Life in a Bubble Jungle: Materialism vs. Minimalism: Working on a Balance

So, this will be another post about consumerism; Christmas is coming, all of that Black Friday hype is still in the air, and I have been thinking a lot about it. I'm a very material person, but I was forced to learn how to buy properly. Some people around me have made shopping into a quite dangerous habit, and I don't wanna end up like them - though I still want to acquire my things. So, I've been planning the best way to deal with this. I've decided I won't simply "try to control myself" like many people recommend, as I've tried that alone and it never works. It's necessary to work on something more concrete - I'm acquiring habits and learning to buy only what I can see that I really care about.

Let's go to the examples: a couple of months ago I finally joined the gym for real. After the first week, I was crazy for a "proper" bag. I was using an old one which my mother had. It was a bit uncomfortable to use it, so you could say I actually needed this acquisition. But I was on this vibe for a couple of weeks, spending hours looking for the best model on virtual and real stores, asking others for recommendations, until I found the perfect one at home. I was doing a good cleaning up on me bedroom, which I share with my brother, and I found a small bag fit for gym. He got this in some promotion years ago, and used only once or twice. It's been laying on his closet all this time in perfect state. I asked him if he was interested in it, and he said I could keep it - all my problems were over!!! Yes, a lesson was learned that day - do make sure if you don't already have the item you need or want laying down on a forgotten closet.

my gym bag: small, discrete, fits everything I need, and it cost me R$0

With the end of the year, I've also been on the mood to buy a new planner for 2015. Thank heaven now I have some sense - 2013 me would have already bought the following year planner and would have regretted it before New Year's Eve. Now, I decided to actually wait for the year to start to buy it. And guess what: I've changed my mind about the best model a billion times. I've checked lots of photos on Tumblr and sites about organization methods, and every week I have a different ideal planner... Yeah, I am dramatic and insane about "the ideal thing". At least I'm not a compulsive buyer anymore!

And you know, this shopping management has been doing very well for me; many times, during the past couple of months, I've planned to buying something, but when I get to the store, I just don't feel like it anymore. It all just seems like a waste of time, and I decide to see if I already have the object at home, where there are sooo many things not being used. Most of the times, it is the best option; the pleasure of shopping, for me, is mostly gone, and I hope it lasts. It's not a healthy habit.

But the thing of too much choices still is in my life. I am a hopeless perfectionism, so I'll look for the perfect object I need for weeks or even months. It's awesome to have lots of different options, but it takes so much time I'm not sure I want to keep doing that. The other day, I read a text about how having that many options for shopping kind of makes you a prisoner. All that time I was researching would have been better spent if I was studying, or making voluntary work, writing, playing with my dogs, etc. If you are interested, click here, it's a great text. It has opened my mind to some important stuff - tough now I should try and make the most difficult move, which is to stop caring that much about my consumerism...

I'm still far from becoming a minimalist, and I don't think I ever will be, for I love stuff (I know I'll never give up on my Game of Thrones funkos, for example). But I'm on the way of a more conscious consuming, and I soon hope to deal with this not only on the objects level, but on the food one as well. I hope that by the end of 2015 I'll be someone that can save a good amount of money per month; I want to spend properly on things that really matter, like a good course and going abroad! Actually, let's make this better: going abroad in order to do a good course! Now that'd be a dream coming true! :)