pandemic, bicycles are a hot commodity and I was even able to sell my old bike.  As a result, I intend to buy a new (preloved) bicycle in 2021.  

I hope to make some other changes in 2021.  With the pandemic, some of my “reduce our waste” habits went out the window.  It was difficult not to buy some things in packaging, especially in the winter months.  I also got a little lazy and didn’t make some things from scratch.  However, in 2021, I am hoping to reduce my waste a little more than I did in 2020.

A new year offers us the opportunity to reinvent ourselves.   What are your 2021 goals?