I went shopping this morning. I mean proper fun shopping, clothes shopping. I can't tell you how excited I was - I practically skipped out of the door, eager for a few child free hours of me-time.

The trouble is that I don't actually enjoy shopping - i just don't seem to have fully realised that yet. By the time I left I was thoroughly grumpy and felt like I had just wasted a whole morning. All I wanted to do was get home and spend the rest of the day playing in the garden with the little ones.

So perhaps it wasn't such a waste of time really; after all it did give me a wake up call to what is actually important in my life and where i get my real pleasure from. Perhaps next time the kids are driving my crazy i'll be able to remember that i'd still rather be home with them than out shopping on my own. Plus i did manage to find a couple of VERY nice pairs of shoes...

October is buy nothing new month here in Australia, so my shopping trip is a timely reminder of how empty and unfulfilled this culture of consumerism leaves me feeling.

If you've not heard of 'Buy nothing new month' it's a fantastic initiative that encourages people to question whether they really need something and to beg, borrow, swap, rent, buy second hand those things that they do. By reducing the amount that we buy, repairing things that might otherwise be thrown out and reusing / sharing things we could make a huge difference to our world.

But i think that my favourite thing about 'Buy nothing new month' is the creativity that is born when you have to start thinking outside the box. I love the sense of achievement when i'm able to come up with a good solution to a problem which might otherwise have been solved by simply saying 'lets just buy a new one..'

What do you think? Will you sign up too? Check out the link below.

Buy Nothing New Month