Don’t worry… I will still be wearing clothes! They will just come from my closet rather than the thrift store.
Last week when I went to town, my husband asked me to see if I could find a pair of overalls and a flannel shirt at a thrift store to dress a scarecrow he’s welding. I had to go to the thrift store anyway to drop off a few boxes of donations, but this was the first time in about two months that I had gone there to shop.
Now that I’ve done so much clutter-busting around here, I love the way our house feels. I love how easy it is to keep clean. The bedrooms pretty much clean themselves, since we don’t have so much stuff in them anymore. And the living area just needs counters wiped and toys picked up at the end of the day. I am never going back to having a bunch of stuff that we don’t need. And that mindset made thrift store shopping a very different experience. Rather than browsing around the store looking at all sorts of stuff, I headed straight for the jeans and flannel shirts. I found overalls and a great scarecrow shirt for a total of five bucks. I also happened to notice a very big, sturdy clothes drying rack that was in much better shape than the ones I had. I have four of them, which get pretty heavy use during the winter when the outdoor clothesline doesn’t work as well (we don’t own a dryer). I bought the new rack, but as soon as I got home I took two of my smaller, less-sturdy racks and put them in my car to donate next time I’m in town. Other than that, I didn’t even look around the thrift store. I bought my stuff and headed out, without browsing through clothes for myself or our son, or anything in the kitchen section (those areas used to be my weakness).
As far as clothes go, I’ve decided to commit to not buying any clothing for myself or our son until at least next year. I got three great pairs of shoes for our son last month, and they should last him through the rest of the year (they have some room to grow). He has plenty of clothes too, most of which also have room to grow. I used to love shopping for clothes, but I’ve decided that I prefer having a closet with plenty of room between the clothes. When I sorted through my clothes over the last several weeks, I got rid of a ton of stuff, and now the clothes that I love – that I wear all the time – are all that’s left. And I truly don’t need any more. It’s a great feeling, and I find that I have no desire at all to browse through clothes at the thrift store. My car is no longer affected by the gravitational pull that the thrift store use to exert over it 
Well, I guess it is, because these days it seems like I always have stuff in my car to drop off as donations every time I go to town. The donation box isn’t filling up as quickly as it was a few weeks ago, but I still much prefer to have stuff go out of the house than come in.
What’s the longest you’ve gone without buying clothes? I know that there are some people who hate shopping for clothes, and they probably go long stretches all the time. But if you really enjoy it (as I used to), it’s a bit tougher to give it up, especially if all your clothes come from a thrift store where the price isn’t much of a concern. So I’m curious… any former clothes shoppers out there who have gone more than a year without buying any clothing?
Related posts:
