Suddenly it´s February.  How on earth did that happen?!

The house is quiet now. The last bunch of guests have left, the girls are sleeping, and it´s grownup-time, with books and digital media. We are really trying hard with the books now. We both want to read more. Serious stuff. Not just about Disney princesses or Totte and Lotte taking a bath. So we are working on that, along with leaving our gadgets alone.

But I also wanted to write a bit about how it is going with my #YOEF-pledge. I just know you are super exited to hear about that.. The spoiler for this is that I will sound estremely smug and selfrightious, but I am happy with it, so please just allow me to be.

First of all I have read great and inspiring stuff from Fellow bloggers, specifically this one was interesting, and it made me all the more up for quitting my unhealthy shopping habit. And so far January has been fine. It has been a great relief to simply know, that I do not need to spend hours browsing Asos, H&M, Sportsdirect or the like for bargains online in the evenings. And going out physichally has been even better. There is no need to look in shops anymore, where I before would spend ages in the cheap sections, just to see what I could find for 7 Pounds. There is plenty of that already in my wardrobe. I have worked in fashion and lived in London where highstreetshopping was my favourite weekend-activity, so to my advantage I am not out of clothes yet. I still have stuff to choose from in the mornings.

I do wish for some things. Like the perfect pair of short black boots with the perfect heel. But I am unsure they exist, so I will wait until they present themselves to me, and then I will figure out if I really cannot live without them. Material things suddenly feel much less important.

– I have shopped though, I have not been a saint. I got a pair of spring boots for Jolina, and with the amount of glitter and flashing lights they have, they do make me feel quite horrible for the sweatshopworker making them, but I cannot make boots myself, and I could not argue (rookie-mistake) with a 4-yearold who really really wanted them. Not yet. But hopefully one day, she can be part of making better choices too.

And then I got a secondhand jumper for Roxie. It had firetrucks on it, and looked well-used, so it appealed to the smug, pink-glitter-hating, retro-loving person that I am.

You know what – It feels goood. I never knew it could feel this good not to shop. But I just feel so relaxed, because I don´t have to search for all the stuff we don´t need or even want that much. Stuff that makes me feel good for such a short time only. Stuff that reminds me of all the excess we already have.

Instead there is this feeling growing inside me, that the better I feel about myself, the more I will love what I already have. If I feel good about myself and body, I won´t need to find the perfect dress to flatter it. Feeling good, I can wear whatever already is available in my full drawers and shelves of stuff.

– But what about materialism, new stuff, the kick from doing a good deal, finding something pretty, holding something that will now belong to you..? It is still there, but on a different level. Finding the used jumper for Roxie gave me  that feeling. And making stuff myself does it too. Seeing things and being inspired to change stuff and not just buy new.

I fixed some old blouses and bits of material into dresses for the girls, and that felt awesome. It felt even better when they actually wanted to wear them, since that was not guaranteed, haha.

So I am not worried at all about this year. I am looking forward to it, and I am sure it will be life(style)changing. Money and time saved already. And not an unhappy person because I haven´t been out searching for – and finding the perfect black boots. Maybe even happier without them.

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Stay tuned for the NeXT chapter in the story of how I turn the family completely organic, move into a shed in the woods – without wifi, buy a goat, ONLY travel by bicycle, and never ever shave my armpits again.