Material Girl – Minimalisht Intentions

Oh Madonna, how right you were – because we truly are living in a material world.

I have been a material girl. I am a material girl. I want to change.

‘Add’s to bag’

‘Adds to cart’

‘Proceed to checkout’

‘People who bought this also bought’ …. Ooh I’ll have that too.

God, it's all-consuming. Some days, as soon as I get up I'm already thinking about shopping. I spend so long scrolling websites and adding stuff to my basket. Although I have to say i only buy about 5% of everything I ever add to baskets across a multitude of websites.

I don’t think I’m alone in this; baskets full of stuff we’ll never actually buy are the modern version of window shopping. But still, seeing everything I want and don’t have? It can get you down.

I am actively trying to change, I don’t think I will ever be a minimalist… perhaps it will be simpler to think of myself as a minimalisht, I’m trying to make life feel lighter, and I want to take you all with me.

So, if you’re a mum who’s trying to do more with less then follow along on this journey. I don’t have a Pinterest-perfect home, or a beautiful capsule wardrobe (far from it).

I’m just a slightly overwhelmed, overstimulated mother who is sick fed up of drowning in the pursuit of material objects and trying to do more with less, less stuff, less stress, and maybe even fewer expectations.

It’s funny how when I was pregnant, one of the pros I thought would come with breastfeeding was the money I would save not having to buy formula…

Oh Stephanie, how wrong you were.

I failed to think through the fact that I would be awake through every night feed myself. I failed to anticipate that more wake time meant more scrolling and more ‘adds to cart’ moments.

More impulse purchases that seemed totally justified at 3am when I was hormonal, exhausted, and just needed a little hit of joy that comes from impulse buys.

‘Congratulations, you’re doing a fab job with Margaux. To me from me’, they might have well said.

Then, a few days later, another knock at the door. The delivery guy. Another box of regret.

And so the cycle continued, a material girl meets a sleep-deprived mum hybrid. A dangerous combination.

But now, things are changing.

Ok, I’ll be real I placed an online order yesterday, which makes this all a little less impressive.

But before that I hadn’t ordered anything in weeks. I feel so much better not making pointless purchases but it’s so hard to resist the urge sometimes.

Things I’ve been doing differently

I no longer impulse buy… Once I've set my eyes on my next buy, I make myself wait at least 24 hours to think about it. Which has seriously reduced my spending.

Top tip: I started a “wish list” in my Notes instead of buying things right away, and this is really making me think about my purchases.

Am I saying I'll never impulse buy again? No. Perhaps if there was a Shopaholics Anonymous and I could get my 30-day clean chip, maybe I’d be more motivated... but for now, I’m taking it one day at a time.

Setting clear budgets: I'm not saying I wont buy anything ever again but I have been trying really hard to set clear budgets and stick to them. That little voice in my head still pipes up to tell me that rules were made to be broken, and it can be so hard to ignore.

I have been reviving old wardrobe pieces, deleting shopping apps from my phone, and I went through my emails and unsubscribed from the majority of the marketing junk.

Goodbye temptation my old friend.

Realistically, I’m never going to be perfect. I'm forever telling my sister, 'this is it, I am becoming a minimalist', but I am beginning to accept that just isn't me.

So, that is why I have decided to call myself a minimalisht.

But in a world where we are being programmed to think more is better, I am sick fed up of the pursuit of pointless stuff.

I want to model something better for my children, I don’t want them to think that ‘stuff’ = happiness.

I want to live better with less and if this is something you’re feeling too why don’t you follow along and lets try figure this out together.

I’m ditching the “material girl” mindset and embracing a more mindful, minimalisht life as a mum. And I am going to try do some monthly updates on how I'm trying to incorporate simple living into my families life that you can adopt into yours also.