This year I really struggled to figure out what I wanted for Christmas. I started several months ago trying to compile some kind of "list" to make things easier for my family. But when it came time to really think about it I realized that there are really very few things that I need, and even fewer that other people can pick out for me (for whatever reason I find better success in picking out my own clothes). And some of the things that I was in need of I recently acquired from my Grandmother, i.e. a bread tin and mason jars.
I really hate having to make quick decisions about purchases. I always feel like I'm impulse buying, even if that's not really the case. I have a good story about my favorite dress that illustrates this well, but it will have to be a story for another day though. Because of this fear of impulse buying I'm a huge fan of the concept of putting something you want to buy on a list and then revisiting it a month or so later to see if you still want it. More often than not I find that I don't really need the thing I thought I needed. And so this means that as I was trying to figure out what I wanted for Christmas, that the things I thought I needed I really don't. And as I've tried to minimalize and declutter my life my wants have decreased quite a bit. For me I feel like this is great, but I think it frustrates those who may want to show their love for me through gift-giving this holiday season.
2 comments:
What about going shopping with your family members so that you get to pick out your own gifts? Maybe that seems kind of weird, but for several years my main Christmas gift was to go clothes shopping with my mom. I loved it, since I like shopping and the experience was a gift in itself.
That method does kind of contradict your second point though, putting something on a list and then waiting to see if it's something you really want a few weeks or months down the road.
That's a good idea. I've been known to go shopping for things and then give them to my parents to give to me before, but that always seems a little sad somehow. But actually going shopping with them might be better.
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