Today, I’m pleased to share an interview with fellow blogger and ultimate reformed shopaholic, Jill Chivers. Many of you know Jill from her blog and her June guest post, “How a Shopping Hiatus Can Help.” But even those who are familiar with Jill and her programs will learn more in this post!
Jill shares more about herself and her journey and introduces her exciting new offering for compulsive shoppers, “Shop Less and Live More.” This new site includes free inspiration, as well as two paid e-products that are available at a 50% discount through October 18th (Australia time – October 17th for the US and Europe). More details at the end of this post.
I’m sure many “Recovering Shopaholic” readers are already familiar with you, but please share a brief introduction for those who are not.
I am an entrepreneur, and I’ve created businesses in the real and virtual worlds. I’m a speaker, writer, coach, professional facilitator and workshop leader and the feedback I receive about my work is that it inspires real and lasting change in how people feel, think and behave.
I’m married to the wonderful Dan who is my best friend and favourite person to be with, and the owner/slave of a demanding and slightly neurotic but always entertaining Ragdoll cat, Mango.
I was also a compulsive shopper for years. And for much of that time, I didn’t even realise it. I thought shopping was a harmless pastime or maybe a contact sport I had become very, very good at. Shopping was my favourite hobby. I had more than enough clothing, shoes, accessories, handbags, you name it, but I was continuing to shop and add more to a bursting-at-the-seams walk in wardrobe.
I had racks and racks of stuff I didn’t need, or even want. Why was I buying so much when I already had so much? I had no idea what the answer to that question was. But I knew I had to find an answer. Late 2009, I had one of those corner-turning, light bulb illuminating, Aha moments. I came to the hard, cold realisation that I was spending far too much on clothes (and shoes, and bags, and belts, and earrings, and all other adornments for the body). And what an important moment that turned out to be.
The path I chose to heal myself from a compulsion to shop was to take a year without clothes shopping. I had to stop the constant intake of new items into my closet; I had to put some space and distance between me and all this buying, and buying, and buying.
That year changed my life. My year without clothes shopping changed how I think and feel about shopping, and it changed my shopping behaviour. It also led me to change what I did with my time and talents and it drew me to work in this intriguing and complex field of compulsive and unconscious shopping.
I understand what it’s like to “shop til you drop” and yet still feel it was never enough. I know how strong the call of the mall is, and how intoxicating the buy high is. And I know how heavy all that buying and buying and buying can be.
That even though it can look fun — and shopping can be very attractive, at least on the surface — that beneath the tissue paper and logo-embossed bags, there’s an unhealthy, unattractive side to too much shopping.
That too much shopping wears you thin, wears you out, and wears you down. That even if you can “afford it,” there’s more than one way to be bankrupt and impoverished. And my main message to other women who shop too much is that it IS possible to lay that burden down, to stop the constant shopping, and to reclaim your life.
What is the “Shop Less and Live More” program and what does it include?
Well it’s less a program and more an invitation. I’ve created 365 postcards to inspire people to shop less and live more. These postcards are the product of my imagination and work and represent a lot of love, time, and energy. They are also a contribution I dearly wanted to make to the movement of conscious consumption.
I wanted to share this central idea: that life, rich, full and happy, is found in the things we do, the people we love, and the contribution we make. And that when we turn our attention to those things, instead of the acquisition of more and more things, our life does indeed become richer, fuller and happier. And these postcards are my way of making that idea tangible.
The postcards don’t form a traditional instruction-based program and it is not a step-by-step guide. It is likely different from anything else you have come across, in that it is an invitation to explore and to create for yourself.
Here are a few examples of the “Shop Less and Live More” postcards.
This approach is radical because it invites you to think for yourself. From my work as a professional facilitator and the creator of innovative learning experiences, I have faith that not only can you explore for yourself and think for yourself, but that you’re better off if you do so.
What inspired you to create “Shop Less and Live More”?
My own journey was one point of inspiration – my healing from a compulsion to overshop has taken an interesting trajectory. In the last 18 months to two years, I have been drawn to widen my perspective (beyond the aspects of shopping my closet, wardrobing and style, which was my previous focus in this area).
I sincerely believe that we all wish to be happy, but we don’t know how to become so, or how to experience more happiness on a consistent basis. And the reason we’re grappling so much with being happy is because we don’t really understand what makes us happy. We think we do, but as we strive for what we think will make us happy, we become even more unhappy. It’s a cruel paradox!
I believe that what makes us happy are the experiences we have, the people we love, and the contributions we make. And those things have nothing to do with acquiring more and more things. And in fact, sometimes the determined focus on acquiring more and more things takes us even further away from happiness, and further and further away from a life we love to live.
And that’s what I wanted to spark within others, a reminder of what makes life worth living, and of what makes for a rich, full life. I want to encourage people to get in touch with their inner light, the inner guidance system that will lead them to explore and discover what happiness means for them, and to create and live a life they absolutely love.
And these postcards are one way to reconnect with that inner light, that inner guidance system.
Who is “Shop Less and Live More” for and how will it benefit them?
“Shop Less and Live More” is for people who love shopping and think of it as their favourite hobby – but who know deep down that they’ve put shopping in a glorified place in their life and made it too important.
It’s for people who shop frequently – perhaps every day or at least weekly – who know that it’s just too much, that they’re spending too much time and money on “incoming.” It’s for people who have a lot of stuff – clothes, shoes, accessories, handbags, and all the rest – but aren’t using all of it, perhaps not using even a quarter of it.
It’s for people who, when they’re not shopping, they’re thinking about shopping, perhaps even obsessing over some item (or many items) they’ve seen in the stores or online. They just know that their shopping is not quite under control – it just can’t be healthy to be thinking so much about shopping and things you want to buy.
It’s for people who keep the extent of their shopping a secret from others – and who feel bad about not being honest about how much they buy or how much shopping consumes them.
It’s for people who acknowledge that they need to shop less – but aren’t sure where to start or how to do it.
And most significantly, it’s for those who want to live their lives fully, richly and joyously – and who know that shopping isn’t the pathway to living that kind of life. “Shop Less and Live More” invites them to think about, to feel toward, and to discover other things – activities and ideas – besides shopping.
How do you recommend that the postcards be used, either for those who enroll in the program or those who access them via your website?
The postcards are deliberately designed to open up the space to play. It gives a place, every day, to start exploring new things – new ideas, new actions, new perspectives.
Each postcard invites you to stand in a different position from where you were before. Each postcard invites you to do something different – even if just for that day. And each postcard invites you to discover for yourself what you see, what that means, and where you want to go from there.
Some more postcard examples – I can see how all of these could help me!
It’s important to note that the postcards are different from a traditional step-by-step program. This is not a program that “spoon feeds.” There are no instructions – but lots of invitations. There are no directions – but lots of thought-starters.
It is a radically innovative approach that invites people to explore and to discover for themselves, to do things differently. It invites people to create and then to live a life they love – one that puts shopping in its rightful place.
What is the difference between the postcard subscription program and the e-book and why might someone choose one over the other?
There are three ways you can access the postcards:
You can visit the home page every day and find inspiration in the daily postcard that rotates there. All 365 postcards will appear on the home page throughout the year, and access to them this way is free.
You can sign up for the paid daily email series, where a postcard is delivered fresh into your inbox every day.
You can purchase the e-book, chock full of ideas and inspiration to live, not spend, your life every day.
So I’ve made it easy for anyone who wants to use the postcards as a point of exploration in their own lives to do so.
The postcards are the same no matter which way you access them. With the e-book, you receive them all in one downloadable e-book – so you get immediate access to all 365 postcards to use in any way you like, and you get to design your own “program” if you like! And with the email series, they are coming into your inbox, one every day – so you don’t have to come back to the website every day to get your daily dose of inspiration.
I leave it up to the individual to determine which mode of accessing the postcards will suit them the best, so that they get maximum value from the postcards. That’s my only intention – to invite people to access and to explore.
If someone were trying to decide among all of your great programs, how might they do that? Why might someone choose “Shop Less and Live More” over your “My Year Without Clothes Shopping” programs, for example?
“My Year Without Clothes Shopping” is a year-long intensive focused program. It is a step-by-step guide, organised around 12 key themes – one for each month. It has a lot of material – over 1000 pages in total. Each week, members receive a comprehensive tutorial via an email lesson and a resource. The weekly lesson is delivered via email and designed around the theme for that month. The in-depth resource is downloaded from our protected and private members-only area, and provides examples and exercises to experience that week’s content for yourself.
“My Year Without Clothes Shopping” is about examining and re-defining your relationship to your wardrobe and your shopping, and through that exploration, your relationship with yourself. It is a clear emphasis and focus on shopping within your closet. The women who do this program tend to have a strong interest in clothing and style. But their shopping has become unhealthy for them so they want to develop a healthier relationship to shopping, whilst also redefining their style, but on their own terms.
“Shop Less and Live More” is a much more open space. It isn’t a program. I’m not calling it that – it’s an invitation to explore. There are many areas you are invited to explore with “Shop Less And Live More” – it isn’t focused specifically or exclusively on style, although there are some postcards that invite you to explore your style some more (always in a “shop your wardrobe” kind of way).
The landscape with “Shop Less and Live More” is broad and wide, with lots of choices for the person who is accessing or receiving the postcards, who is most definitely in the driver’s seat! It suits people who aren’t as interested in clothing as those who do “My Year Without Clothes Shopping,” and those who want to be in the driver’s seat of their own learning and exploration experience.
Tell us about the “Shop Less and Live More” Facebook group. How do you see that group being used?
Well, the Facebook Group is an experiment! I have never created a group on Facebook before, so this is new territory for me. I’m learning as I go, and what I would dearly love is for it to be a place where there is conversation and sharing. It isn’t a place for me to talk at people, but I want to encourage people to talk to one another. I want them to share, to connect, to inspire and be inspired, to support, to listen, to learn, and to enjoy the company of others who are also seeking to create a life they love to live – without shopping taking up so much time and attention.
It’s early days, but I hope the group grows and that people get into the spirit of community there.
What’s next for you? Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
I’m working on an idea for a television series with a media production company here in Australia. It’s an intriguing process and I am learning a lot! I’ll keep you posted on how things progress!
I hope you enjoyed this interview – a big thank you to Jill for her very detailed and thorough responses to all of my questions! If you’d like to learn more about “Shop Less and Live More,” click here. If you decide to purchase one of the paid offerings and would like to take advantage of the 50% launch discount, please use the code “launch special” (not case-sensitive) at check-out. As a reminder, this discount is only available through October 18th Australian time (October 17th for most of the rest of us). I plan to purchase one of the “Shop Less and Live More” products this week and I will be sure to share what I learn in future “Full Life Project” posts!
Feel free to ask Jill any questions you have – about her programs, her history, or your challenges – in the comments section below. You are also free to share anything you’d like about the topics discussed in this post – and on the blog in general. I’ll be back later this week with an update on my sessions with Bridgette Raes.
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Related posts:
Useful Links to Help You “Shop Your Closet”
Why Continue to Shop?
What Triggers You to Shop?
The Reasons We Shop Too Much