Let's start from the beginning

As you may or may not know I was an addict in every sense of the word. I was a "Fast Fashion" addict for all of my 20s and most of my teens. I just couldn't get enough of it, the hit I got when I bought something new was an extraordinary dopamine hit.

I'm from a huge family and hand-me-downs, charity shops, and car boot sales are where we shopped, until I was old enough to get a job and start buying my own.

AND BOY did I do just that! At 16 I got my first job and the rest was history. I was now able to buy all the clothes my friends had, all the clothes that were on "TREND" every week without fail, because I couldn't possibly wear the same outfit twice. So I thought!

I didn't know what I know now. I was CLUELESS. I also didn't really have a sense of my own identity. I just wore what my friend wore, or what those around me thought looked good on me.

Fast forward to 2023. I am nearly 5 years not buying any new clothes, ONLY buying preloved items.

I now dress for myself
I now know my style
I have the confidence to ONLY wear what I love!

In 2023 I am going to take it one step further.....

I am going to TRY not to buy ANY CLOTHES AT ALL except for knickers and socks in 2023

Now I know what you're thinking why the heck would I want to do this?

I want to see if having your wardrobe full of clothes I love, and that are truly my sense of style, I can go a year without buying anything at all.

Can a once-confessed shopaholic press pause on buying for a whole year?

Let's wait and see.

Mid February 2023

Today I went into my local town; something I haven't done since last year.

I saw that a huge new charity shop had opened in my town- it was so big and well organised I had to go in. I was really good I didn't look in too much detail like I would have done normally.

I felt good, thinking “that wasn't too bad" .

I then went to one of my favorites. HUGE mistake! There were SO many gorgeous items. I was drawn to none I needed, but if I wasn't on this journey I would have definitely bought something. I could have easily spent in the region of £100 on 2 dresses.

There was one amazing backless silver sequined dress. It was love at first sight!

I went all hot and my heart started beating fast! Then I felt a massive sick feeling at the thought I couldn't buy it. I had never had this feeling before, when I can afford something in a charity shop that I love, and it ticks all my other boxes e.g is it my style, will it go with the other items I already own is it timeless etc , I would normally just buy it without hesitation. 2 wide-leg trousers one was in a pink satin just delicious! A blazer and jacket both equally gorgeous!

I thought about this moment for the rest of the day, and voice noted my bestie for support and sent her a photo of the dress. She couldn't believe my will power. She told me to stop going in there. .

The next morning I woke up thinking about that sequin dress again- all throughout my morning meditation it kept creeping into my head. I kept on thinking of ways I could get my hands on it. It was a lot for me to experience all these strong emotions that I am dealing with, but these are the lessons of this journey, I suppose.

After I made this entry here I felt so much better about it and all of those feeling passed.

Late February 2023

I'm off to a photo shoot. Although I would not normally buy anything for a photo shoot, I wanted something different- a new to me outfit from my wardrobe. I was low on time so I turned to Pinterest for some inspiration. I found this sunning YSL campaign

And I really wanted to recreate it but I didn't have the exact skirt. I then remembered I had a bridesmaid dress I wore at my best friend’s wedding

Not black, but I had things that would work so well with those tones. I tried a few ways of wearing the dress and back to front worked the best for this look.

I realized that I have never worn something back to front to make it work for me before so this was definitely something new and exciting.

It showed me that even with all my years of experience in styling when we start from scratch and give ourselves space to get creative, magic happens.

**How much have I saved?**

I have also got a jar I use to collect money that I have saved so far by not shopping for clothes, and it's totaling £135 at present. That's the money I would have spent on second hand clothes in January and February.
Buy the end of the year it will be interesting to see where that number is in this experiment.

Can a once-confessed shopaholic press pause on buying for a whole year?

Let's wait and see.

I would love to hear your thoughts on all of this so please leave a comment below.

No new clothes in 2023