For many of us, shopping for clothes has become an addictive way to spend time with friends, or we just shop alone in boutiques or in the online world. We are often in different states of mind and have a lot of conversations with our subconscious minds.
You know, I need a new bikini for the summer because I wonder if I’ll fit into the old one. Or if I buy some nice looking tracksuits then maybe I’ll be motivated to go to the gym again, or if I buy a new outfit then maybe it will give me that pay rise because I’ll be more noticed.
I often buy new clothes from the thrift shop or order online and take a picture for social media and then return those clothes. Clothes are meaningfully present in our lives in different ways. They are always on some level an extension of different emotions for us.
In the past, clothes were really only about protecting us from environmental threats, but nowadays we let their outward appearance determine what we buy or consume, because we have the choice to do so.
The problem is that instead of actually making a real difference, we try to achieve it through shopping. Clothes have become an emotional means of self-expression in all its forms; we march into shops for comfort, a pick-me-up, a place of escape or even a reward for ourselves. Clothes are the new comfort food and with its consumption, you can’t help but feel guilty about what it’s doing to the environment or your wallet.
With these words, I began the book I wrote a year ago. I’ve always been interested in sustainability. I dreamed of sending the book to a publisher but then I got anxious and self-published it, and I haven’t really found out if anyone has ever bought it. It’s as if I forgot it existed.
Despite finding out all the facts, I still didn’t seem to be able to change my spending habits. I have a love/hate relationship with clothing consumption. I love clothes, but they take up too much time and space in my life at the moment. That’s why I know that detoxing is necessary.
If you haven’t watched this video (embedded below) then I highly recommend it. In this TEDxManchester talk, Michelle McGagh discusses how she decided to have her No Buy year. She wanted change, just like me.
I buy the wrong things, for the wrong reasons. I often buy based on image, I often buy impulsively, I buy because I really hope it will make a difference, rather than making it myself.
The problem is that I’m not satisfied on any level, except for food; I eat and I become more satisfied, but otherwise the satisfaction often lasts only for that one moment, that one feeling.
My no-buy rules of the year
- If I really need it, I can get it. If it’s a desire, my wallet stays closed (at least hopefully).
- Whatever doesn’t get used in a year (excluding maternity clothes) has to be donated to charity or sold off.
- The goal is to learn to repair and modify my clothes, to find my own style.
- I will no longer suffer from my bad spending habits. Rather, I will know exactly what’s in my closet, I will know exactly where my money goes and I will live my dream life or at least move closer to it.
