No New Clothes Challenge - The End

 

So I've done it, I've actually gone a whole year without buying any new clothes. It wasn't difficult  it was quite liberating and it has probably changed my habits for ever. Looking at  cheap new clothes now seems a bit obscene and realising that I've far too many clothes anyway is a bit embarrassing.

Over the past year the times when I've felt I "needed" to buy something has been for smart nights out but I've come to realise that going shopping is actually the lazy option. Mainly I buy something new because it is easier than looking in my wardrobe. The other day when we were off a black tie event I was convinced I didn't have anything ..... ummmm yes I did. After going through my wardrobe I managed to find at least three things  that would do and ended up finding a dress belonging to my mum that I wore and was absolutely perfect for the occasion.

I suppose I have missed that lovely buzz of buying something new and sometimes you buy something that you wear and wear and wear but more often than not you don't realise it at the time. Little did I know the day I was made redundant and couldn't face going home just yet so went shopping and bought my blue silk dress from Planet in the sale that it would become my "default fall back I don't know what to wear attire". I love that dress and I've worn it so many times that it was worth every penny. But those purchases are few and far between. 

The only person who seems to have noticed  my lack of new clothes (and maybe been a bit scornful) is my friend Sarah who quite honestly admits she has a bit of a problem with shopping and couldn't go a month week day without buying something new. Maybe her scorn was justified though as the last time I saw her I was wearing a dress of hers that I seem to have borrowed and never quite given back to her ... oooops. She really notices what people wear and will tell me when the last time she saw me wear something and will remember when I bought it! But let's be honest she is unusual. Last week I went to a party and thought I couldn't wear this dress because I'd worn it with the same people not long ago, then I tried to remember what they were wearing .... no couldn't recall .... so decided that they wouldn't remember either and, if they did, they would be far too polite to say anything. I was right.

Which brings me onto another thought. Why do we buy new clothes? Is it to get that buying buzz, to impress others, to be fashionable or to not look scruffy? I think that I can cover all these things by just buying a couple of new things each year. I'm going to try not to be mesmerised by the price of clothes and perhaps spend a little bit more and go for quality rather than quantity.

I do need {yes need} a couple of pairs of jeans as when it warms up and I stop wearing leggings underneath my current jeans there will simply be a little too much flesh on show from the rips where they have worn out. I would like {not essential but would like} a couple more "not quite everyday but not quite going out" jumpers/cardigans/tunics as I'm getting a bit sick of wearing the same ones all the time. And that's it, I really don't feel the need for anything else.

I really hope I don't lapse back into my old ways

No New Clothes Challenge - Month 9

You would imagine that at this stage of the year, coming to the end of the challenge I might be starting to fantasise about going clothes shopping ... but I'm not. I still tentatively open clothes catalogues that come through the post with eyes half scrunched up hoping nothing catches my eye but thankfully nothing has this month. Another advantage of this whole not buying new clothes thing means I've become tidier because I quickly flick through the catalogues, breathe a sigh of relief that I don't yearn for anything and they go straight in the recycling. Before they'd probably sit around in piles for a couple of weeks whilst I made up my mind if I was going to buy anything.

I do have one slight problem in that my two pairs of jeans (worn pretty much every day for the past year) are showing signs of wear and tear but nothing that can't be mended to last another couple of months.

I suppose I am already mentally writing a very small list of things I might buy come the day I end the challenge (jeans, new longline jumper, going out trousers) but I'm pretty confident that there isn't going to be some huge splurge in fact a huge splurge feels more and more obscene and unnecessary as the year goes on. Gosh, I think this challenge has changed me ... !

No New Clothes Challenge - Month 8

I'm so ashamed I nearly blew the whole No New Clothes Challenge for a long sleeved Orla Kiely top



I even went as far as ordering it, trying it on and wondering how I could hide this purchase. I came to my senses though and sent it back, which was a bit silly as it cost me the postage but no one likes a cheater and I'm just about the worst liar in the world so would never have kept up the pretence.

My conscious is clear and I probably wouldn't have worn it anyway as it looked much nicer on the hanger than it did on me!

No New Clothes Challenge - Months 6 & 7

I hope this is OK as part of this challenge because I have got a new dress but I did make it - is that alright I wonder? I've often wanted to buy a Clothkits kit and when I saw this dress in the sale I thought the time had come to snap up a bargain. Unbelievably good service from Clothkits as I ordered it on Thursday and the package arrived on Friday, beautifully wrapped too.

I happened to have a rare afternoon free on Saturday and so set to work. Cutting out was easy without all those silly paper patterns that quite honestly frighten the life out of me and the instructions are perfect for a beginner like me. The other joy of Clothkits is that you get the thread and matching zip too so no faffing around having to buy extra bits.

Once all the pieces were cut out it was time to start sewing and after several (!) phone calls to my mum I was in the swing of it and sewing away beautifully ....  well I say beautifully the dress would not stand up to close scrutiny by an expert but it looks fine from a distance.

And here is the finished article ..... I don't actually plan to wear it as a dress though as I'll feel much happier wearing it as a tunic which is why it is so short in case you think I'd got a bit scissor happy with the hem ;-)

I'm thrilled with it and it has given me a bit more confidence to tackle the paper pattern I have. 

Things I learnt. The special little up/down button on my sewing machine is the key to getting the bobbin to catch. I need to be a bit more accurate with the sizing as although I put a zip in the dress I really don't need it and can slip the dress on without undoing it which makes me think I was a little over cautious in the sizing. The zipper foot I have is wrong. I need to be able to visualise 1.5cm more accurately! 

I would definitely buy again from Clothkits and will look out again for anything that comes up in the sale.

No New Clothes Challenge - Month 5

June completed and no problems until .... I started thinking about what I'd like to wear to go and see the Olympics. I thought I would buy the boys a Team GB t-shirt and when I was browsing I came across this rather tasteful and practical sweatshirt.

I might buy that I thought but then Hang.On.A.Minute I can't. Ummmmm feeling a little deprived that I won't be buying any Olympic items of clothing but then hopefully I won't need a sweatshirt because come August it will be blazing sunshine and I can just wear something I already have, right? At this moment sitting here in July with socks, boots, long jeans, jumper and a scarf round my neck it all seems a bit impossible. Oh British Summer I really, really hope you are going to make an appearance soon for the Olympics because it's getting very boring.

It is particularly boring for me because I have a variety of fresh, hardly worn summer things to wear and at the moment I'm not getting the chance. My long jeans are going to wear out by the end of 2012 a this rate!

No New Clothes Challenge Month 4

Gosh you see I'm getting so used to the whole idea of not buying any new clothes that I even forgot to do an update for Month 4!

I've even managed to do a shopping trip in Cambridge with a group of friends and not buy anything. I discovered that I was quite happy to help my lovely friend Katherine try and buy a dress rather than look for myself. It probably helped that she is a perfect size 10/12 and everything we picked out for her she was willing to try and everything looked gorgeous on her so it was fun.

We had a lovely day out. We decided to return to Cambridge for our day out as we'd had such a lovely time just before Christmas and decided that we would pretty much just repeat that day as the formula worked so well! Starting off with a coffee to get the chatting started and then a little meander round a couple of shops then off to Browns for lunch. Not too much lunch though, mainly Prosecco and nibbly bits.

Then a little bit more light shopping, more laughing and a lot more chatting before dinner at Jamies. Kate and I were the first to arrive at Jamies and they were fully booked but we thought that we would just sit and wait for the others.

We were very polite and accepting and so I think they must have taken pity on us (or perhaps they thought we just wouldn't move out of the reception area) because suddenly they had found us a table. The restaurant (see photo of the ceiling below) is just the most amazing room to eat in and even sitting in the bar drinking cocktails is quite fun too.

As always the day went far too quickly and as usual we declared we must do it more often. It's sometimes just great to spend the day with lovely friends doing nothing more than chatting, eating and drinking.

As for the taxi driver that took us home well she certainly entertained us all the way home and in the pub where we had to call in for "one last drink" before going home.

So you see this nonewclotes thing still continues to be easy. Yes, there were things I liked but really I was there for the company not to buy new things and honestly I didn't need to buy anything because we spent enough on Prosecco and cocktails to buy at least two new dresses!

No New Clothes Challenge Month 3

Another update on how I'm getting on not buying any clothes .... still nothing new bought!

Had to put nothing new bought because I am sitting her wearing something new but before you shout cheat/failure/loser I didn't buy it. It was a birthday present from sister in Australia.

I received the package last week and could see from the customs label that it was clothing and although I was tempted to peek there and then I was a very good girl and waited until it was my birthday.

So I spent a few days in turmoil trying not to get excited about a new piece of clothing in case a) I didn't like or b) it didn't fit. Luckily .... oh so thankfully .... it fitted and I love it. I probably should have saved it for a going out night but I've never been very good at saving things so have just worn it constantly since I got it!

Thank you Lizzie.

Oh by the way other two sisters gave me fabulous presents too. Will share in another post.

No New Clothes Challenge Month 2

Realised I haven't reported on my getting past another month.


Still no new clothes have entered the house, actually I've got even less as I ebayed some. I find ebaying very satisfying as it seems like free money but it does take an age to photograph, upload and write descriptions. I will do some more soon as I like the idea that not only will I not be spending any money I might end up in profit for the year.

My cohort in  this challenge, the lovely Janey, said something great on Friday night. She simply said "It's quite liberating isn't it?" and she's right it is. I'm not too sure why, I guess it's because I can wear the same old thing again and again and don't have to worry or maybe it's because, like the other night, I had to rethink what I would normally wear. I ended very pleased with my outfit - recycled clothes I've not worn for months just worn in a different way. I even got compliments :-)

Janey and I don't see each other very often for a chat, more often a quick hello in passing or a wave as I go past her so it was a good chance the other night to discuss the rules. Apparently I can't buy any new shoes either .... but knickers and swimwear are OK. We still love the reactions we get from people when we say what we are doing. It is mostly a horrified "I couldn't do that" and the men saying "I do that every year".

No New Clothes Challenge Month 1

First month of my no new clothes challenge. Have I been tempted ... yes. Have I succumbed ... no.

I seem to be able to look without buying at the moment although when I see anything clothes related (website or catalogue) I am hoping with fingers crossed there aren't any lovely white tops. It seems the only thing I'm worried about is finding that elusive perfect white top.

The real bonus is that going shopping is so much quicker. I can pop into our local town and do all my jobs in under an hour because I'm not "just popping into" any clothes shops.

When I went up to London the other day I was tempted to go and have a browse round Liberty and Anthropologie but I was too scared so stayed on the tube. I wish the people around me could have heard my internal struggles as I was deciding whether to get off the tube or not! I really was having an argument inside my head,


"Don't you'll just get tempted."
"But I'll only look I won't buy."
"Yes but if you get off you'll be late back."
"But I won't be long, I promise I'll be really quick."


On and on it went until eventually I had gone too many stops along so it was pointless arguing with myself any longer!

Christmas Parties ... rash promises

I love parties. I really, really love parties but perhaps I should stop going to them as I seem to have developed this strangely rash habit of saying I will do or not do things in front of lots of people.

At the beginning of December I stupidly bet a friend that we wouldn't turn the heating on (at that point we hadn't succumbed). Why? I have no idea. Luckily, as I had stubbornly taken to wearing gloves in bed Ed put us all out of our misery and put the heating on ... so I didn't technically lose because I didn't flick the switch!

Then at a party this week I agreed to not buy any new clothes for a whole year. I was drinking lemonade for goodness sake (lovely pink lemonade by the way) so can't even put it down to alcohol.

I could/should have just kept quiet about it and hoped that the other two people who agreed would forget (they weren't drinking pink lemonade so have an excuse) but then I thought it might be interesting to see if I can do it.

So I hereby declare that from 27th December 2011* until 27th December 2012 I will try not to buy any new clothes. Accessories/shoes are OK and I can buy second-hand clothes.

What have I let myself in for .... ? I'll keep you posted as to whether I "fall off the wagon". At the moment I'm thinking to myself if I don't actually go shopping how tricky can it be?

* I thought I would do it from 1st Jan but thinking ahead it might be good to be able to buy a new outfit for New Years Eve next year.