Four months down eight to go……

Well, it's been a further 60 days since my last blog "Not buying new in 2023" and I can say I am still doing surprisingly well!

It's been a whirlwind of different things going on lately and some have left me with little time to even think about shopping, which has obviously made it that bit easier!

So what has made the last two months a bit more challenging? Well, I went to my first-ever Swap event and came away empty-handed which was a whole new experience. It was still very enjoyable, and I loved playing with different styles but even the items I totally fell in love with- that I told myself I needed, and that I had already styled 5 ways in my head- I had forgotten about them the next day. Isn't it CRAZY that we tell ourselves stories to buy and get the instant hit of dopamine that simply does not last. It just gets you chasing that high over and over again - or am I alone in this?

It just goes to show if we take a step back and really give ourselves time before adding something "New" to our wardrobes it can help us think things through and resist the urge to buy, buy, buy.

This has been one of the themes of the past 4 months that we don't need to impulse buy, whether online or in a physical shop. We need to take special care with online platforms making it super easy with just one click payments.

Something that make me smile is that I am really loving playing in my wardrobe and making up "new to me" outfits that are feeling super fresh and not boring or dated. I am still to wear every combination in my wardrobe, which I find super exciting.

I have found items in my wardrobe in the past months that just need to go, and that's because I am allowing myself the time to really define what I actually love now, and what I want to be wearing.

One thing I have found interesting lately is other people’s opinions to this experiment, ranging from super supportive to others who have not really understood why I am putting myself through it. The reason is, we are conditioned to consume.
Everywhere we look someone is trying to sell us something. So buying becomes so much easier to do, rather than to really challenge whether we need to buy or not. Subconsciously it's a done deal- we think we need it and that a certain item is the missing link that's going to fix everything!

But I look back on the last 4 months of not buying a single item of clothing, or allowing anything into my wardrobe from others. I have found strength and comfort that I don't need every gorgeous one off preloved gem I can look at it love it and not buy it.

I really felt that sharing the facts with you would be important as when I came across them while doing my research I was shocked at these numbers from Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP)
In the UK alone, the average adult has 118 items of clothing in their wardrobes.
26% of these 118 items were unworn for at least one year.

When they broke down the reasons why these clothes were unworn I realised that I have experienced some of them in the past, and I see them pop up with every one of my clients.

See if any of these most common ones resonate with you.
-Saving it for special occasions or for best.
This one always makes me want to get very vocal because I am so passionate that " EVERY DAY is Best we need to let ourselves wear what we love everyday!”

Do you remember in the last blog I told you about me wearing my bridesmaid dress? In fact I have been wearing it everywhere from school runs to the food shop and I have felt AMAZING in it.

-The items shoved to the back of the wardrobe because they just didn't fit properly.
This one is the one that every woman can relate too because we don't want to deal with the ill-fitting clothes we just find it easier to go and buy more. This keeps us in the cycle of buying more than we actually wear.

I will continue to share with you more about what I am learning and what I am finding hard in my bi-monthly blog because I hope it can inspire you to look more closely at how and why you shop.