Former shopaholic Lee Simpson’s epiphany came in the toy aisle.

The one-time publisher of Chatelaine magazine was living a quieter life as a United Church minister in Lunenberg, N.S., and out looking for a gift for her two-year-old grandson when she realized she didn’t want to buy the toy he had asked for.

She knew the branded items was just going to make him want the matching vehicle next, and then the cereal, and then the T-shirt and she realized that she was setting up her grandson for “a lifetime of overconsumption.”

Simpson went home without a toy that day and decided that if she was going to renounce consumerism for her favourite boy, she was going to renounce it for herself too.

Inspired by a Calgary couple she had heard about who had given up buying anything for a year, Simpson decided to try it herself.

“I wanted to test myself,” she told CTVNews.ca recently while on a car ride through Maine. “I just wanted to get to the root of (why I loved to shop) and share whatever I learned.”

For 12 months, Simpson bought nothing but groceries. She allowed herself one meal out a week, at the express request of her family, but she otherwise started living by a mantra that she had heard years ago: “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.”

The exercise proved much harder than Simpson had expected, which she details in her book “My Year of Buying Nothing.” Here’s a few things she says she learned along the way.

1) It’s the little purchases that are hardest to give up

Simpson will admit she was a bit of a shopaholic before she began her shopping diet. Not the kind who bought designer purses, but the kind who always picked up little things she probably didn’t need -- too many eyeliner pencils and magazines, for example; nifty kitchen gadgets; a nice tie for her husband.

It was those small, mundane items that were hardest to stop buying, Simpson says. But she also believes her biggest chunk of savings over the year came just from putting an end to these impulse purchases.

“It’s really easy to grab that little tchotchke that’s just going to look so cute on your daughter’s wall, but it’s that kind of thing that does you in. The $15 purchase is way more dangerous,” she said.

2) The compulsion to buy is hard to resist

Even though Simpson was committed to buying nothing, she noticed her grocery bill started creeping up at the beginning of that first year.

What she realized was that she was buying all sorts of fancy cheeses, jams and other delectables she didn’t really need because she was trying to offset her “purchasing deprivation” by indulging herself in other ways -- in this case, fancy foods.

Simpson believes some part of her was having trouble breaking the instinct “to bring home a harvest,” as she says, and that it was an addiction she needed to break.

“I think we as a species are hard-wired to be hunter-gatherers but we’ve turned that very natural instinct into some pretty unhealthy acquisitional obsessions,” she said. “I found that in myself and I see it all around me.”

The solution for her newfound fancy food addiction was a simple one: instead of bringing a debit card to the supermarket, she set a strict budget and only carried cash.

3) There's more leisure time when you’re not shopping

One thing Simpson learned was how much time is lost every year to shopping. That time gets wasted scouring store aisles, window shopping, clipping coupons, or driving from store to store in search of that perfect thing at the perfect price.

All that time gets gifted back to you when you are no longer focused on buying stuff, she says.

Simpson spent her newfound leisure time reading, strolling the beach with her grandson, cooking more from scratch, gardening, and even getting back into knitting and painting.

“You find yourself finding better ways to spend your time when you’re not scouring the malls for that perfect outfit or lawn ornament,” she says.

4) There is rarely a reason to ever buy new

A year with nothing new forced Simpson to come up with creative solutions for everyday problems. When her dishcloths wore out, she knit new ones. When her dishwasher broke, she washed dishes by hand. When her shirts become stained, she covered them with scarves or sweaters.

Rather than buy gifts, she made jellies and fudge, painted watercolours and cards and even regifted toiletries that sat unused in her cupboards. She bartered a few items and services using her baking skills and gardening seeds. She accepted the occasional donated used item. In short, Simpson learned there is pretty much nothing that can’t be fixed, borrowed, traded, or bought used.

“And all these things are very healthy; they force you to become imaginative and creative,” she says.

5) Anyone can learn new habits

What’s one thing Simpson learned about herself in her year year of buying nothing? “I learned that I can change, even at a mature age,” she says.

Whereas she once bought things just for fun, Simpson says she no longer buys just for the thrill of buying. Now, she tries to think each purchase through: Does she really need this thing or can she make do with what she has? How long will it get used before being thrown out? What effect will it have on the environment?

“It’s about rethinking how and why you consume the things you consume, rethinking all your habits and making better habits,” she says.

The lessons she learned from that year have stayed with her, Simpson says, but she will also admit her vow to resist the urge to shop is one she still has to work on.

“It doesn’t always come naturally -- especially when i see something adorable for a grandchild,” she says. “But I now stop and think. That’s what I’ve learned. Stop and think.”