It’s been over two years since I wrote “How I Stopped Shopping”.

Have I made zero purchases since I penned this, no, of course not! But I have continued to shop and spend mindfully, and kept up with the principles in my original post.

I currently have the smallest wardrobe since I was a student and it’s so mentally liberating to have a closet which is 90% items I wear weekly/or at least monthly, and 10% items for occasional wear/sentimental pieces.

I wanted to share some additional tricks I’ve learned in the last two years which have helped me to stay on track in a world which continually, loudly, yells at us to just buy more things.

What feeling are you looking to capture with a purchase?

Do you need a new dress, or are you just having a bad day? When the urge to impulse buy strikes, it is so very rarely about the actual item. Logically, I know that a cheap H&M blouse is not the solution to any one of my problems, but in the moment that “I need this” can still overwhelm me.

Often the feeling we want from a purchase is the need to have something “new”, or the brief thrill of spending money. I often find that when this mood hits, taking myself to a favourite cafe, ordering a drink and sitting with my book or journal helps. My goal isn’t to spend no money, but to not acquire things needlessly or wastefully.

Another thing I do is just to snap a few photos on my phone of items I like, sometimes sending them to my mother or a friend and asking for their opinion. It feels like shopping but without the spend and without the guilty feeling of adding an item to my wardrobe that I really don’t need.

Resisting online shopping

I have totally stopped making purchases online. After a few disappointing experiences last year (ordering an item for my birthday in September and it turning up on Christmas Eve), a dress from ASOS that was supposedly my size but would have accommodated me pregnant, with triplets…

If you know you are too lazy or it’s too difficult to return items then it just feels like a risk every time you shop that you’ll end up with an item that you won’t love.

Nearly two years into the pandemic, the environmental and social costs of shopping online are huge, too. The amount of packaging I’ve seen online orders arrive with is pretty dispiriting and high streets and physical stores really need our support.

Doing a monthly inventory…every month!

Once a month I reorganise my closet and make sure that the storage space I have works for me. I roll items in my drawers so I can see them and have some cloth baskets for my yoga wear so that it’s clear to see what I do actually own and have. Months where I skip this, I start to feel the pressure to have new things slowly build.

Anything unworn for six months which isn’t occasion wear or doesn’t hold sentimental value, I bag up to be donated to Thrift For Good. Now that there’s an amazing option in Dubai for rehoming pre-loved items I am much stricter – I also throw in items which don’t fit quite right or which don’t look good after half a day’s wear and items which are past their best or bobbled, as these can be used in other ways or recycled.

Over the last two years I’ve also sold a few high end pieces that I no longer related to (Mulberry handbags – I hope you’re happy in your new homes). In Dubai, consignment stores don’t give a huge amount of money for even designer items but even if you have spent a lot of money on an item, what’s the point in letting it take up space if you just know you’re never going to wear it? Let someone else have the option to enjoy it.

Examining social pressures and conventions

The last three weddings I attended in the pre-covid era, I wore the same dress. I think ten years ago I would have been horrified if I heard of someone doing this but age the age of nearly 34 I actually think that rewearing items, especially occasional pieces, is the best thing we can do for the planet and also our own notions that we “need” to be constantly buying and wearing new items.

Safe to say, I was not photographed for any magazines at these weddings, and I really don’t think anyone else cares or remembers what I wear (despite sometimes still thinking I am a fashion icon). To be honest, I’ll probably wear this dress to the next wedding I go to as I know it stands up to a full day of wear and it’s literally only been worn three times!

Make a list of those “must have items”

I like to keep a running list on my phone of items I think I want which I can reexamine on a weekly basis to see if I “really” want them and I have occasions where I’d wear them if I already owned them. I also like to leave items I think I want for “next time” and if on my next trip to the mall I don’t go to the store, or if I can’t motivate myself to go to the mall to buy said item then I clearly don’t want it as much as I think I did.

It can also help to set a monthly/quarterly budget for new clothes and to be really strict about sticking to this. This is something I will be doing soon as I now am at a point where, for the first time in a long time, I actually do need some new things and I want to be really appreciative and aware of their cost when I purchase them.

Learning how to look after clothes properly

I am not a domestic goddess by any stretch but since i started looking after my clothes better, I find they last so much longer. I have so many dresses which I have had for over ten years – some people are surprised but I think it’s actually normal that clothes should last well beyond one season if they are well looked after. I separate my laundry into blacks which I wash with a special black detergent, whites are washed only with other whites, and colours and delicate items also go separately. I also hand wash a few special pieces, a few years ago I would have thought this all sounded like way too much effort but it really makes a difference.

I put aside items which can be simply repaired or altered and take them to a tailor which in Dubai is very cost effective. Items in storage I make sure are stored in vacuum bags away from heat and moisture rather than just being pushed to the bottom of a drawer. I actually love having pieces that have literally travelled the world with me and which I see myself wearing in my Instagram memories from five years ago and think “oh I wore that yesterday!”.

Being realistic

The extent to which you’re able to commit to a low/zero purchase life depends on your lifestyle. I have friends who have been able to shop entirely pre-loved for the last 5 years which is amazing. As I wear a yoga set per day, I do find that buying new yoga items yearly is non-optional as my sets get a lot of wear and I need to feel confident while I teach (I’ve not had much luck with pre-loved activewear).

When I do purchase new items, I try to make sure my purchases are sustainable and socially aware. I don’t manage this with everything I buy, but it’s something to definitely work towards for me to create a long-term sustainable wardrobe and have pieces which I can wear and love for many years to come.

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How has your relationship to spending and buying fashion changed over the years? Has the pandemic changed your spending habits?