All about my No-Buy January
Six lessons I learned, and the things I wore on repeat.
This year, for the month of January, I committed to not buying any new clothes. This is something I’ve done in years past. It’s a little reset, a way to take a break and slow down after the spendy holiday season. My desire to resolve to do something different (save more, spend less, slow down, care less about stuff, etc) is always highest at the start of the new year, (as much as I roll my eyes at the “New Year, New You” marketing we’re surrounded by, some of it is permeating!) so it always seems like a good time to do it. This year, my main desire was to get clear on what I want to add to my closet in 2024. By spending more time thinking about how to use what I have to get dressed (and less on what I don’t have or what I want), paying attention to what I’m excited to wear, what I never wear, what I wear on repeat, I wanted to figure out what I have enough of, what I have that I’m not wearing, and what I don’t have but I wish I did.
I held myself accountable this year by sharing my outfits and experiences on social media. This started on Instagram and TikTok but quickly shifted to just Instagram- I just do not have the bandwidth to be on both apps right now! My friend
So! We made it! I didn’t buy anything and I got dressed (almost!!) every day in January. I wore a lot of outfits that I’ve worn a million variations of (it is sweater, jeans, and boots season, after all), but I also pushed myself to get a little creative and had a few outfits featuring new combinations that felt great. I spent almost every night falling asleep thinking about what I might wear the next day (this is ideal for me). And I learned a lot about what’s in my closet!
I didn’t wear that much. On a day-to-day basis, I wear a small percentage of my wardrobe.
The biggest, most obvious takeaway from this exercise, that I started to notice about halfway through, was that I didn’t wear that much stuff!
On a day-to-day basis, I wear a small percentage of my wardrobe. I didn’t track this extremely scientifically (side note: so many people have done exercises like this and gathered and analyzed tons of data about exactly which pieces they wore, how many times they wore them, the cost per wear of the item, and crunched all the data they gathered. I admire this so much. But, personally, getting dressed is a balance of art and science - there are a lot of emotions and feelings and things that can be a little tricky to put my finger on tied up in it and if I lean too far into the science of it - which for me would be tracking my clothes in a spreadsheet - it would take the fun away). My data is more qualitative than quantitative. A true follower of the scientific method, I am not. But what I did do was shove all my hanging clothes to one side of my closet, and as I wore things, I hung the hangers back up on the other side so I could visually see the things I was wearing and what I wasn’t.
From this picture, it might look like I wore half of the items, but this is about 1/3 of the hanging space in my closet, so it’s less than that. Some of the things I wore live in drawers & I ran out of hangers to hang them up/add to the “tracker” so to speak. (Like I said, NOT scientific! Based on my assessment, I wore about 25% of what I had in my closet.
Is this a case for getting rid of everything else? No. January was a month where
I didn’t have a lot going on outside of my normal daily work schedule and family weekends. I only went into my office once. I am also nursing, which renders a decent selection of my clothes (dresses in general, but specifically sweater dresses which are normally a winter wardrobe staple for me!) highly inconvenient. And, I have a special-event/dress-up outfit collection that I love and have built over time, and reach for on special occasions. There are some very valid reasons why I didn’t wear certain things in my closet. I did identify a few things that I am giving away, but a mass purge is not on my roadmap right now.
It’s not a case for getting rid of everything, but it did help clarify what my “real life” is like.
Season-specific, nursing-restrictions, and lack of dates/parties/dinners out aside - I was able to see a 31-day track record of what the outfits I actually wear are like. Even if I did have more special events, it is realistically only a few a month - and while I do reach for skirts and dresses for those events, the core learning is the same - I don’t wear that much stuff and the stuff I do wear skews casual.
The phase of life that I am in right now means that 4 or 5 days out of 7, I want to be comfortable enough to be sitting at my desk, put together enough to be on video calls, and not too precious about my outfits so that they transition into evenings with my kids. On the weekends, I want WEARABLE (note - that doesn’t necessarily mean super casual, but it does mean I need to feel like I will wear the pieces when I’m out and about with my family). In January, I reached for pieces that are durable and high-quality, but also easy to take care of (eg: things I can launder myself & materials that are not too precious). I would prefer to elevate a look with a great accessory (shoes, handbag, coat, sunglasses), over a delicate blouse that is beautiful but hard to clean/take care of. I found myself wishing multiple times I had a more interesting handbag to add to a look, especially on the weekends (this is a good sign as I hypothesized that I want to invest in a bag or two this year and I feel as though I’ve proven that out).
When I think about what I love to shop for the most - it’s not always things that fit this criteria. I love to look at beautiful dresses, skirts, and pieces that are fancier than I would wear on a day-to-day basis. My “splurges” historically have been on dresses for special occasions. Beautiful heels that I barely wear. Delicate blouses that I might wear to work once in a while. There is a lot of joy in the fantasy of that type of shopping. There is a reason we love beautiful things, after all!
Anna, who writes
wrote a great piece about why we buy clothes for lives we don’t have that resonated for me, especially in the context of a no-buy month. She goes into her tips for moving away from this - which, unsurprisingly - include taking note of what you wear (or wore) over the course of a month, and slowing purchases way, way down. I can confirm that she’s spot-on in terms of her recommendations. I loved reading this piece at the end of my no-buy month - especially because one of Anna’s “formula’s” to stop buying things that we’re not going to wear is - WISHLIST + TIME + KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR DAILY DRESSING NEEDS = REALLY SOLID PURCHASES. In other words, confirmation of the hypothesis I had when I set out on my no-buy experiment!Does it mean I’m not buying any more fancy items ever? Absolutely not. I’m not going to stop fantasy shopping anytime soon (sometimes a little escape in the form of retail therapy is okay), and I am not writing off any specific item, but I am using this reflection to help me make better purchase decisions moving forward.
I might consider spending more on “everyday clothes” - but not just because of “cost per wear.”
There is always a lot of chatter about “cost-per-wear” - in other words - you might buy something at a high price because of its versatility - you will wear it many, many times, and therefore make the cost per wear of the item very low (especially compared to a lower-priced item that you might only wear a handful of times). This is a compelling argument, but sometimes decisions about what you want to buy or bring into your closet (at least for me) are just not decisions that can be boiled down to cold, hard numbers. I don’t want to think about everything I buy in terms of how much ROI I’m getting on my spending. Sometimes I want to buy something because I love it, or because it makes me happy, or because it just caught my eye in a big store for whatever reason.
I DO, however, want to buy things that I use. I’m not collecting things to just have them sit in my closet. So if I want to use things, I should be focused on things that fit my “requirements” for use. I know that I wear things and feel my best in pieces that I LOVE, are durable, high-quality, and easy to take care of, that tend to be casual, have special details, and can be styled in multiple ways - then, that’s what I should be shopping for. .
For whatever reason I sometimes rationalize spending on fancier pieces vs. the things I wear every day (I don’t think I’m alone in this! I also literally give people advice that is totally opposite this, so I should really listen to myself!) I want to shift this. The more I focus on the “criteria,” the greater room there is to be a little less cost-sensitive when I find pieces that fit this criterion (within my budget, of course) because now that I have the criteria - fewer pieces will meet them!
When I think about new purchases, I should be asking myself - Do I Love This Piece? Does it make me Feel Great? And will I wear it the way I want to?
When I’m getting dressed every day, I reach for my favorite things. When I looked at the things that I wore over the course of the month - the number 1 unifying factor? They’re things I love and feel great in. When I tried them on for the first time, I felt a full body “YES.”
I’ll get into the roundup of pieces, but they are almost all things I’ve written about before in this letter. There isn’t a simple or straightforward way to define these pieces. It’s hard to define (it’s basically the result of the process of knowing your personal style, If that was easy, I probably wouldn’t be writing this letter, ha!) But - I am circling in and getting better at identifying pieces that are “it” for me. The things that make me feel like myself and comfortable and like I can get dressed, feel great, and then go about my day. The more I invest in pieces like this, the easier it will be for me to get dressed, the more likely I’ll be to wear those things, and the fewer things I’ll have in my closet that sit unworn!
Less time shopping/browsing/scrolling = fewer impulse purchases
File this one under “thank you Captain Obvious,” but, it’s true. It became very clear to me that sometimes I use Instagram as a way to find something to buy. There’s always something! On the other hand, reading newsletters from some of my favorite writers filled with the things that they are eyeing and are inspiring them — there’s something about that that inspires more browsing/pinning/saving for later or to come back to, and fewer instant purchases. Several people asked me how I avoided temptation during this month, and my answer was simple - I stopped tempting myself. I wasn’t buying so I stopped shopping. I’m not planning on going cold turkey here, I love shopping and browsing and get A TON of inspiration from doing this, but I am trying to create some better habits around it, and, perhaps most importantly, practicing STOPPPNG when I catch myself looking for something to buy.
Less time shopping for myself = less spending overall
My resolution was no clothes/accessories/shoes consumption for myself. The result was that consumption overall went down - I bought little for my home, my kids, or anything else. It’s pretty remarkable to think how much of my spending is influenced by seeing something that I like and then thinking that maybe I need it, and then going on to buy it (and probably some other things too.) When I was thinking about shopping way less, and removing myself from temptation - it really illuminated that marketing works, ha!
So…what did I wear on repeat?
The Donni Pants. Sorry, that I will not shut up about these, but they really just are so good! They are comfortable and flattering, I love the length (and I can wear it with so many styles of shoes!) They are a piece that when I bought it made me excited to wear things I already had in my closet - which is a great litmus test to determine whether a purchase is a great one or not! I am 5’6” and they fall a hair above my ankle. The inseam is about 27”. I sized up to a Large because I decided there was no need to have anything be too tight. They hold their shape great (do not stretch out!) I’m considering a second color - probably the espresso!
La Ligne Marin Sweaters. I have the Marin Cardigan, and the crew-neck in a light blue stripe. I wore both more than once a week. I love both of these sweaters. They are soft, non-itchy, thick, but not so thick that you can’t tuck them in. I love the neckline. I bought the cardigan in the UES La Ligne store last March as a bday present to myself. I was very pregnant at the time! I wore it constantly throughout my pregnancy, and postpartum, and continue to wear both constantly now. I will be purchasing a solid color sometime soon!
Levi’s Jeans (Ribcage Ankle Straight) & Reformation Jeans (Cynthia Crop). I discovered that I need some new jeans. I identified a few pairs that don’t fit and I am just going to let go of them instead of keeping them for whatever dumb reason. Jeans can be tricky for me because I’m on the curvier side - it takes lots of trial and error. I want a non-raw hem wide-leg pair and another dark denim option (I LOVE the Cynthia Crop, so I think I’ll try them in a different wash, perhaps in the stretch style).
Loafers. (sometimes with socks!!!) Loafers are always a go-to shoe for me, and have been for years - especially for work! I love ballet flats, but the days when I can wear ballet flats outside are limited - vs. loafers with a more substantial sole - they can withstand a little bit more of a variety of New England weather. One thing that makes me so happy about their resurgence in popularity is that there are so many great options. I wore my green, croc-embossed Tory Burch Jessa loafers many times (these shoes are one of my greatest purchases over the past several years. I wear them all the time and they make me so FREAKING HAPPY when I do). I can’t find the green anymore, but they still make the style - the snakeskin is fun! I also wore my G.H.Bass Weejuns, which are more of a traditional loafer. I am really into the Freda Salvador ones, as well as this pair from Boden (these are the most compelling white loafers I’ve seen!) that I’ve seen on Grace Atwood & Liz Adams. Sidenote: I just saw these slingback flats on the Boden site and I am in love - Hello Spring!!!
Sneakers. I wore sneakers a lot too. I have leaned into sneakers in the past several years because they are just so dang practical! New Balance is tried and true for me - I love the 990v6s and 574s. And my sister got me a pair of Sambas for Christmas that I have been loving as well.
Lady Cardigans. Lady Cardigans have become something I reach for constantly in my closet because they provide the refinement/final layer effect of a blazer, but I find myself reaching for them much more in my day-to-day life. I noticed I rarely will reach for a blazer on the weekends with my kids (except when the weather is a little warmer - I will wear them as my coat!), but I wear my more structured cardigans/lady jackets A LOT. Sometimes buttoned up, sometimes totally opened, sometimes with just a single button done. I wore one from Sezane and one from Reformation on repeat!
Overall, I would call this experience a wild success. It felt good to be focused on what I have and remind myself over and over again that I have SO MUCH. Even in the moments when I felt like I had nothing to wear - shopping for something new was off the table so I just figured it out! Also, as the month went on, I was happy to discover that I stopped feeling like I didn’t have anything to wear - I realized I had a lot, and was looking forward to wearing pieces.
Thank you so much for reading, especially if you’ve made it to the end. The next step for me in this experience is to update my wishlist, which is something I’m starting to think about. We’re still in the thick of winter (actually, this letter is coming to you when I am in Mexico, hehe), but, I’ll be back in winter weather next week! But, February promises the early glimmers of spring - so I am excited to see some of the new spring things and get inspired again, while also updating my wishlist based on what I learned in January!
If you are thinking about doing a no shop (for whatever reason!!) or if you’ve done one before (I know there are at least a few of you who are embarking on a no-buy year - amazing!), I’d love to hear from you — what did you learn? How did it go?
Thanks for reading!
If you like what you’re reading, please consider:
📱 Screenshotting your favorite part of this newsletter and share it on Instagram. Be sure to tag @ct_shopguide and I’d love for you to follow along!
🗒️Restacking or sharing your favorite part from the newsletter as a Note on Substack!
💌 Forwarding this email to a friend
👩💻 Commenting and liking this post on Substack!
All products highlighted are chosen by me, and some may be affiliate links. Your support is appreciated!
Love love love this post! Thank you for sharing and for doing the whole No-Buy January! It was so fun to follow along with and to get what you'd wear each day. I totally agree that getting dressed is more about the feeling rather than the science of it all. I see the people sharing the Excel documents and wearing items they don't normally wear just because it has a high CPW and I cannot relate to that. I gravitate to my favorite items too and I think it's so cool that you now know exactly what those pieces are! Will they evolve as life changes and you move to different stages? Of course!
Thanks so much for the mention! And I so enjoyed reading this - you’ve done such a great job with your no-buy! I’m feeling inspired! X