The No New Clothes Challenge Continues
We’re entering the fourth month of our summer without purchasing new clothes. We began in mid May, and now we only have a few weeks left to go. I don’t think that my husband as thought about this challenge once. It hasn’t really been that hard to resist the urge to buy new pieces of clothing for either of us like I thought it would be.
The longer this challenge continues, the more I want to keep it going. Why not go a few more months? Could we make it through the winter?
Picking up a new piece of clothing is so easy for anyone to do. In your mind, does it seem like you’re always donating old clothing, too? Maybe the rational to buy new clothes is: why not get something new if I like it and it’s at a great price? Or if I got this item, could I be fashionable or classy? Would people treat me differently if I wore that? Could I put it in my closet where all those old things used to be?
My answer felt like it was yes too often.
hiking in perfectly acceptable clothes
I feel like I was always pretty rational about clothing purchases before – no brand names (except Ann Taylor Loft clearance rack) for me and good rain jackets for both of us. Now I’m not so sure.
This experiment has been teaching me a lot these last few months:
- Most people probably don’t know just how many clothes they already have.
- When we only have access to a limited number of clothes, it turns out we think even less about what to wear and who cares.
- Making a conscious effort to avoid clothing stores and departments raises self esteem. You stop thinking about size and weight and comparing yourself to the women posing in pictures and other customers.
- Bringing less stuff into the house makes my home – and thereby my life – feel so much simpler and less cluttered.
- Clothes can last a really, really long time.
Right now, I feel like buying more clothes would be like buying more fresh cherries when we already have plenty in the fridge. You all know what happens then. We can’t resist eating the new cherries because they’re fresher and firmer. The old cherries go bad and land in the trash. Those older cherries were perfectly fine until we introduced the newer ones.
Many of you mentioned similar ideas about buying clothes when we talked about this subject last. Some of you even considered jumping aboard. How is it going? Have any of you noticed anything different about your habits? How about within yourselves?
Keep it green and simple with 2 more ideas:
August 8th, 2009 at 8:30 am
I’m very proud of the fact that I can pack ALL the clothes I own (including shoes) into ONE-yep one-suitcase.
August 8th, 2009 at 8:52 am
Great challenge! You’re so right; when you stay out of clothes departments (and don’t look at clothes catalogues), the temptation to buy is SO much less! I’ve always been pretty frugal, but lost my job earlier this year, so I’ve had to tighten the budget even more.
And quite honestly, I bet I could ditch 50% of the clothes I own and not even miss them. I have more than I need already…right now, I sure don’t need anything new!
August 9th, 2009 at 2:41 am
What a wonderful challenge!! You’ll find this funny as I’m a professional shopper (I mean I literally get paid for taking people shopping – for antiques and vintage finds) but I’m actually not much of a buyer myself!!! My husband and I joke that shopping for other people saves me a ton a money personally because I get my dose of shopping without spending a euro of my own money!
If I do buy it tends to be for my home! I love decorating and as much as antiques tempt me – clothes don’t – unless they are incredible bargain! That said, when we moved into our Berlin apartment all our clothes – for my husband and myself fit easily into one shared wardrobe unit!! Without the closets everyone has in America, sometime in the last 10 years living in Europe, I’ve downsized my wardrobe to what I wear right now! If I have a passion for clothes, it would be my cocktail dresses – as one can never have too many of them!
Now I have to think before I speak, but … I think I’ve accepted this challenge as I’ve only bought 1 article of clothing since April and no new fall clothes are needed!
August 9th, 2009 at 2:54 am
I confess we save up our clothing purchases for times we’re in the US, where clothing is SO much cheaper. This means it’s a rare day we purchase clothing in Germany, but in the US we (i mean me) go a little nuts. Our first year here of riding bikes everywhere actually had both of us wearing holes in the seat of all our pants, which was super annoying (too complicated to fix without looking stupid walking around). I also have looked for size 11 shoes or tall clothing over here and just haven’t found much of anything that isn’t just insanely priced – so in the US I just cruise the Eddie Bauer site and find tall stuff. This gets me in the “better get it while I can” mode – so then I invariably buy more than I really need. To add to the vicious cycle, I have been steadily loosing weight since moving here (bye bye 60hr work week office-job pounds!), so I can finally fit back into some old clothes I brought with me (b/c i already knew buying new, smaller sized clothes here would be near impossible). I am a closet/suitcase disaster! At least my husband can truly pack all his clothing in one big suitcase!
August 9th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Can I just say… OH MY GOSH! You all are a huge inspiration. One suitcase? Professional shopper without accumulating for yourself? I feel sure that our challenge just has to continue. Thanks guys!
Juliette, I know exactly what you mean about this sense of shopping spree because it’s now or never when you get back to the US. On the flip side, I think it’ll make this challenge even easier when we move back to Germany and have to deal with the heavy taxes and higher prices.
Katie
August 9th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Hi Katie.
I hate to shop in the first place. When I do I always check out the clearance racks first. I like Abercrombie and Old Navy. Then Neiman Marcus for work.
August 10th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
I dislike shopping. My husband is the one who likes to shop for clothes. It drives me crazy because he already has a closet full. Anyway, we went camping last week for several days and I only brought a few items of clothing and it was so refreshing traveling light. I really noticed all the “stuff” in our house when we returned and how stressful it makes me feel. I’m all for getting rid of stuff. I just joined the local freecycle and people actually come pick up my junk. Great.
As for the clothes challenge, usually when the cold weather comes I find I need (want?) new long underwear or a comfy, soft sweater. I really don’t like being cold. So it will be difficult not buying something in the fall. But I’ll try!
August 12th, 2009 at 7:56 am
What an inspiring post. You are so, so right on all counts. I worked in retail years ago (during and just following college), and that was a recipe for disaster. Points 2 and 3 are very fascinating–and spot-on. Thank you for this, Katie (and congrats on your progress!).