This is my closet…
Actually this is just one side of my closet. The other side is pretty full too. I actually don’t have enough room for all of my items to fit in my closet. For years and years I have been obsessed with fashion and shopping. My obsession with fashion is so bad that when I watch anything style related the hair on my arms stands straight up. I’m not sure if any of you remember but in 2010 Oxygen had a show called “House of Glam” I’m obsessed with this show!!! Like I still stalk it even though it only lasted one season, I bought the season via YouTube two years ago and I watch it probably at least once a week… Hey! Judge your Mother!
My obsession with shopping on the other hand is now non existent. LOL I’m you’re probably giving me the side eye right now but, I’m serious. I really haven’t shopped for clothing in about six months.
I always wondered when and if I would ever stop being obsessed with having the latest and the greatest. I actually never thought it would happen for me. But, in March I came across this YouTube video about shopping your closet for one year. This was just around the time when I was looking at the mess of clothing in my bedroom thinking how I never wear more than half of the items in my closet. So, I decided to try it out. I honestly didn’t think I would last but, here I am six months later and I have not bought a single article of clothing. The challenge has been hard, especially now that its September and all of the fashion magazines are showing the latest fashion trends for Fall. I have been forced to re purpose different articles of clothing, I’ve gotten rid of tons of items that I have not worn or didn’t care for anymore which made room for me to fit more into my closet.
In the beginning I challenged myself to see how long it would take to repeat an outfit. It took about 6 months for me to run out of options for clothing and then I just started from scratch and started repeating outfits again.
Pros:
- Forced to be creative with outfit choices
- Saved a ton of money that helped me pay down my debt
- Earned money for my clothing by selling items to The Buffalo Exchange
- Helped others by donating unwanted items to charities and to friends
- Motivated me to do other challenges like walking at least 10,000 steps a day and bring my lunch everyday.
Cons:
There actually have not been cons to doing the challenge. I’ve found that I no longer shop out of boredom or to fill voids and I’ve become a lot less materialistic.
I’m no where near my goal of making it a whole year without shopping but, I’m already wondering if I’ll go back to my old habits when its over. I think one of the major things I’ve learned is there is so much more to accomplish in life other than having a brand new Gucci bag. I’ve found that I am more motivated to do other things like starting my Youtube channel, this blog, owning a home, building my relationship with God and being free from materialism. I’m not really sure why I was so materialistic in the past, but I think a huge part of it came from attempting to keep with what I saw on Social Media and on Television. Shopping was my comfort zone, and now I’m learning to find comfort in myself.
Until next time lovies…