My Desire to be a Mindful Consumer

Reflection and realization of how I wish to challenge myself to be a more mindful consumer in a fast paced world.

Photo by @jessicasimons.photo

Let me paint the picture for you:

Here I was, on my way to get takeout pizza, from my usual loop of window shopping (and let’s be honest, shopping) of stores on a Saturday, per my usual habits.

The only thing that made this Saturday different from others is, the podcast I was listening to, was complete, and the next just happened to start playing.

In that podcast, the narrator goes, “When was the last time you bought something, was it a month ago, a week, day, an hour?”

I know podcasts are supposed to get your attention and interests, but this got mine.
I felt like the podcast found its way to me, with all too great of timing.

It then went on to interview someone who participated in no spend months, of certain categories. They worked in fashion, and got accustomed to buying excess.

On my drive - a light bulb went off, and I thought, what if I did this too and called it:
“Spend Less with Jess”?

The thing is, in my 20s, I decided to go an entire year of no clothes shopping (and I actually did succeed making it an entire year of not buying clothes items - not even thrifted).
At the time, I thought of documenting it, yet had no idea really where to do so.

This January, I will be challenging myself to pick categories (of physical things) for six months, which I will either spend less or not buy at all.

The world and (most of) our wallets can’t keep up with this kind of consumption, with heavy consumerism encouraged from companies and social media.

While listening to the podcast, it talked about how there are places that include waste, such a result of fast fashion, which can be seen from space…

My hope is perhaps by embarking on this, I’ll learn a thing or two about myself, find ways to be a better and more mindful consumer, and if I encourage one person to do the same, well that is pretty cool.

Interested in following along as I navigate?
Feel free to subscribe to my blog.

You can also find more information on Instagram: @spend_lesswithjess

Thanks for taking the time to read this.
I am excited to document my journey.

Click here for the podcast that inspired me.