Iszy's Depth Year

 11 months down and only one more month to go!  I've even made it past the temptations of Black Friday - Cyber Monday sales!  More surprising to me, is that I don't have a list of items I'm waiting to buy on January 1st.  I had thought that by now I would have been delaying so many purchases for so long that I'd be antsy to "spend-spend-spend!"  But instead I'm feeling rather chill about it.  I think it's definitely adjusted my overall attitude about using consumerism as a coping device for anxiety and depression.   I did make a new purchase this month, that I had been waffling over for a few weeks now.  My electric kettle that I use to make my tea several times a day had sprung a leak.  Every time I depressed the "ON" tab, a small amount of water would leak out.  Also, I was starting to find increasingly larger puddles on the counter around it overnight.  I finally decided that this was a good enough reason to get a new kettle...

 I think this was my first month where I had a clear and inexcusable slip.  My neighbors were having a yard sale and I picked up an aluminum mixing bowl (did need, have needed for a couple of years) for $2, and then also got a feather quill pen and ink bottle (unopened) for $2 - which was totally in no way needed.  I also bought a book.  Well, I bought two books - but one is a gift for a family member, and the other one the S/O technically paid for, but it still counts because he was trying to bend the rules for me because it was a Middle Earth encyclopedia found at an old bookshop for $5.  So, even though he paid for it, I'm still counting it as a slip.   On the other hand, I have successfully resisted all the DSW coupons I've been getting, even though my only pair of comfy brown shoes for walking (not boots) are getting ratty.  But, they still work, they're not falling apart yet, so maybe they'll make it through this brief fall season and into 2...

 Wow, so I caved on a couple of things this month.  I had debated for a while how I was going to handle my birthday and if I was going to allow myself to "treat myself" to something.  The decision got taken out of my hands a little bit.  My cell phone has been slowly dying, and I was hoping it might last until the end of the year.  I already started my depth year with a new computer for working from home (old system being about 10 years old), and what a depth year with both a new computer and a new phone!  But a cracked screen wasn't the only issue, for some unknown reason, it started kicking me off wifi every 10-15 minutes, and the only way to reconnect to any wifi was to do a hard reboot.  A couple of weeks of that, and I was ready to justify a brand new smart phone.  We are definitely calling that a necessity!  The other big lapse was a mattress topper.  I have been debating whether or not I should buy a new mattress for at least a co...

 As August draws to an end, I've started to have some growing wavering.  Mostly because my birthday is this week.  I'm debating whether I should be allowed a birthday-break from the Depth Year, and if so, how to control it so it doesn't just start a downward spiral from here through the end of the year.   There are things that I have not bought that I have not missed.  There are things that I've not bought, and I'm like waiting down the clock, and I'm probably going to buy them on January 1st.  I didn't read anything when researching Depth Years about what that might mean.  If I've been drooling over an unnecessary item for 6+ months, am I missing the point if I buy it when my "year is up?" I understood this to be an exercise in reducing commercial intake, to appreciate what you already have and not constantly shop and buy unnecessary items to try and use it as some kind of psychological crutch. So what does it mean if I go on a shopping spree ...

I think things are begin to wear on me a bit more now.  It might be the prolonged quarantining is also wearing me at the edges and making everything a little bit harder.  I started looking online for sleep shorts or yoga shorts.  So far, I have been deterred from buying anything because it seems my options are to either spend a ridiculous amount of money for something that, pre-COVID I could buy in a thrift store for under $5, or comb endlessly through completely unrelated listings on ebay.   (For the record, I do not recommend you type the phrase "silk boxer shorts" into the ebay search engine.  None of the things I saw, many of which I would consider horrifying and traumatizing, were either silk, or boxer shorts, or shorts at all.  I had a similar problem typing in simply "yoga shorts," and boggled at who were these listings exactly marketing to?  Certainly not women looking to do yoga, I am sure of that.  Also, to continue along this rathe...

So far I've made it 6 months doing my Depth Year.  4 of those months were under lockdown due to COVID here in NYC.  The city is slowly starting to open up, but thankfully my job is in no rush to risk its employees.  (It is a factor that we share a floor with a vaccine research NGO that has shifted their focus to working on a vaccine for COVID, and our leaders are basically agreeing to follow and go along with whatever their experts say.  Their experts are saying not before September, at best.)  So, folks in the City may be rushing to their favorite bars and restaurants on the first day of Phase 2 like it's all better now, but I will be continuing to sit my happy little butt at home and watch and wait.  I will listen to the medical research community over politicians, thanks.  I know it's a great privilege to be in such a situation, but I don't feel like throwing it away by being reckless.   That said, I do think after 6 months, and summer now...

May has come to an end and summer has finally showed up in New York City.  The Depth Year is going pretty smoothly, though I've come up across my first puzzle about clothing. Please pardon as the next paragraph is my rambling stream of consciousness, which can be a bit scattered at the best of times. I have plenty of clothes in general, but my wardrobe wasn't built with quarantine in mind.  I'm probably like 70% work appropriate clothes, 10% pajamas, 15% "fun" weekend clothes, 4% costumes, and <1% workout clothes.  I literally have 1 pair of sweat pants for the gym (not the fuzzy-lined lounging kind), 2 pairs of yoga pants, and 1 pair of mid-weight leggings.  The thing is, I have started doing yoga every single day; and, as advised from elsewhere, I have been very good about changing out of my night time pajamas into "day time pajamas" (which is essentially something I can do yoga in).  So I've been rotating through 4 pairs of pants for 10 weeks n...

Of course in January, when I decided to attempt my Depth Year, I had no idea we'd all end up isolating ourselves during a global pandemic. In some ways, I think this has actually helped a bit with any temptation I might have had otherwise.  I did buy a new computer this month.  I had talked about that in an earlier post that it was already sort of planned out before I decided to do a Depth Year.  My system is right around 10 years old, and since I'm now working from home every day, a more reliable and updated system seemed like a necessary splurge.  Yes, I do have a work laptop, but I didn't bring my docking station home, and working without dual monitors isn't particularly ideal for my kind of daily work, either.  Aside from the computer, the only other incidentals have been for the garden.  I ordered a batch of tomato, pepper, and eggplant plants for the garden back in early February set to be delivered the last week of April. All things considered, e...

Well, things really took a change this March, didn't they?  As far as Depth Year goes, I don't think this is making it any easier or harder, really.   And since Depth Year is (at least to me) about stuff and things, not budget, I have been diverting the money I got refunded from my canceled trip to Puerto Rico to helping support my favorite local bars and restaurants.  I already talked about donations clearly being exempt, and I'm putting gift cards to help keep my favorite Brooklyn locales from closing permanently under the same banner.  I've also increased the number of artists I'm supporting on Patreon, too.  I feel like I'm in a very privileged position, and while I can't give to every single cause, I feel like that at least the money I was going to spend on a private vacation could be diverted to help others out. And since food and drink were never a part, I'm also diverting more money to spend even more at my favorite local butcher, who has ju...

I almost didn't write a blog for the end of February, because there was very little to say in regards to my attempt at a Depth Year.  The S/o seems to have some mental block around remembering, and it feels like I have to constantly remind him that no, I will not be buying that, and no, I don't want to go thrift shopping, because I'm not doing any of that this year!  I don't think he honestly forgets, I think it's some other weird thing.  Like how he can't see a generic Mr. Swirly/Mr. Icy/whatever ice cream truck without saying "Let's go get ice cream!" even though I've reminded him every time for years that I cannot eat that kind of ice cream, it will make me ill. So who knows what it's actually about. The only real temptation I faced in February was that my favorite indie perfume oil company that is known for its amazing array of limited edition/seasonal updates had their annual Lupercalia update.  Sometimes they update and I don't...

I haven't had much to write about regarding my Depth Year since the 2nd week; but I thought that an end-of-month update, regardless of anything might be a good idea. It's been easy enough to stay on track for the last half of January. No real temptations or having to remind myself about shopping.  I did skip the swap meet at the bar, didn't see much point in it.  I did have to get a pair of boots repaired, but I think that having things you already own repaired instead of replaced absolutely goes along with the Depth Year theme. The only other question I came up against towards the end of the month was deciding that donations and contributions to things that don't result in a physical thank you gift are still in-line with my Depth Year.  There's nothing about Depth Year that should exclude donating to your favorite charity (especially if it's not buying a thing for charity, I still think that's probably a no), and likewise, supporting Kickstarter campai...

As I start my second week, this last weekend saw my first real temptation - which I resisted!  Last year I started getting into Korean skincare, and was seeing a lot of success in that area.  I was even able to discontinue an oral prescription, which is always great when I can cut out a pill.  One of the nice things about the whole somewhat cultish Korean skincare (is it a fandom? it certainly seems like a fandom at times) is that while you do end up using 5 or more products every time you wash your face, the products are generally much less expensive than their European or American counterparts. Look at the skincare shelves in Sephora, it's not unusual for the bulk of products to be near or over $50, and some going over $100 for very small portions.  Meanwhile, most of the Korean skincare products I've bought are at or under $20 each.  That to say, while walking down 14th Street in Manhattan with the S/o, we happened to stroll by an old favorite shop, which wa...

So far, I've been home about a week, and it feels like I haven't been doing well.  I have, by my own rules, I have; but there's some emotional confusion tied up in this.  For example, it feels like my very first weekend home, all I did was spend money.  Well, it's true. I had been gone for over 2 weeks, so I had to buy groceries. And for me at least, that meant 2 different shopping runs and a delivery order to restock the pantry, look for discount produce, and visit Foster Sundry for my meats.  On top of that, after taking my first shower I realized I'm very nearly out of shampoo, and that was a clear exception to things that I was allowed to replace as I used them up - so I went and bought shampoo, and dry shampoo (of which I have been out of for weeks).  But it still "felt" like shopping.  That voice of "how are you going to make it through this year when you went and bought food and shampoo in your first week!" I had not expected that voice...

I only heard about the concept of a "Depth Year" last summer.  My sister had fallen down yet another series of rabbit holes on YouTube, and was telling me about the concept.  When I tried to search for a definition of "Depth Year" the closest I got was this: " You take a whole year in which you don’t start anything new or acquire any new possessions you don’t need. No new hobbies, equipment, games, or books are allowed during this year. Instead, you have to find the value in what you already own or what you’ve already started. " - David Cain OK, so I'm probably not going to be doing this "right."  I decided last fall I wanted to do a Depth Year (or attempt to) for 2020; and after thinking it over the past couple of weeks, I decided I wanted to journal my experience.  I don't really expect any readers, but I type very fast, and I decided the easiest way would be to make a little side blog where I can record my thoughts and experiences...