Hi, I’m Gillian. I used to be a shopaholic.
When I was around 16, I got a really unique jacket for Christmas. It was made from a dark blue, iridescent plastic material with a black faux fur lining. I think it was a Moto style with a belt buckle at the waist, maybe it even had an asymmetrical zipper but I can’t be sure. On the first day back to school after the break, I got on the bus and one of the girls told me that she loved my jacket and that I was “really fashionable”. I was on Cloud 9!
From that moment on, I created my entire identity around that single interaction.
I spent the next decade trying to live up to that description, constantly looking for the next thing that might prompt someone to comment on how cool it was or how stylish I was, spending most of my free time in college at the mall, buying things that I didn’t need to impress people that I didn’t even know, or ones I did who didn’t even care.
I wore my metaphorical “shopaholic badge” with a sense of pride. My favorite movies were “The Devil Wears Prada” (still is) and “Confessions of a Shopaholic” (love Isla Fisher in it but hate the movie now). Instant gratification was my M.O.
And I did all of this with borrowed money. I’ll forever be amazed at how much money they’ll extend to kids who have no income (I hope it’s changed but I remember signing up for my first credit card on the first day of college in the student union building where a bank was luring kids in with the promise of a free t-shirt).
With graduation lurking, I started to read personal finance blogs. I set up my very first budget and spent quite a few years dealing with my debt. Eventually, I moved on from personal finance blogs to minimalism blogs, which I discovered in 2015 as a stay at home mom who was overwhelmed by all the stuff we had as a family.
I decluttered half of our belongings and started experimenting with capsule wardrobes. I shared the things that I was learning about minimalism with my family and friends. Eventually, in 2018, I started a blog to share these things and I called it “Uncomplicated Spaces”. I still have a blog that has all of my old posts, but I mostly write here on Substack now.
Most of the things I write about are related to sustainable style and intentional living. I just completed a no buy year after being afraid that I was slipping back into my old shopping habits. Over the course of the past year, I’ve realized that I’ve had a lot of guilt and shame over my past shopping behaviors and that I place a lot of restrictions on myself as a punishment. I’m learning to let that go and to embrace a newfound sense of confidence that I have in myself as a result of the challenge. I’m looking forward to sharing my thoughts on the aftermath of a no buy year.
I’ve also been rediscovering my love of clothing and styling over the past month, after going through a period of feeling very uninspired. I have a minimalist-ish wardrobe full of mostly secondhand clothes, a few items from sustainable brands, a few I’ve sewn and a few old items from fast fashion brands. I try to be really intentional about what I add and then I try to find a lot of ways to wear them. My favorite thing is to find unique vintage pieces that I get to give a new life to and add to it’s story.
Clothing is such an integral part of how we feel and show who we are to the world and I hope to do a little of that here through my outfits.
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