Friday, September 30, 2016

Wardrobe Challenge: Buy Nothing New for One Year

You read that right.  This former consummate consumer is going dark on her wardrobe!

From October 1, 2016 to October 1, 2017, I will buy no new clothing.  My mantra will be 'Less is More'

Here are my official rules:

  1. Buy nothing new for myself for 1 calendar year beginning Oct 1, 2016. This includes all apparel including athletic wear, shoes, bags, jewelry and accessories.
  2. Vacation is not an excuse to break the challenge.
  3. Gifts, prizes and giveaways do not count and are acceptable.
  4. In addition to not buying anything new, every day, I must get rid of one item.  Preference will be to thrift it, donate it or recycle it, but if it is not usable, disposal is OK too.  Pairs cannot be separated to cover two days for this part of the challenge! 
  5. Items being removed will be documented here on a regular basis (may not be daily).

There are three exceptions to these rules:
  • I am allowed to replace something that cannot be fixed (i.e. dog chews up a bra, I can buy a new bra to replace it)
  • It shouldn't need to be said, but in the case of disaster (house burns down), game is over.
  • I've been shopping for a new winter coat for 2 years.  Should I find the perfect coat, I can buy it as a replacement even though my current coat is still usable (it's too big and really worn but I'm super picky about what I want and I can't find it!).
For the past week, I've had to resist the urge to go on a shopping spree (similar to the urge to pork out on ice cream the day before starting a diet!).  I have bought a few basics (new bra, new pair of dress pants, black flats and a couple of layering tops for work), but I did not go crazy.  I've also spent the week unsubscribing to every apparel related company that emails me.  I'm amazed at how many I get and how I've just gotten used to deleting them without noticing the volume. I've also instructed my husband to dump any clothing catalogs we receive directly into the recycling bin on the way back from the mailbox. 

Excited.  Nervous.  Curious. Determined.  Let's do this!

(anyone want to join me?)

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