ECD here, and I’m going to talk to you about a personal mission of mine: saving money! I have quite a few financial goals I’m trying to achieve in the next two years (more about those later), and I need to seriously cut down on my frivolous spending in order to achieve them. And I don’t mean cutting down on my monthly Starbucks budget either, I mean taking a real, hard look at where I’ve been spending my money. That’s why I’m going on a clothes-buying fast.
According to my Mint account, I spent $3,184 last year on clothing, and I spent $2,710 on clothes in 2014. That.is.insane. First of all, I know suiting is expensive (& totally required for my trial attorney position), but I definitely do not own almost $6k in work-appropriate clothing. Second, I clearly have a problem buying fancy exercise clothes, shoes, trendy jewelry, and…scarves (it’s hard for me to admit that last one). My top 3 clothes-buying culprits? 1) Ann Taylor, 2) Athleta, and 3) Target…probably pretty similar to most girls my age.
So here’s my plan: NO clothing purchases until my birthday at the end of July. There is an exception for if I really, truly, actually need something (a.k.a if I somehow ruin every bra I currently own), but that’s it. I am not allowed to buy shoes, jewelry, scarves, shirts, workout pants…nothing…for 7 months. For my birthday, I’m allowed to treat myself to $150 of whatever clothing items I want, and then it’s back on the fast for the rest of the year.
Estimated savings: ~$2,974 (that I will be able to put towards one of my financial goals!)
Even if you don’t spend an inordinate amount of money on clothes like I apparently do, you can do a spending fast for any category of goods. Say you have a scented candle obsession or you frequently spend hundreds of dollars buying things from infomercials – just set yourself a goal and forego buying those things for a little while. It’s freeing to realize your inventory won’t be changing and honestly, it’s made me stress less because I know exactly what’s in my wardrobe and all the ways to wear those items. I also somehow have more free time because I’m not online shopping and looking for coupons all the time.
As a perk to my personal clothing fast, I plan to donate any clothes not worn by the end of the year. I figure if I haven’t managed to wear something in a full 12 months, when I wasn’t adding anything to my wardrobe, then I’m probably never going to wear it. I’m looking forward to a little de-cluttering at the end of my journey.
Have you ever considered going on a spending fast?