FOR most women, life without shopping is equivalent to a life without food. But for Judith Levine, the only way to curb an out-of-control shopping habit was to go cold turkey with some startling results.

JUDITH Levine has endured a 365-day journey to jilt a serious shopping habit and abandon consumer culture.

The 53-year-old American writer, author of new book Not Buying It, is a woman who once revelled in life's little luxuries such as French roast coffee and SmartWool socks until one expensive Christmas opened her eyes.

She said: "It was Christmas 2003 and I had maxed out my credit card and spent over 1,000 dollars (around £550) on gifts, food and drink even though I am not a big fan of Christmas.

"I felt out of control. So I thought maybe by eliminating shopping, I could see what sort of importance it played in my life."

Enlisting the support of her partner Paul, the couple enjoyed their Christmas and circled January 1 on the calendar as the beginning of their year buying nothing but necessities.

Negotiations ensued about the bare essentials: premium toilet paper or the cheap and scratchy store brand?

Judith says: "We only bought food ingredients no prepared food so that meant no more biscuits, Starbucks coffee or takeaway pizza! We bought no gifts, books, CDs, clothing, and didn't spend money on leisure or travel. All purchased "things" and experiences were out except for the necessities."

The couple screwed up their weekly shopping lists, said no to nights out at the cinema or restaurants and put off going for a pint with pals until their no-buying year was up. As the months rolled on Judith admits they "made up the rules as we went along", each justifying individual must-haves.

"I decided that I needed to have haircuts. You cannot believe the amount of grief I have suffered for confessing that." Paul claimed that wine was a necessity because he was Italian but he found a way to make it himself, which turned out to be way better than your average cheap bottle of plonk," Judith said.

Suffering from a shortage of luxury socks among other things, Judith did not find the 12 long months of tightening the purse strings easy.

"Damned if I do shop, damned if I don't. If compulsive acquisition disorder doesn't get me, the deprivation blues will," she confesses in her book.

But it was not the clothes and collection of household jumble Judith felt was lacking from her life.

"I think I missed experiences far more than things. I very much missed going to the movies and little things like ice cream not just for the pleasure of the food but going out after dinner on a warm Sunday evening for a nostalgic treat. I never thought of myself as a "shopper" so I thought this experience would be very easy, but even I discovered that my life is enabled by buying things," she said.

But there were perks to the Not Buying It experiment as Judith scoured her monthly bank statements and stepped on the scales.

She maintains the experiment was never about saving money or losing weight, but she inadvertently achieved both.

"At the end of the year, I'd saved about 8,000 dollars (£4,345) and paid off my credit card. You can certainly see the amount of money that vanishes that you don't even think about.

"And I lost weight without realising because I wasn't eating a whole load of hidden calories," she said.

Spending habits also waned. Once the Not Buying It year was officially over, shopping wish lists were difficult to dream up.

"It was as though our hankerings had diminished. I had made a list of films I wanted to see so I went out the next day and rented a bunch of DVDs. Paul went out and bought some cotton buds because that was something that he'd missed," she said.

Looking back on her year of stringent spending, Judith acknowledged that shopping and happiness do not go hand in hand.

"It made me realise how happily I could live without buying a lot of things. One thing I learned by not buying was not just what you can live without, but what you really do like.

"The problem with society is that we already have everything we need.

"A lot of buying is motivated by emulation.

"The media now gives us so much access to the likes of the rich and famous, people aren't just concerned with keeping up with the Jones's down the street, they're trying to keep up with the wealthiest people in the world. Our aspirations are higher."

So, the big question is, can we live without shopping?

"No, we can't, but we can certainly live without a great deal of the shopping that we do," she said.

HOW TO CONTROL YOUR CASH

Think about how you'll feel after you have bought an item. How will it make you feel after a day, a week, a year. Will you feel regret, happy, or just forget about it?

Feeling the need to buy? Just stop and do not do anything for five minutes you may often feel the shopping impulse passes.

Go to the cash machine at the beginning of the week and take out your budget. When you run out of money, do not be tempted to dip into your credit card.

Whiling away your Saturday afternoon window shopping at the mall is not a good idea if you do not have the money.

Consider how else you might want to use your money. During the year of not shopping, the tsunami happened and Paul and Judith were able to donate a lot of money.

Spending is often an emotional behaviour. If you can get past those first feelings of boredom, discomfort, self-doubt or frumpiness whatever it is you can often solve those problems in another way or they just go away.

Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine is published by Simon & Schuster, priced £16.99. Out now.