Pro Tip: "Immersion Therapy"

On the latest episode of Mama JuneBug: From Hot to Not (hey, I never said this blog would discuss how to choose upstanding television programming), Mama June is trying to lose weight but takes her kids to an ice cream shop.  MAKES NO SENSE!

Now I'm sure it was just a staged scene anyway (WE Tv clearly thinks its viewers are all idiots), but it typically is a good rule of thumb to avoid temptation when you're trying to resist it.  At the beginning of the year, this was my hard-and-fast rule.  Avoid shopping websites, avoid fashion blogs, avoid malls, avoid stores, avoid Instagram, etc.  You can't fail if you can't fail!  

But several times this month I've ended up in a department store or at the mall for some good reason or another.  My initial thought was "RUN!," followed by "Ooo that's a cute dress!," followed by "This ain't no thang."  Being in my former natural environment and coming out without spending a dime was actually empowering!  I can see things I want to buy, and I can make the decision not to. 

I joked to my mom as we walked through Dillard's, "this is my immersion therapy."  Maybe "exposure therapy" is a better term, but either way, it strengthened my resolve.  So if you're on this journey with me - maybe you should give it a try as well.  (Not after happy hour though, of course.)  Hit the mall, your favorite boutique, or window shop online and resist the urge!  Let me know how you do, and how you feel after you succeed!

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Pro Tip: Shop Your Bestie's Closet

I've always loved sharing my clothes and jewelry with friends.  And it's always been a crying shame that none of my friends wear a size 6 shoe!  But since I've always just bought new clothes whenever I needed wanted something different to wear, I haven't really been much of a borrower myself.  Well friends, don't be surprised if I raid your closet this year!

But seriously, we should all be sharing our clothes more often!  It's the perfect solution.  You get to wear something that feels new and that you've never been photographed in, without spending a dime.  Well unless you have to pay for dry cleaning after you spill red wine down the front... Oh, just me?

My husband John and I went on a weekend getaway to Chicago last weekend, and in 2016, this would have been the perfect excuse for buying several new outfits to wear.  Since that's not an option this year, I hit up my best friend Tracy and snagged 2 of her adorable tops to take with me to the windy city.  Thank you, Tracy!

I felt great in my borrowed clothes, still experienced the "thrill" of wearing something new, and didn't feel like I missed out on buying something new for the trip.  If you're trying to minimize your spending or shopping habits, but you still love putting together fun and new outfits, hit up your friends!  But maybe switch to white that night.  ;)

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Pro Tip: Block Websites

If I'm going to make this happen, I'm going to have to change some behaviors that will just tempt me to shop.  Some of these behaviors are more like habits since I've been doing them for so long, including online browsing and shopping.  My first pro tip: block shopping websites!

I use Google Chrome to surf the web, so I used this tutorial to block specific websites:

If I have a weak moment and try to navigate to one of my favorite shopping sites (I'm looking at you Nordstrom), I'll get this message instead:

I'm also getting a little kick out of the construction worker dude's admonishments.  I've named him Bill.  

I can just hear myself throughout the year already.  Come on Bill, I just want to SEE what they've got in the Half-Yearly Sale!  I'm not going to buy anything, Bill, I promise!  Let me just BROWSE, Bill!  DAMMIT BILL!

Now theoretically, I could just go un-block the sites if I wanted to, but it'll at least take me much more work to do so and will give me a second to garner resolve.  Plus, Bill will know!

If you're an impulsive online shopper like me, maybe this pro tip will help you, too!