
I vowed to buy no new clothes in 2019. That means no new dresses, no new activewear, not even new socks.
This is a big statement from someone who is an impulsive (not compulsive, thankfully) shopper and chronic clothes hoarder. But, it had to be done.
Up until recently (when I did a big cull) I had my main wardrobe, a drawer of off-season clothes and a whole other wardrobe in our spare room filled with clothes I never wore. Most of these clothes were from when I was 20 (I’m now turning 27) and were the kinds of things only 20-year-olds could get away with wearing— think tiny flouro mini-dresses and those high-waisted nappy shorts that show your under-bum.
How to make your wardrobe work for you. Post continues after video.
I had these clothes posted in local buy/swap/sell groups for years with no luck. Eventually, I got the sh*ts and decided I would rather give my old clothes to someone in need than deal with the difficult people on these sites. So, I chucked the entire contents of the spare wardrobe in the local charity bin. I’m looking forward to the moment where I see a youth out and about wearing my old neon orange minidress… I’ll give her a knowing look, and she looks back at me like ‘Why is this strange woman staring at me?’
The second I cleared out that wardrobe, it felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I immediately felt more calm and clear-minded. Now, the only things in my wardrobe are clothes and shoes I actually love and wear. But culling is only half the battle. In order to prevent my wardrobe from becoming a chaotic nightmare again, I need to control what’s coming in. Which brings me back to operation ‘buy no new clothes in 2019!’
The premise is simple: over the course of the entire year, no new clothes are going to (permanently) enter my wardrobe. The main reasons behind this are keeping my wardrobe clear and somewhat minimalistic, as well as be more sustainable. The average Australian household buys 27 kg of new clothes and other textiles per year and 85 per cent of this ends up in landfills. I’m keen to do my bit to reduce this statistic. There’s also the ‘saving money’ aspect, but that’s not to say I won’t be spending any money on clothes (more on that later).