I Went Shopping For The First Time In More Than A Year

Few years ago I came across the term minimalism and I really got interested in this approach to life. After a long research I realized this could be something useful and very beneficial for me so I decided to give it a go. Like most people, I started with my material possessions - going through everything I own and see what I really need and want or what brings me joy and is being used. At the beginning it was a little bit challenging and the main reason for that is the way I was raised, I suppose. My parents and my grandparents (and probably generations before them) didn't have much. Add a few wars here and there, they and many other people lost a lot of their belongings, had to move, start over with pretty much nothing. That kind of makes you hold on to stuff you have, even if your living situation gets better and even if you don't really need most of that stuff. I understand that now and somehow I got to let go of that mindset. Of course, we all have some things that we hold onto just for the pure joy, memory or for whatever reason we like it. I am not an extreme minimalist and I could still get rid off so much stuff but I see it as a process, as a journey, not a destination.

When it comes to clothes, I ended up selling some of it, donating a bunch and also taking a lot to H&M for their recycling program where you get a 15% discount card for each bag you bring. I still have two bags left for the recycling and I took one today. Some of that is my niece's clothes as well that I decided to sort out and take care off because nobody in my family cares that much, lol. A lot of her clothes ended up being donated as well, at least the ones that were still in a good condition.

Another reason for my lack of shopping these years is learning about the conditions people work in, producing the "fast fashion" pieces for stores that we often shop in and that we find affordable yet fashionable. I highly recommend doing a little bit of a research about this topic. With that being said, I still ended up going to H&M which is one of those convenient fast fashion brands. I was in need of a pair of jeans that I managed to find and use one of my discount cards. In my early 20's I used to impulse shop a lot more, nothing crazy, but every now and then I would come across something that was on sale so "I had to get it" or "I didn't wanted to miss the chance". Now I try to shop more intentionally and really figure out what I need.

I wish we had better trift shops or second hand shops, how we call them here in Serbia. I feel like good pieces can be found there but you really need to visit them often and search almost every second hand shop you have around. A lot of the clothes is also outdated and sometimes finding the right size (at least for me) can be quite hard. But I'll give myself a task of taking one or half of the day every now and then to go on a hunt for some gems this spring and summer.