FOUND :: Simplicity.

Okay, so if you read the blogs I read (all. the. time.), then you've probably seen Rachel's posts about a shopping hiatus, or maybe even spotted the series that started it on Simple Lovely or seen how Joslyn continues to spend conscientiously.  Maybe you've read about a spending hiatus on A Cup of Jo.  A search on Google reveals articles about taking a grocery shopping hiatus and using everything in your pantry until you can't make anything from the ingredients you have.  To me, then, it's no surprise that I've been considering taking a hiatus for awhile.  Although I don't have a tendency to spend enormous amounts of money (I don't have enormous amounts and I don't believe in spending what I don't have), I do have a serious tendency to accumulate stuff--not incredibly useful or frequently used stuff, to be exact.  While living in six hundred square feet of a storage-lacking apartment instead of my parents' house has slowed me down on the clutter accumulation, it's hardly a cure.

{by Hani Amir on Flickr}

Furthermore, my beloved macbook, which has so kindly been with me through part of high school and college, is getting a little worn down.  It's probably got another year of life left, but replacing it will not be cheap.  I also really really really want to eventually purchase and learn to use a DSLR (any advice on a good model for an utter beginner would be great, by the way), which is not cheap, either.  While I don't spend a lot of money, it would be wise to put aside what I have been spending and save it for these purchases, so that the income I'll have once I find a job can be put towards a house.

So what if I spent the next three months only purchasing groceries?  Would that be completely crazy?  I don't think so.  Besides, we're already going to have to store half of our stuff in boxes in family members' basements (trying to avoid paying for storage) until we are ready to buy a house.  I don't want to accumulate any more junk than we need.

{by wokka on Flickr}

This concept makes me nervous for a few reasons.  First, I am going to have a lot of downtime until I find a job.  Shopping--okay, spending hours at Joseph-Beth or A Reader's Corner (according to where I reside at any given moment)--is a way I've passed the time and gotten out of the house before.  Second, a lot of my friends also love to shop, so we'll have to find something else to do together.  Third, I wonder if I could actually break the habit of clutter collecting.

{from Martha}

I haven't made up my mind about this entirely.  There would be some exclusions, including gifts for summer birthdays, the supplies I'll need to learn a simple version of screenprinting, and a couple of wedding presents, for sure.  When would I start?  Over the next few weeks, we'll be packing everything we have in our apartment, so I KNOW I can't do any shopping then.  I suppose starting today would be kind of clever, no?

What are your thoughts?

If I do embark on this little big adventure, then I think this series will change into a record of how I'm doing and a list of the things I will think consciously about purchasing after the hiatus ends.  Would you mind that?  Also, that third image is my eventual plan for my crafting space.  It's been my plan for two years.