Nothing New Challenge - January review

Hello lovelies, and welcome to the first monthly review of my Nothing New Challenge. (If you have no idea what the heck I’m talking about, have a look at this post).

So, the month of January was interesting. Here’s what happened:

1. Deodorant
   Early in the month, I ran out of deodorant. Luckily, I already had a jar of homemade deodorant that I had made a while back and used on and off, waiting for the other one to run out. However, I soon had to accept the fact that I still haven’t nailed a decent recipe for deodorant, and my homemade one still left me sweaty and stinky. When I eventually resigned to the idea of having to buy a new deodorant, I purchased this one by Dirty Hippie, which comes in a compostable packaging, smells amazing and lasts forever.

2. Running shoes
   When someone overheard that I had been running in my battered, extremely flat Air Force 1s, they urged me to buy proper running shoes - for the sake of my knees. This was going to be tricky, as what I needed in running shoes was good quality, cushioning and support, which I never found in second-hand shoes. Miraculously, I did find a pair of second-hand, yet brand new Asics running shoes that someone was given as a gift but in the wrong size. I got them for $40 which is a steal. They fit me perfectly, have great support, and also happen to be in my favourite colour. Score.

3. Mirror bra
   I went to a festival last weekend, and wasn’t very prepared costume-wise. My first option was obviously to scavenge every op shop within my reach, but I had no luck. Eventually I resorted to my trusted Depop and purchased a ridiculous mirror bra (no regrets). This produced some plastic packaging but at least my money went to someone who hopefully needed it.

4. Acquired items
   This month I also ended up with quite a lot of clothes that were given to me by some lovely, generous people. I added some jeans, mesh and leopard-patterned tops to my wardrobe which I’m very grateful for and excited about. These were hand-me-downs which is my favourite way of acquiring items because it’s pre-loved, package-free, you get to pick and choose what you want, and it costs nothing.

Overall, I think the month of January was pretty successful.

My plans for February are:

1. Use up all my pens
   This is something I have been working on for the past… year? I have SO MANY pens and I don’t think I’ve bought a new one for months and months. I’m finally reaching the end of my collection and after that I’d like to stick to my Grandpa’s refillable fountain pen for ideally the rest of my life.

2. Stop acquiring things
   Even when I can get them for free, I still want to at least try and keep it to a minimum. I will probably go back into the bus at some point (oh yeah, I’m taking a break from Shid and subletting for a couple of months), where the space is limited and life doesn’t require wearing sequin dresses and fancy makeup.

Stay tuned for more updates - possibly also about my living situation, although this has been hard for me and still hurts to talk about; I want to be able to reflect and write about it but it might not be for a while.

Until next time!