Letting people know what you are doing really helps. I have been telling my mom and my friends so they know my goal is to not purchase any new clothes for the rest of this year.
Friends can be helpful and not helpful in this situation. Luckily, I have a helpful friend. Before going on a recent camping trip to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, I considered investing in some Keen sandals for our planned kayak down the Platte River. As I was asking a friend about her pair of Keens, she reminded me that I was not supposed to be buying anything.
I tried some excuses on her such as:
- these are shoes, not clothes
- they are a necessity (they aren’t, I don’t kayak that often)
- they are a good deal
- it is an investment
- and so on and so forth
In the end, I knew she was right. So I did not buy them and I didn’t end up needing them for kayaking.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore – didn’t need new shoes for this!
This situation reminded me of the time I gave up dessert for Lent. Since I could not have cookies, I ended up eating a bunch of donuts and pop tarts because I declared that they weren’t dessert, but breakfast items.
Anyway, while I have not been buying new clothes, I have noticed a slight uptick in buying things. Mostly it is stuff we needed, or replacing items with a more durable option. I am recycling our plastic soap dispensers and purchasing stainless steel pumps and bulk hand soap instead. To avoid any temptation, I try to peruse Craigslist and stay off of store websites.
At the moment, I myself have not purchased any new clothing or shoes. To be fair, I do have to mention that it is my birthday this month, so I have received some new clothing as gifts. Since I did not make the transaction, I am leaving that out for now.
Any suggestions for keeping friends and family on your side when you are trying not to spend?
waste not want not 
I know this won’t be helpful – I love my Keen’s!! Good luck on not purchasing anything to wear!
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I’m trying to be a minimalist, your story relates to me a lot. My boyfriend encourages me to buy things instead of helping me stop spending. He’s obviously not helping me. 😂 I guess the only advice I can give you is you have to be discipled yourself and don’t listen to temptation. 😉 wishing you the best
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I’ve done no new clothes a couple of times. The first time my intention was just to avoid “new” clothes – so second hand was fine. And I excepted underwear and shoes. Whilst not buying “new” turned out to be pretty easy I ended up buying far more than necessary “new to me” clothes, and a whole lot of shoes and underwear. This was well before I joined the “zero waste” crowd and cottoned on that perhaps I didn’t actually need second hand clothes, or more shoes or underwear either. So the next time I didn’t set such exceptions. Of course this is easy when you have a huge wardrobe to start with! I managed not to buy anything for around 10 or 11 months, until my friend organised a charity clothes swap event to which I really wanted to contribute (and I did donate more than I bought). Then I got a few preowned things for the summer but haven’t really bought anything since so will try to continue with just the occasional preloved purchase or only when I do actually need something. I must have saved loads of money as well as gaining a bit more wardrobe space.
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I’m currently decluttering as we’re moving abroad. The temptation to buy new things, especially each time I take things to the charity shop where I always have to have a browse. But I have to keep reminding myself!
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This is probably not really a helpful comment, but I just simply don’t enjoy shopping too much (it’s such a hassle!), so it’s really not hard for me to not buy things. I’m not sure how to change someone’s mind about how they feel about shopping, but that would surely be the best longterm solution:)
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