This is inspired by the podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin, so if you think this sounds familiar, yup, directly lifted from an episode I listened to today! One of her happiness tips is to pick a one-word theme for the year to keep yourself focused on goals and inspired to reach them. It occurred to me that this could be applied to a low-/no-buy, and now I’m really curious how everyone else would define their goals for next year with just one word and why.

And so my theme for the year is Rediscovery! I hope to apply this to the rest of my life while I’m at it. I spend so much time looking for something new — even if it’s something as simple as a new street to walk down during my lunch hour — that sometimes I don’t appreciate what I have right now. Or I’ll get partway through something and abandon it for something newer not because I think I will like the new thing better but rather just because it’s a new thing. Full stop. I want to go back and remember why I fell in love with something in the first place. Along the way, I also want to get rid of the stuff I don’t like as much. Clear out the noise! Focus on the good stuff that has been forgotten in the hunt for the Next Best Thing that will get abandoned in a month!

(I do this with pretty much everything. Makeup, tv shows, books, craft projects, you name it. I toss out multiple pints of ice cream with at least half of the pint left in each one every time I clean my freezer. The ice cream is invariably so old that it is inedible. At least most of my makeup is loose and can’t go bad!)