The Great American Apparel Diet
no buying for one year

Erica, Houston Texas

Hi, my name is Erica Deakins. I am 30 years old and live in Houston, Texas with my wonderful husband Sam and cat, Chloe. I am an educator with a psychology/sociology background and I am constantly consuming books with that bend to them. Books like Affluenza and Can't Buy My Love are books I reread time and again that motivate me to change and bring in to critical light the overspent American and how advertising is related to increasing levels of consumption. But...I find my self always slipping up on taking the next big step to purging my life of excess consumption. I am able to step back and see how I am caught up in the typical American cycle of consumption and overspending...want, shop, purge, repeat. The first step in recovery is admitting you have a problem, right? I love fashion and the personal expression it allows but I can't help but have the sneaky suspicion that the whole shopping/personal expression outlet is a whirlwind of increasing pressure put on members of society by the constant barrage of advertising messages we see, hear, stumble upon every hour of the day. I am hoping that by joining the Diet ranks that I can obtain a more balance approach to shopping and finally break the cycle so that I can have a healthy relationship to clothes and shopping in general.