I know a bunch of us are on SYC for a variety of reasons. I thought we could have a thread to share support, commiseration, strategies, and gentle (or firm!) reminders as we try not to buy.

I'm going to be on an almost-total SYC for 2014. My family and I decided to challenge ourselves to "buy less, do more" this year. We made a big list of what we will and will not buy, and clothes are on the "will not" list, with a few potential exceptions for needed kid items. I hope to do a lot of remixing, refining, tailoring, repairing and straight-up purging this year. I have plenty of clothes and no gaping wardrobe holes.

We do each have a $30 allowance, to help prevent us from burning out. And we can spend gift cards or money we receive as gifts. We can also barter, trade, or sell things we already own to raise funds for a wanted or needed item.

We're only a few days into this challenge and I've really become aware of how often I think about buying something--and how freeing it is to sit with that desire for a minute, and then let it go. I'm a person who does well with external structures and motivators, even if I create them for myself, so a strict challenge like this works for me.

Who else is on some version of SYC at the moment?

(I hope we don't already have a recent thread like this--I couldn't find one, anyway.)