As we finished out 2017 an article in The New York Times caught my eye and secured part of my 10 free articles for the month. Anne Patchett wrote about her year of no shopping . This wasn't anything new to me - I've heard about no shopping or reduced shopping efforts before. For some reason, though, this article resonated with me - maybe because we had read one of her works for my book club this past year. Maybe because she is a book store owner, and therefore earns a special place in my heart. I read the piece and then saved it as a PDF to my desktop. The point of the piece is simple. The writing is well done and conveys her experience. What would a year without shopping look like? Even more, what does that even mean? What can I buy? What can't I buy? Why? She writes a compelling piece - no wonder, she's a compelling author. Part of what attracted me was that she first encountered the idea in 2009 and it took her 7 years later in 2016 to engage fully with the li...