Shopping Archives - Seeking A Simple Story

Here in Budapest, spring has sprung. The sun is getting stronger, the clocks sprang forward, and everyone is ready to shed their winter layers for spring clothing. In the age of fast fashion, there’s a tendency to head to the mall. The better answer to your spring wardrobe refresh is: host a clothing swap!

I’m a big fan of the clothing swap. The idea is simple: invite people to bring in nice-but-no-longer-loved clothing together and exchange it. There’s pressure, especially for women, to constantly buy new clothing to stay up-to-date, professional and appealing. While people are ditching the consumerist behaviour in many rad ways, the clothing swap is one more strategy to simplify, save and enjoy.

I’ve done this with friends, in a slow fashion pop-up, at a community event, and most recently here at Impact Hub Budapest, marking Buy Nothing Day in November, and just yesterday, the start of Spring.

One of the clothing swaps strengths is that it’s a hard event to screw up. However, here are the key steps I’ve discovered to hosting a successful one:

The Christmas markets are jostling, the streets are brightly lit and the smell of mulled wine seems to be temptingly everywhere here in Budapest. The holiday season is at that lovely point where everyone is feeling festive but before the last-minute errands and tenuous travel has started. In the midst of all the holiday cheer, I’ve done some of my holiday shopping. Though I generally dislike shopping, which helps in living a simple lifestyle, the holidays provides a particular combination of pleasant and painstaking consumer experiences. To make the season a littler simpler, here are my six tips on keeping holiday shopping under wraps (pun intended):

Be Thoughtful

My little sister is the best gift giver. Each Christmas, she selects gifts for our family that are spot-on. I try to emulate her style and it comes down to being thoughtful and observant. She notices interests, needs and desires throughout the year and picks a gift that touches on these aspects. She never purchases something for the sake of filling a gift bag; her gifts are always well thought-out and valued by the recipient. In the hustle of the season, I can often get caught up with gift-giving and thinking it’s better to just give something. However, a gift given without thought isn not a great gift and will often just become that ‘stuff’ no one needs. Make your list and check it twice to be sure it’s thoughtful like Carrie’s.

Seeking A Simple Story

Shopping

Five Steps to Hosting a Successful Clothing Swap

Six Tips on Keeping Holiday Shopping Simple