1 Aug 2011

a year as a minimalist / / part one


Some of you may have noticed a new page on my blog: the money page. This is going to be for a challenge I am going to do throughout the last year of my undergraduate university course (it feels like yesterday that I moved into halls of residence in my first year too! How scary!).

The aim? "To minimalise all my purchases for 12 months from September 2011 to September 2012"

I'm going to do a five series post in the build up to the start of this challenge which will cover different parts of my spending personality. Note, though, that I'm not trying to cut out all purchases but instead, I am going to minimalise. So I'll be saying 'no' to that bar of chocolate I pick up at the supermarket on the whim and I'll also be saying no to taking a bus for what would be a forty minute walk (after all, exercise is good! And if I walk, I can at least feel less guilty about skipping that gym session!).

So this is the first part. This part will concern my wardrobe because, as most of you should know by now, I love my clothes and I love fashion. I have a wardrobe chock full of clothes I wear but also clothes that I rarely wear or only wear once in a blue moon. So first things first. The big clearout. Anything not worn in the last year were put in a box and anything that needed 'fixing' were put in another box.

Here is my wardrobe after the clearout:



Now, this is far from done. But the first part is to determine what is missing. So, what essentials do I need that are missing? Or do I have all bases covered? If I have gaps, do these really need filling?

Well, from this, I realised that I'm not really missing anything at all! I have most bases covered: pretty day dresses, pretty cocktail dresses, smart shoes, casual shoes, a pair of well fitting jeans (bought from Primark a few years ago too!), enough cardigans, enough winter coats (more than enough if I dare say it... A girl needs variety!), etc.

All in all, the first part of the challenge is successful, thus far. Now, I just have a month to get it into my mind that I have enough clothes as that will be the mentality I will need for this year long challenge!

For those interested, clothes that didn't make the cut into my slimmed down wardrobe have since been listed on eBay (except from any winter coats as I haven't decided with those yet!). Anything that remains unsold after this Sunday will be put on my Blogshop (which is currently down while my eBay shop is up!).

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