Retail oriented

Photo by Artem Beliaikin from Pexels

So, how are you getting on? Since last weekend when shops and businesses FINALLY got the go-ahead to re-open their doors (here in Ireland, at any rate). 

It's been three days now since the city centre's main shopping strips opened and I'm surprised: I feel no desire to go anywhere near them.

As I outlined in Simplify Your Life, I once pursued shopping with the same vigour that other people follow the English Premier League or dedicate themselves to refining their tennis backhand. 

And for the last few weeks, I've been telling anybody who'll listen that I'm looking forward to roaming around the Mary Street branch of Penneys, which is the mothership of the Penneys/Primark empire, and trying to figure out how a middle-aged woman like myself can incorporate the latest looks into her wardrobe.

What's happening? 

I like to think that I've completely shaken off my desire to channel my feelings into a bout of retail therapy. Certainly, I feel no compulsion to travel into the city centre, don a face mask, and join a queue to simply enter a building where perhaps, if I'm lucky, I may find the broderie anglaise blouse that will make summer 2020 complete.

But suspect that a key factor at play here is that I've simply fallen out of the habit of browsing the rails, of spending money just for the sake of spending money.

I've been here before. About a decade ago, I was invited to be bridesmaid at my friend's wedding... on the other side of the world in Australia!

I was tremendously excited but realised that getting to Sydney and back would call for considerable restraints on my spending in the 18 months leading up to my friend's big day.

One of the most powerful changes I made to my lifestyle was having a weekly No Spend day.

Photo by Artem Beliaikin from Pexels

I had very basic cookery skills. I inevitably had the makings of a half-decent meal or two here at my flat, including a version that could be packed into a lunchbox and taken to work with me. I had a bus ticket and/or my bicycle to get me to and from work.

What more did I need?

Nothing. 

I didn't need a takeaway cup of coffee on my way into work. I didn't need the cheap chocolate bar from the office vending machine. I didn't even need the packet of crisps, even if I craved the crunch of their texture and the sharpness of their taste as the 3 o'clock slump hit. 

I didn't need to spend any money to survive the day.

That knowledge about myself was at least as powerful as saving the handful of euros that had drifted out of my wallet almost every day of my working life.

When I finally get my shopping mojo back, when I realise that the harem pants of Spring-Summer 2012 are never gonna come back into fashion, I'll relish returning to the buzz of  Dublin's Henry Street, I'll revel in soaking up the latest trends in street fashion, no matter how ridiculous they make me look, and I'll most likely treat myself to a cappuccino and iced bun in Ann's Bakery. (I'll even manage all that while maintaining social distance and behaving responsibly in this post-Covid world.)

But that broderie anglaise blouse? I'll have to think about it...