A No Shopping Month (and Why You Need One Too!)

 

Being a fashion blogger comes with its perks, even as a small influencer! You get some free stuff, an excuse to make your friends take photos of you.. but you also are on the hook for buying everything.. I by no means shy away from a new outfit or accessory, and that’s a huge reason my wallet has suffered. I’m so into the new trends, or the cutest pieces that I see on other bloggers, that I tend to get carried away with my habit to shop.

This year I was very aware of my overspending. Christmas is obviously an expensive time for everyone, so starting on January 1, I made a commitment to myself to not shop in the month of January. For me, that meant no clothes, makeup or other little goodies that just weren’t necessary. I don’t think it’s a good idea to give up all spending because there’s no point in missing out on a fun ladies night just because you told yourself to not buy a meal out. I stuck with unnecessary material purchases and loved the results! So much so, that I did it again in May!

A no shopping month sucks when there’s a huge sale on (I missed the site wide ASOS sale.. boo), but it feels so good at the end of the month to look at your fat bank account! Plus, I found that even though after the month is over I’m allowed to spend money, I tend to still keep my spending to a minimum. In the end, I realized a few things in my no shopping months that helped me, and I know could help all of you too!

Clean out your closet by wearing things you have (and deciding if you like them)

This was so helpful for me because whenever I get new clothes, my first thought is to wear them! Of course you’re going to want to wear your new beautiful top rather than resort to wearing a piece that you’re iffy about. But that’s the beauty of taking a month off shopping, you are able to force yourself to wear those older clothes because you don’t have all those shiny new things staring at you in the face!

This is the perfect opportunity to finally do that deep closet declutter (check out my ‘How to Declutter your Closet Guide‘ with all my tips and tricks!) and make room for that inevitable new piece you’ll grab once the month is over!

 

Save money to put towards other buys

My first month of no shopping was in January. We all know just how rough the holidays can be on your wallet, so I knew I was going to have to slow down my spending somehow! Without the temptation (or rather knowing I had to resist the temptation) to shop, I was able to put away more money for upcoming trips! This recently came in handy when I bought my flight to Australia for next summer!!! I couldn’t be more excited and I have my 2 months of no spending to thank for a lot of the cash it took to buy the flight!

Find out exactly what your closet is missing

When I was tasked with not spending any unnecessary money in January and May, I was really able to look at my closet and see what I was missing. When you don’t have any new pieces coming in, you are forced to wear old goodies, and see exactly what you need to make your existing wardrobe that much better! For instance, in January, there were multiple days of getting ready that I realized a good belt was desperately needed to amp up my outfits. So.. I saved my hard earned cash for months and bought this gorgeous belt I had been lusting over for a year! I used my own tips to save money shopping (obviously) to snag the belt at over half off retail, and now it’s one of my most used pieces in my wardrobe!

Let me know if you think you could do a whole month of no shopping in the comments!

xx Victoria

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