Everyone approaches this thing with different levels of seriousness but in my opinion, yes, it does defeat the purpose and the spirit of the sabbatical. I mean how hard is it to successfully complete the "sabbatical" when one buys a bunch of new stuff at the beginning of each year? I think the rules allow for a purchase of something if one is totally out of a necessary item so everything else is basically a want and not a need. I'm in it for the challenge of reducing what I already have. There are a few aftershaves I would like to buy because I'm out of them and kind of miss them but I still have so many other aftershaves to use up so I'm not going to do it. For me it's a nice exercise in self-control which is translating to other areas of my life as well.
Amen.
AoM; B.O.S.S.;Knight of the Veg Table;MFR2019