Good morning/afternoon/evening and Happy New Year! In a slight change from my usual running goals for the year post, I’m starting the year with a series of three personal challenge posts.
All three are linked to my word for 2021 which is “save”.
I’m trying to cut down how much I spend this year. Like, seriously cut back how much I spend. I want to save as much as I can. At the end of the year, I want to be in a better financial position than I am at the moment. In December, I worked out how much money I’d spent during 2020. I think it’s fair to say I was shocked when I worked out I’d spent £619.33 buying clothes online.
Why do I want to save?
I want to cut down on my spending and to save money for three reasons.
I want to get my foot on the property ladder. I’m 41, and by renting, I’m still paying off someone else’s mortgage. I want to be able to buy a property in one of the better areas of Birmingham. I know that this sounds incredibly snobby, but I don’t want to live somewhere that doesn’t feel safe, where I live in fear. To buy somewhere half decent, I’ll need a large deposit. I figured that the more money I waste buying clothes and shoes I don’t need, the less money I can put towards getting my foot on the property ladder.
I also want to cut down on my spending and to save as much money as I can this year as I have serious concerns about the security of my job. In theory, my fixed-term contract doesn’t end until September. This should give me plenty of time to find another job. However, the jobs market looks pretty dire at the moment and I have a feeling it’s only going to get worse.
It’s not all about saving for a house deposit and for a rainy day. During lockdown, I spent a lot of time reading about the environmental impacts of the fast fashion industry.
[Source]
As I’m planning on publishing a post dedicated to this issue, I’m not going to go into more detail here; however, I’ve decided to include the infographic above and have included some links at the end of this post.
I’ve never been what I’d call fashionable
My shopping for clothes has always been what I’d describe as controlled, and I’ve never been fashionable.
As an 80s child, I spent most of my time dressed head to toe in Laura Ashley. As a teenager, I rarely went clothes shopping with my friends because I found it mind-numbingly boring and because I knew that thanks to my long legs and height, nothing would fit. The only exception was the Long Tall Sally store in Birmingham; I used to love going shopping there a couple of times a year with mum.
At university, my high street shopping options increased with TopShop, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins, and New Look all stocking Tall ranges. However, as a geography student, I didn’t make the most of all these options and my increased spending power as I tended to spend my life in jeans and a baggy jumper. I owned a lot of baggy jumpers.
After leaving university I spent a couple of years working in a pub in Worcester, this was great as I spent most of my time in a Brewsters uniform, the rest of the time I wore jeans and a FCUK t-shirt. I then got a ‘proper’ job working for the organisation I work for now. Let’s just say the one time I went into the office wearing smart clothes, people assumed it was because I had an interview! The office didn’t have a dress code.
When I was a PhD student I lived on the same street as the flagship Long Tall Sally store. This should have been amazing but unfortunately, I was skint so I wasn’t able to take advantage of the situation. Long Tall Sally is now online only as are New Look and Dorothy Perkins. I feel I’m too old for TopShop and Miss Selfridge discontinued their ‘Tall’ range a long time ago. Without sounding sexist, I’ve always shopped like a man. I’ve known what I’ve wanted and I’ve bought it.
Fast forward to last year and lockdown and beyond. Since lockdown I’ve dressed like I did when I was a university student. Think jeans, hoodies, t-shirts, trainers; all clothes I wouldn’t have dreamed of wearing when I worked in the office. I can’t say I actually missed shopping during the lockdown. I’ve got so used to buying most of my clothes online, nothing really changed. I did, however, miss spending time in my favourite store; TK Maxx.
TK Maxx
The only store I’ve been known to spend a long time in is TK Maxx. I have to be in what I call ‘browsing mode’ but when I am, I can happily spend hours mooching around the TK Maxx in Birmingham. I love TK Maxx because let’s be honest, you never know what you’re going to find. When I’ve gone in wanting a specific item it’s been a bit of a disaster, but when I’ve gone in just to browse, I’ve found some amazing items. I always head to the Clearance section first and have found some amazing bargains in the red and yellow sticker sales over the years.
Although I love TK Maxx, I have developed some terrible TK Maxx habits. I’ve been guilty in the past of buying clothes I knew I was unlikely to wear purely because they were cheap. I love TK Maxx, and when their yellow sticker sale meant that clothes were on sale for as little as 20p, I couldn’t resist filling my basket. I have a terrible habit of buying clothes I will fit into once I’ve lost weight. The problem is I don’t lose weight so the clothes remain unworn and unloved.
Although the lockdown prevented me from popping into TK Maxx in Birmingham, I still managed to spend far too much online. My TK Maxx shopping habit isn’t quite in the same league as my running clothes buying addiction, but it’s not far off.
What about charity shops and ‘Make do and mend’?
When I was researching this challenge, I realised a lot of people who have attempted similar challenges in the past didn’t buy new clothes, but they did purchase second-hand clothes from charity shops. I love charity shops but I’ve always struggled to find clothes in them that fit. I remember how excited I was when I spotted a pair of brand new ‘Tall’ Next trousers. I bought them and look forward to the day I can actually squeeze into them.
[Source]
I’ve actually missed the local charity shops in Four Oaks and Lichfield. I mean, strictly speaking, I’ve set myself the challenge of not buying any ‘new’ clothes this year so I could in theory buy second-hand clothes from my local charity shops, car boot sales, eBay, or Facebook selling pages. However, as I want to save as much money as I can, I’ve decided that ‘new’ means new to me, therefore, no second-hand clothes purchases are permitted. It will hopefully be worth it in the long run.
I thought about attempting my very own version of the ‘Make do and mend’ challenge I’ve seen other people do. Then I remembered I’ve always been terrible at sewing and mending things. I’ll never forget the morning the body of the teddy bear I made at school fell off leaving just the head pinned to a display in the school hall. The incident upset quite a few juniors. So, I don’t think I’d be very good at mending my clothes. I tend to wear my clothes so much they are past the repairing stage.
The lockdown wardrobe audit
During the lockdown, I spent a day sorting through all of my day-to-day, casual clothes i.e. what I’ve been wearing since working from home, and the slightly smarter office and ‘going out’ clothes and shoes I’d put in storage in the loft. I dragged all of the boxes out of the loft, and sorted everything into a series of piles; clothes that I’d worn to death and needed to take to a clothes bin, clothes to sell online, and clothes for a charity shop.
I found smart dresses I’ve no chance of wearing again unless I lose a lot of weight, yellow sticker sale bargains from TK Maxx, clothes I think I’m now far too old to wear, and a few items I’d kept for sentimental reasons. I realised that I’m guilty of wearing the same clothes again and again and that I haven’t worn most of my clothes.
I completed what I’d describe as an informal wardrobe audit to work out if I needed to buy anything before starting the challenge and discovered I have:
Casual day-to-day clothes
Unworn smarter clothes
This only includes my day-to-day and casual clothes. It doesn’t include all of the clothes I put back in storage in the loft as, to be honest, I couldn’t face counting everything. After completing the wardrobe audit, I decided that I had more than enough of everything to last me 12 months. I didn’t need to buy anything else so I unsubscribed from Dorothy Perkins, Long Tall Sally, TK Maxx, and several other mailing lists.
I’m going to finish this by apologising for what has turned out to be a slightly lengthier than originally planned, non-running related post. My next post will outline my second challenge which is more of a running-related challenge.
Have you ever tried to get through 12 months without buying any new clothes and shoes? I hope that by regularly reminding myself of the reasons I’m attempting this challenge, I’ll manage to avoid popping into TK Maxx.
Have you ever considered the environmental impacts of the fashion industry? I must confess that as someone who has little interest in clothes and fashion, I’d never considered the environmental impacts of the fashion industry until I discovered ReRun Clothing.
Selected Fast Fashion references
UK Clothes shopping facts
Member adidas Blogger Community
Top 10 Running Blog 2020
Top 10 Running Blog 2019
Top 10 Running Blog 2018
Decathlon Bloggers Community
Myprotein Award Winner 2017
Member UK Fitness Bloggers
Proud to support #RunEqual
It’s a great thing to aim for. The Reasons to b Cheerful podcast did an episode about fast fashion and ways to combat it (called The Devil Wears Prada Once). It’s worth listening to.
Thanks Maria. I think it’s a great thing to aim for loads of reasons. It’s going to be difficult but I’m confident I can do it. The challenge has also given me another incentive to lose a few pounds. I keep thinking about all the lovely clothes I can’t quite squeeze into at the moment. I’ll have to check out the Devil Wears Prada Once, thanks for the recommendation.
Thanks to your post, I just went to my closet and finally removed 2 shirts that I have never worn in the 3 years that I’ve had them. Someone gave them to me, so, I just kept them….but now taking them to work, to see if co-workers might wear them. I needed the boost from you. Thanks!
You probably don’t know this but this comment really made me smile the other day when work was being a nightmare, so thanks! I still need to sort out the clothes I’ve got in storage in the loft. The charity shops around here are closed at the moment due to Covid so when they reopen I’ll get sorting. I’m hoping that this challenge will encourage me to lose weight so that I can fit into all of my unworn clothes. Well that’s the theory; I suspect the reality may be slightly different.
I did this a few years ago but allowed myself to buy a few things from charity shops. I did end up buying a few new things, but very little.
Got to be honest, I have lived in jeans and hoodies (or more recently, sports leggings and hoodies) during the pandemic, but I almost always went to the office in jeans/hoody/trainers anyway so it’s not much different. I just far prefer wearing really comfy casual clothes! I always feel weird wearing anything smarter!
Thanks Jenny. The challenge is easy for me at the moment as everything is closed. I stocked up on some essentials at the end of last year to make sure I have enough what I’d call essentials. I know it will be harder when the charity shops reopen – I do love mooching in charity shops – and I need to switch to a more summery wardrobe. My aim is to lose weight so I can fit into the clothes I’ve got in storage in the loft. Well, that was the aim, 2021 hasn’t got off to the best of starts from a fitness perspective.
Returning to the office is going to feel so strange but the good news is that the dress code we had no longer exists. So, I can wear jeans if I want to. I think senior management have realised that people’s clothes choices don’t impact their ability to do their job. Wearing anything other than trainers and Crocs feels strange at the moment!