365 Days of Nothing New

Do you remember the last piece of clothing you bought? For me it ws this blue H&M dress on the left. I bought it during the last week of August and it was the final new clothing taste I have had since then. It has been 30 days.

On September 1st I went on a clothing diet. The goal is to go 365 days and buy any new clothes. The inspiration for the challenge is the "The Great American Apparel Diet" - a shopping sabbatical initiative that began in the U.S. in 2009. The "diet" kicked off its second year this September and I decided to follow along with my own attempt.

The rules of the apparel diet are as follows:

The things you can guzzle without guilt:

1. Clothes currently in your closet, on hooks, in your drawers or on your floor as long as they are not new.

2. Footwear

3. Accessories

4. Underwear—every girl should have a great pair of clean underwear on at all times.

Those items that are not allowed:

1. New clothes

“New” is anything that you pay for. An item is “not new,” if it something a person gives you (you cannot write a check to your husband or best friend and give them instructions or a wish list for your “must haves".)

A review of the Apparel Diet website reveals that women have as many reasons for quitting clothes shopping as they do for purchasing in the first place. Indulgence is like that I guess. For me the reason was twofold:

1. Financial. In the first half of 2010 I had spent over $1000 on clothes. When I lived in Australia - the purpose of which was to travel and explore - I still managed to flip my entrie wardrobe multiple times! For the last 10 years, my monthly average has been hovering around $200. Sometimes it is due to a couple of pricier purchases but most often it is the tally of WAY too many $30 grabs. Like snacking, my shopping can have an incremental effect and I was losing dollars the way one packs on calories from a series of poor choices.

2. Emotional. As much as I am an emotional eater, I am doubly an emotional shopper. Boredom. Happiness. Stress. Congratulatory. Lonely. Excited. Every emotion could be used as valid fuel for an apparel binge. Every event in life could be rationalized as a reason to buy something new. Through this process I have amassed piles of clothing over the years. I know that I have given more clothes away in the last year than many of my friends have purchased. And alot of what I have bought I did not need. Some of it I never wore. But the pure act of clothes shopping itself was enjoyable. This behaviour is, of course, the very essence of the shopaholic. I admit it. I need to find different outlets - not outlet malls! - for my feelings. So the best thing to do was remove the drug.

Which brings me to now. Thirty-days later. I have not cheated. The experience has made me re-evaluate the wardrobe I already possess. The stockpile of clothes crammed into my tiny closet has become its own department store. Yesterday I wore a jacket for the first time. A jacket I had bought in the spring of 2009! So onwards I go. Eleven months to go. I feel lighter already.