How I didn't buy clothes and cosmetics for 9 months and what came of it

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

We didn’t manage to save much, but we managed to understand ourselves better.

How I came to experiment

Last July, my husband and I were preparing to move, and I was packing my things. There were many of them. Not that this is a revelation. I love to buy and choose clothes and shoes, and I occasionally make forays into cosmetics stores. Photos of all my clothes, except the freshly bought ones, are uploaded to the app to make it easy to put together. By that time, I had over 20 skirts, 30 dresses and at least 10 pairs of sneakers and sneakers in my wardrobe. And yes, I really did wear it all.

But by this time I had been working remotely for almost a year. Accordingly, I no longer had to dress up every day. Instead of seven sets per week, most often no more than four came in handy. And in this case, I just risked in my whole life not to demolish what I already have.

It's the same with cosmetics. Not that I had a lot of it, but some of the palettes, bubbles and jars were very rarely used. First of all, we are talking about decorative cosmetics, which I have in store for special occasions.

With the second purchase, it turned out differently. I happened to be in the mall when I was very upset. And I went into the store. If you are waiting for the continuation of "everything is in a fog further", then no. I found a raincoat on a hanger from a series of those famous Petersburg summer raincoats for the heat with a huge discount. Moreover, it was exactly what I had thought of it in my head a long time ago. And a control shot: long sleeves, which are not easy to find for my height of 182 centimeters. Are you waiting for what will be "like a fog" here? Again, no.

I safely left the mall because I asked myself the question: I want to buy this raincoat because I'm upset, or is it really good? Then I measured it in another store of the chain two weeks later and bought it only a month later in the third one, because it is a good basic item for centuries at a ridiculous price of 1,399 rubles.

Apparently, these acquisitions were enough to quench the shopaholic itch until April. Until this month, clothing fasting was easy to observe.

Why the experiment ended

Several factors have developed here:

1. I urgently needed white sneakers, because I build many images around them. Last year had to be thrown out. Of course, it was possible to do without them, but why.
2. I signed up with several bloggers filming store reviews and saw things that I had long wanted to buy. For example, I have been looking for the perfect pink and powder suit for almost two years.
3. People who had to be accompanied to shopping began to come to visit. It's very boring to go shopping and not try on anything.
4. Silhouettes and styles that I adore are in fashion. There is a chance that in the next season some trends will decline and I will be left without perfectly fitting clothes.
5. Main reason: I'm tired of it. The experiment was driven by pure enthusiasm because I had no reason not to buy. I just wanted to check - including for the text on Lifehacker - how it will be.

Did I manage to save

Of course, some of the money was redirected to more urgent needs. But especially this economy did not make the weather.

Here is a screenshot from the bank's personal account for this year.

Here, as in the first case, not all expenses are reflected, since part of the money went in cash. On average, for almost six months of this year, I spent three times less. But this year I did not buy expensive outerwear, although my husband still has sneakers in his expenses.

Such an insignificant difference was made, among other things, by significantly increased prices. Everything that I bought after the end of the experiment was purchased at a discount.

How I got out of the "tie"

With such experiments, things are like with a diet: there is a risk that after severe restrictions you will pick up even more - in this case, things from the hangers. Therefore, we had to act gradually.

If I found a thing I liked, I didn't buy it right away. No impulse purchases, only informed decisions. I usually tried on a thing in the store and left to see if I could save money. And it always worked out. Here's how:

1. I subscribed to the newsletter on the store's website. Usually they give a promotional code for a discount of 10% or more. But read the terms and conditions carefully: this discount is not always cumulative with other offers.
2. I was looking for analogues. I tried on sneakers from a well-known sports company and realized that they fit me. Determined the size. And then I went to the site and looked for such models in different colors. Coincidentally, the one I liked the most was at a wonderful discount. Together with the promotional code for subscribing to the newsletter, the sneakers cost less than 4 thousand rubles instead of 7 thousand.
3. I waited. This is not my merit, rather luck. But it so happened that while I was waiting for the moment, many of the things that I liked moved to the SALE section.
4. I mastered AliExpress. To buy something cool takes a lot of research. Impulse buying has no place here. But the result is also pleasing. For example, this dress is from Aliexpress.

As a result, each purchase hit the emotion several times:

• When choosing and / or fitting.
• Upon purchase (and doubled with the joy of saving).
• Upon receipt.

So I got satiated pretty quickly, without buying anything extra - by my own standards, of course.

Why are these experiments useful?

You may have read this far and think: why do I need it, because I do not use makeup and go around the year in only jeans. But most of us have areas that are going to be overkill. For example, you buy 100 books a year, and you read 5. Or you have already bought several models of tanks, but have not yet assembled a single one. Finally, dumbbells, a barbell, a yoga mat could accumulate in your house, and all this is covered with dust. It's not about saving, they could have given it all to you.

Constraints help you make better use of what you have.

For example, you don't buy a new book until you finish reading the existing ones. Or will you already begin to form a tank division on a regiment. Or, as in my case, you will often start wearing trousers lying on the far shelf in a conventional store, because the jeans are out.

What discoveries have I made

The subtitle sounds a little louder than it actually is. I did not make any revolutionary discoveries, all this was clear before the experiment began. But I'll write.

1. Constraints boost creativity

When you constantly buy something new, it becomes the favorite. Months without shopping give you more opportunities to compose what you already have in new ways. This only works if you love collecting new looks, though. I love and I even have a special tag for them on Instagram. So it was easy and enjoyable.

2. Constraints help make better decisions

As you can see, even during the experiment, I bought something, but these were by no means spontaneous acquisitions. Therefore, I am 100% satisfied with every new thing.

3. Restrictions free up space

What was torn went to the trash. Some of the things that have lost their relevance or no longer correspond to my inner state, I donated to a thrift store. The ban on purchases helped not fill the gaps on the shelves right away.

The cosmetics simply expired, and they stopped lying like a weight on my heart, because I use it extremely rarely.

4. Restrictions help to find yourself

I will not write again how much I love my clothes. In general, I am satisfied with the contents of the cabinet, but over the years you begin to understand yourself better. There are many great clothes in the world that suit you, but they are not yours. I can’t say that I’m buying something “not mine”, I have been in business for a long time. But sometimes it takes time to think, to work on the theory, in order to return to practice.

During these nine months, I have looked at myself and my wardrobe with new eyes. It's lucky that I liked everything.

How to do a similar experiment

Think over the conditions under which you will play. If there is no framework, sooner or later it will become unclear what to do next, and you will give up on the experiment. And remove triggers that can lead you astray:

1. Don't go to shopping malls. Even "just look" and for the company.
2. Unsubscribe from fashion bloggers. Leave only those who give deep theory. Use new knowledge to work with existing things.
3. Unsubscribe from mailing lists of online stores.
4. Think more about what your ideal wardrobe looks like. You see some thing - twirl it mentally. Maybe it's not yours at all. Take more breaks. Well, if some object does not disappear from your head, buy it: you did everything you could.

What is the bottom line

Deprivation ennobles, but only if it is your conscious decision. If some area hurts and itches, try to put this experiment on yourself. But set realistic conditions and do not beat yourself up if you are forced to retire early. After all, this is the case when the process yields more than the result.