The Completely Crazy 2014 Clothes Challenge

fatpat

Had a sort through my clothes to see what I can actually still wear or is actually wearable and ended up giving a lot to charity. I now have a lot less than I thought. So I bought two tops for £10.08 and a swimming costume which I am not counting. Will need another pair of trousers and a cardigan at some point too. Hopefully will be able to stick to the budget when I do get them.

BlueCow1975

I feel like I am coming in here to confess! In fact, come to think of it, I think I have bought MORE clothes so far since starting this challenge than normal!! Essentially, the problem lies with finding a great charity shop that is down the road from me.

Todays purchases:
£2.50 = Joules top that looks brand new
£3.50 = White Stuff white linen mix shirt - fab for summer
£3.50 = Ben de Lisi Principles trousers for work that look unworn
£3.99 = Reiss black white stripe summer top

Over the moon with my purchases but I MUST reign it in a bit now. That said, most of it was for my summer wardrobe which needs some serious sorting out..........well that is my excuse and I am sticking with it..........:rotfl:

Eltee12

spent £27.99 on some trousers (needed for work) and a top (wanted, but was in sale). total spent for year = £126.74. I've some shoe/boot things on order (needed for work) which should arrive this week. Hopefully will do a no-spend March!

Yorkielass

No clothes spends here yet and not really been tempted. I'm also really working out what I actually wear and what I don't which is good. Need to start clearing out the stuff I don't.

An unexpected trip to Leeds on Saturday means I'm going to try and get a fitting at Bravissimo though, so there will be spends there but I last went last March so I think that's allowed.

joanne_w

How did you all decide how much to spend on clothes each month? More importantly how do you manage to stop buying clothes on impulse? I cut up my credit cards as I have a lot of debt at the moment but I'm really addicted to sites like Ebay etc. Can anyone offer me any advice? Thanks

kerri_gt

joanne_w wrote: »

How did you all decide how much to spend on clothes each month? More importantly how do you manage to stop buying clothes on impulse? I cut up my credit cards as I have a lot of debt at the moment but I'm really addicted to sites like Ebay etc. Can anyone offer me any advice? Thanks

I hope no one minds me replying as I'm not officially signed up to the challenge this year although have done it in the past, however, clothes spending wasn't really my problem area.

From the sound of it you need to be focusing your spare money on debt clearing at this time, so, if I were in your position I would go through all my clothes, weed out anything that no longer fits or you are defiantly not going to wear. Put them to one side and I'd say if you haven't missed them after three months, sell them, put the money toward debt.

That will give you an idea of what you have and can work out any essentials you need, and I mean essentials like underwear, leggings, vest tops etc. you need to be realistic,the more you spend on clothes, the longer to clear debt. Define wants and needs and work out a budget from there. Have list of items you think you'll need this year so you can divide or allocate your budget accordingly. For example, if you know you're going to need a winter coat, set aside X amount for it later in the year unless you see something sooner in the sales.

In terms of stopping spending, you need to remove yourself from spending triggers, delete email subscriptions, remove bookmarks for websites, don't look at sites that you spend on. In real life, don't go to the shops so much, find another hobby, perhaps something you used to do but haven't done for ages, perhaps volunteer somewhere?

The hardest part is breaking the habit and changing your way of thinking, there's six widely recognised steps to implementing change

http://0.tqn.com/d/addictions/1/0/j/1/-/-/stages-of-change-model-diagram.jpg

And one last important thing, keep coming back to the board for support x good luck x

Goldiegirl

joanne_w wrote: »

How did you all decide how much to spend on clothes each month? More importantly how do you manage to stop buying clothes on impulse? I cut up my credit cards as I have a lot of debt at the moment but I'm really addicted to sites like Ebay etc. Can anyone offer me any advice? Thanks

To be honest, I just plucked my figure of £300 for the out of the air!

It works out at £25 per month, so I could buy myself something nice each month if I wanted. Also, I don't include anything I spend from my PayPal balance in the £300 - it's 'real' cash for the £300. So I could spend more if I wanted.

As it turns out I've hardly spent anything so far - I think it helps to have goals in order to keep focused.

My goal is to retire next year - that's a big goal, so I'm keen to keep clothes expenditure down. Also I'm decluttering - so I don't want to clog up my wardrobe with things I'll never wear. I'd rather have less clothes that I actually wear.

So I guess my advice is - think of something you want to achieve, like clearing a debt, and think of that every time eBay tempts you!

skintygerlinky

I agree with all supportive advice above!!

Delete your card details from websites so you can't 'automatically' click and buy. The physical act of rummaging around looking for debit cards may allow you to pause long enough to re-consider buying anything. Good luck and keep posting here!

lavenderlover

Very interesting to read how everyone's doing.

My spend for the year so far is still £0, but I have now a problem I hadn't foreseen.

I am studying a performing arts degree and we have a few self-devised projects going on, and while we're not graded on costumes, the expectation is that we will wear suitable clothes. Some in my group think it reasonable to go out and spend £30 on costumes, and that's a big chunk of my yearly budget! On the other hand, I have a very limited wardrobe so I don't have that much choice within the things I already own. I've managed not to spend any money on the first project by borrowing a skirt and scarf from a friend and wearing a not-exactly-right top from my own wardrobe (the rest of the group said it was ok). But we will have quite a few of these coming up, any suggestions? I will keep borrowing shamelessly (on the understanding that I'm willing to lend my own clothes when needed of course, there are others as thrifty as me), but any other tips would be much appreciated

his_missus

joanne_w wrote: »

How did you all decide how much to spend on clothes each month? More importantly how do you manage to stop buying clothes on impulse? I cut up my credit cards as I have a lot of debt at the moment but I'm really addicted to sites like Ebay etc. Can anyone offer me any advice? Thanks

I just thought about what items I might need to buy over the year and how much I'd spend on those items.

I put all catalogues I receive in the post straight into the recycling bin (after removing any personal details for shredding, of course) and I unsubscribed to all the clothing emails I received (next, evans, H&M etc.) IF I'm going into town at lunch just for a wander, I leave my purse behind so I can't impulse buy.

As for ebay, hmm... maybe force yourself not to go on it unless you actually NEED something.