Sharing an update on my year of not buying clothes, and tips for making it work
Well we’re officially one month into the No Spend on Clothes year, and so far it’s been a success! I’ve found it easier than I was expecting this month. This is in part because my postpartum body and needs (everything I wear needs to be breastfeeding friendly at the moment!) have led to me basically wearing a capsule wardrobe anyway. I’ve found some pieces in my closet that work well for me and I feel good in, and I’m wearing them on repeat. I’m still off work, so there’s not much pressure to dress smartly or mix up my outfits, so I’m making the most of this while it lasts!
January tip: unsubscribe from clothing brand emails
I’ve spoken about this at length in a previous post (which you can read here), but now we’ve reached the end of one of the busiest sales periods of the year, I can really vouch for how well this worked! It’s really helpful to just remove the temptation to buy clothes. By cutting out so many emails from brands (even if I do really like the brand), and not receiving emails about their January sales, etc, I’ve not had any of that clothing ‘FOMO’ I sometimes have in the past. I haven’t been tempted to buy something just because its cheap or it’s the last one. My inbox is a lot quieter, and I’ve not even visited clothing websites.
I don’t want to suggest that the rest of the year will be easy, but this step has set me up nicely and ensured a good start to the year!
Have you ever tried a no spend period, on clothes or indeed anything else? I’d love to hear your tips and experiences, so please share in a comment!
The Feminist Gadabout 
I should definitely be doing this too. At least buying used only.
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That’s a great idea! It can be hard to know where to look for good used stuff, but places like the closet are good! Have you ever tried ThredUp? I’ve never used it as it doesn’t seem to be such a big thing here in Australia, but pretty much every YouTuber I follow seems to be sponsored by them, so perhaps I should try it!
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I’ve heard about it EVERYWHERE but I’m not sure it’s even available here in Portugal. I wish we were better with thrift stores, also. We don’t have many and they’re still expensive.
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👍👍👍
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I try a 3 month cycle (doesn’t always work) .
Month 1 – clearance sales only
Month 2 – no buy
Month 3 – buy
Repeat.
Even better if I manage to stay on clearance sales only for the two months. 😊
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That sounds like a really sustainable approach! Will definitely have to try something like this when I make it through the no buy year. Although I must admit I rarely buy anything full price – one advantage of not really following seasonal trends!
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