No Shopping Season
We love a new piece of clothing (who doesn’t, right?). It’s just that we’re not so big on cramming our shared dresser with it all. Let’s face it – you’ve probably guessed that storage isn’t exactly abundant in our 480 square foot home in Germany. After all, we each only have room for five pairs of shoes in the storage bench we made in the hallway. The house made of tires that we’re living in offers even fewer storage options. That’s why we started a new summer resolution:
No new clothes!
The basic idea is that we’re going to challenge ourselves to go the entire summer without purchasing a single piece of clothing – no shorts for hiking, no cute sandals, no anything. We’ve been on the challenge for a month so far (beginning the day after we scooped up some last minute jeans for Martin). Things are looking good.
I know what you’re asking: What’s the point in this challenge?
It’s always great to look at the things you already have in a totally new way. You stop thinking about the clothes and accessories you don’t have because you find yourself focusing on the thing that matters – and at least for us, clothing just isn’t it. It isn’t the brand names or the latest styles.
Taking this challenge means no boredom shopping. It means the people we see might notice that I don’t have that many shorts, and I don’t have a whole lot of sweaters for when it gets cold. But geez. I sure have some clothing that wasn’t being worn that I wasn’t noticing because I was paying too much attention to new things or the idea of new things.
I expected these things to happen. I wanted to wait a month before sharing our little goal to see what else might come up. Like with any challenge, I found something I never expected:
This challenge has also made me appreciate myself more. I can ignore the ads and urges to be someone different than myself. It’s sort of like all the ads are in German all over again, and I can spend my day without worrying if my shoes are fashionable or anything else because I don’t even notice the ads… even if I can understand the language. There are no more “what ifs” and “shoulds”.
Granted I realize I live miles and miles from an actual mall right now (you have to start somewhere, right?). A summer without shopping (even for things I think we need) has been so worth it at this point.
The only problem now is the wear-and-tear our pockets have to endure from the cash we’re saving.
June 19th, 2009 at 5:03 am
I went from December through just last week without buying any clothes, shoes, accessories, etc. For me, it had nothing to do with reevaluating my closet or reusing what I already have, but rather just to save money… not only does my husband have hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt from medical school, but he’s moving away this month and we’ll have to pay to maintain two residences and travel back and forth. I finally wound up buying some dresses last week though — it’s so hot and humid in DC and I walk to and from lab, so it’s too hot for pants, and I was down to only 6 or 7 dresses that weren’t splattered with bleach/acid/dye/etc from work!
June 19th, 2009 at 6:24 am
Great challenge, I think I’ll give it a try, it certainly would make my husband very happy if I can actually do it :-)
June 19th, 2009 at 9:40 am
This sounds like a great challenge! I’m not sure I could swing it for the fast-growing children, but I would be willing to do it myself. As for my husband, he hates buying clothes so I’m sure he goes through several no-buying seasons every year. :)
June 20th, 2009 at 10:22 am
I think this is a great challenge, and I totally see the point!
Something I’ve noticed:
The more I window-surf on my favorite boutique blogs, the more I want, want, want. I find things I didn’t know existed, and all of sudden my *NEED* is overwhelming; however, if I just avoid those blogs, I’m fine. DUH. ; )
June 20th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
This is a great post, and one I can definitely relate to. I started doing this when I moved to Germany three years ago (not only because we are flat broke). It’s just that I found so many other things that were more important. I have gone shopping for clothes for myself twice since I moved here and didn’t spend over 100€ each time. My two trips to America, my family bought some clothes for my birthday/Christmas, and I bought myself and Martin some things. My mother in law always gives me “clothes money” for my birthday, and would you like to know how I spent it this year? I bought Baby Bug some toys, and spent the rest in working on our apartment. I sew our clothes when necessary, and I am even guilty of stitching up holes in our socks, hehe. All in all, I would say that in three years between the two of us, we’ve spent around 500€ on shoes, clothes, and accessories, and that even includes a nice wallet I bought Martin for Christmas last year. That is a big change from when I lived in the U.S. I spent 500 dollars every season on all of that. I look back and can’t believe how much wasted money that was. I keep telling myself, “When I die, I want people to remember me for my character, because it’s not like I am going to be able to take all this stuff with me anyway!” (I still don’t, however, see anything wrong with pampering yourself occasionally!) :-D
June 20th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
I think you’ve given us a quote totally worth remembering, Katie. I wanted to say “worth framing”, but that would just be more stuff then – haha! Love these words from you:
“When I die, I want people to remember me for my character, because it’s not like I am going to be able to take all this stuff with me anyway!”
Katie
June 21st, 2009 at 12:33 pm
I rarely buy clothes for myself, mostly due to necessity. My growing kids need them more than I do, and my husband works outside the home and I don’t, so he needs clothes, too. I wear my clothes out before I buy more. If I happen to see a t-shirt on sale, I may get that (maybe twice a year), but I mostly wear the same clothes over and over again. It doesn’t get that boring or old, because I like what I have and don’t really have to think much about what to wear!
June 21st, 2009 at 6:47 pm
Ooh I love the other katie’s quote too. What a fabulous post Katie – good for you! I’m sort of on a self-imposed shopping ban too…until at least after my race. Hoping I’ll be buying a different size, truth be told, but it’s also forcing me to save money. Don’t you love that!
Hope you guys had a great weekend!!
June 22nd, 2009 at 12:22 am
I am so happy that is no shopping season.Women spent a lot of money on clothes which don’t need.It’s better if you keep your money and invest in a house or a car or something for the future of your kids.