what I spent on clothes in 2024
you might be surprised. or maybe you'll judge me.
Quick note: my group program, Making Space, is now open for enrollment. There are 15 spots and 3 are already taken. All the info, including the sliding scale here.
There’s a lot of chatter online right now about no buy years. I think anytime we’re encouraged to question our consumption is great, and in fact, that mindfulness was the catalyst behind my business name, mindful closet, almost 12 years ago.
Even though I’m very conscious about consumption, I won’t be participating in a no buy year1. There are a few reasons for this. While I will often pause purchases for a month or so to give myself some time to reflect (I even have an email series to lead you through one), a year feels extreme. I’ve also done so much work around why I buy and learning from how I feel about my purchases over the last 20 years that for the most part, I trust myself and the purchasing decisions I make. Truly, it’s not unlike intuitive eating and trusting yourself to eat what you really want, what brings you pleasure. I like how
and articulated this in recent posts.
The largest reason is because I’m a moderator.2
According to Gretchen Rubin:
You’re a moderator if you…
– find that occasional indulgence heightens your pleasure–and strengthens your resolve
– get panicky at the thought of “never” getting or doing something
You’re an abstainer if you…
– have trouble stopping something once you’ve started
– aren’t tempted by things that you’ve decided are off-limits
I don’t do anything to the extreme (my husband is the opposite, an abstainer, which makes for some interesting dynamics). Taking a restrictive hard line approach (see: diets) just absolutely will not work for me and will only result in my beating myself up when I inevitably break my promise.
However, I have been curious to take stock of my own purchases in 2024. I combed through my closet, my Poshmark account, and my credit card statements to see what I bought.3
I’m hesitant to post this information because no matter what disclaimers I give, it’s natural to compare. You might have bought more than I did and that might make you feel bad. You might be appalled at the amount of stuff I bought and think less of me for it. There are so many emotions tied up in money and particularly, I think, money spent on clothing by women that I’m planning a series of articles about the topic to come in February. Stay tuned for that, but for the moment, let’s adopt a TikTok trend: “we listen and we don’t judge”.
In total, I acquired: