Lent 2014

Three of my first five Slices of Life were related to clothing, fashion, and beauty, giving you some sense of where my priorities lie. I am, in fact, kind of fashion obsessed.

I did the math yesterday. Over the past 3 months, I spent $523.77 (at least, but possibly more) on clothing, hairstyling products, and accessories, over a total of 49 separate transactions. Granted, I made $290.45 of that back in eBay sales, but that's still a lot of money.

It's also a lot of time. I'd guess (unscientifically) that I spend about an hour and a half each day planning my look, executing my look, and shopping for future looks.

Considering how much money and time I'm spending on making myself look good, it wasn't hard for me to figure out what to give up for Lent. On the other hand, figuring out what to say I was giving up was a little harder.

At first I thought I'd just give up "recreational shopping," but that didn't cover the many hours I waste standing in front of the closet trying to find The Great American Outfit.

So then I considered giving up "fashion," but I don't object to reading about fashion and finding out what people are wearing; I just wanted to limit how I apply it to myself. So that wasn't quite right.

I thought maybe I'd give up "vanity," but that seems a little too vague and could easily be misconstrued or redefined at my self-indulgent whim.

Finally after many hours of thought (I've been pondering this issue for the last several weeks), I decided to say that I'm giving up "self-adornment as hobby." Sure, that's going to require some explaining if people ask, but how many people ask? And if they do, I'll just point them to this blog, wherein the central tenets of my Lenten resolution are conveniently outlined below:

• I will refrain from shopping for clothing "just for fun." I will still keep an eye out for the essentials that I've been needing, like the heavy-duty winter gloves that are more for function than style, but I will no longer pass the hours before bed and my lunch break trawling eBay. I will accompany friends to the store if they go, but I will not purchase anything!
• I will no longer spend a good portion of my evenings trying to pick out an amazing outfit that's never been done before. I will select my clothes the same morning that I wear them, and I'll stick to staples that I know look OK.
• If I go out, I will wear appropriately dressy attire, but I will not spend a half-hour on my makeup, and I will choose simple clothes.
• I will also be putting my fashion blog on hiatus.
• When I find clothing I no longer want in my closet, I will donate it instead of selling it as I usually do. That way, my previous consumerism can immediately benefit someone else!

I hope that this will open up more time for me to be a good person. Although sometimes the emphasis of the Lenten fast is on sacrifice, I prefer to think of it as an opportunity to do better. Or as I read in someone's Slice of Life yesterday (sorry, can't remember whose!) it's about making more room for God. That's what I'm trying to do by giving up all activities related to my personal style for 40 days. Imagine all the productive, generous things I can do with 60 extra hours and 104 dollars unspent!

P.S. If, after reading this, you can distill my Lenten resolution down to a concise couple of words, please let me know! I'm still not sure whether "Self-adornment as hobby" cuts it.