I haven't done a challenge on this blog in a long time, but I think it's time to try one again for something that's pretty near-and-dear to my heart at the moment.

The last few months have seen me do a wild uptick in purchasing stuff. I think it's part retail-therapy, and part a reaction to me purging things from my collection. Regardless of the reason it needs to stop. I've tried to buy a lot of used things but that still adds up. Worse, our poor postal carrier has been bringing all kinds of things from all over the world to our door. She needs a break and so does our wallet.

So I'm leveling this challenge: for the month of September I'm only going to buy the essentials.

Essentials are things like food, stuff to keep me working, stuff that I need for my health, and so on. What it doesn't mean is all of the other stuff like games, books, music, t-shirts, mugs... you name it. That stuff goes on pause for the time being. Instead I'm going to enjoy the things that I already have, and declutter the things that aren't bringing me any more joy. I have way too much stuff, an so much of it has either been unused, neglected, or just plain forgotten. No more. The last thing we need is more stuff.

The only thing that I will make an exception for are things that are already underway (shipping for Kickstarters). But the rest of them will need to wait until October.

If I falter fro this I have chosen the following as my deterrent. I managed to pick up a copy of Bernstein's 1971 performance of Mass (A 1981 performance is on Youtube). This is so far out of my musical wheelhouse of enjoyment that it might as well be from another planet. If, when I review September's purchases, I find that I've strayed outside of my intention then I'm going to Live-stream me listening to this piece (I was going to say abomination, but I respect Maestro Bernstein too much for that).

Should I succeed then I'll allow myself one thing from Cezar Capacle's store as a reward. (Go check his stuff out. It's all amazing.)

I'm starting this on September 1st. I'll occasionally report my progress (and will post the link for the private showing of my failure should I mess up).