Do you like to shop? Do you have any “shopping weaknesses,” such as a tendency to buy shoes or video games or find it hard to stay out of certain stores?

What if you stopped buying things for yourself for a whole year? Could you do it? Would you want to try?

In the Opinion essay “My Year of No Shopping,” Ann Patchett writes about her 2017 New Year’s resolution, which she has kept:

I came up with my own arbitrary set of rules for the year. I wanted a plan that was serious but not so draconian that I would bail out in February, so while I couldn’t buy clothing or speakers, I could buy anything in the grocery store, including flowers. I could buy shampoo and printer cartridges and batteries but only after I’d run out of what I had. I could buy plane tickets and eat out in restaurants. I could buy books because I write books and I co-own a bookstore and books are my business. Could I have made it a full year without buying books? Absolutely. I could have used the library or read the books that were already in my house, but I didn’t; I bought books.

... My first few months of no shopping were full of gleeful discoveries. I ran out of lip balm early on and before making a decision about whether lip balm constituted a need, I looked in my desk drawers and coat pockets. I found five lip balms. Once I started digging around under the bathroom sink I realized I could probably run this experiment for three more years before using up all the lotion, soap and dental floss. It turns out I hadn’t thrown away the hair products and face creams I’d bought over the years and didn’t like; I’d just tossed them all under the sink.

I’m using them now, and they’re fine.

... If you stop thinking about what you might want, it’s a whole lot easier to see what other people don’t have. There’s a reason that just about every religion regards material belongings as an impediment to peace. This is why Siddhartha had to leave his palace to become the Buddha. This is why Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor.” It’s why my friend Sister Nena, an 85-year-old Catholic nun, took a vow of poverty when she entered the convent at 18.

The things we buy and buy and buy are like a thick coat of Vaseline smeared on glass: We can see some shapes out there, light and dark, but in our constant craving for what we may still want, we miss life’s details. It’s not as if I kept a ledger and took the money I didn’t spend on perfume and gave that money to the poor, but I came to a better understanding of money as something we earn and spend and save for the things we want and need. Once I was able to get past the want and be honest about the need, it was easier to give more of my money to people who could really use it.

Students: Read the entire essay, then tell us:

— To what degree, if at all, do you identify with Ms. Patchett’s ideas and experiences of shopping and trying not to shop? Explain.

— Would you consider trying a similar experiment yourself? Why or why not?

— What do you think you would find the most difficult aspect of not shopping for a year?

— Have you ever voluntarily given up something you enjoy for a certain period of time? If so, how did it go? What did you learn from the experience?

The Learning Network

Could You Stop Shopping for an Entire Year?