Summer of Savings

I had something of a lightbulb moment on Friday, and decided to issue myself a little challenge this summer!

Full disclosure: I got this idea from my sister-in-law. She's not buying any clothes, shoes, or jewelry for all of 2012. When she told me I was like, "I don't want to do that much, but I can do three months."

I know what you're thinking, "It's not June 1st!" but I haven't broken any of my rules so I figure it's okay to retroactively start a tad late. Plus, the dates sound better this way, ha ha.

Obviously I'm doing this to save some funds, since we're in the middle of buying a house and I feel like I shouldn't be running around spending money willy-nilly. There's also the notion of saving space. We're moving into a bigger house, but our new closets also aren't any larger than what we have now, so I don't want to cram too much in there and not be able to find anything.

There's also the idea of being more creative when buying something new isn't an option. I've done shorter experiments like this in the past, and I always surprised myself by coming up with new outfit combinations. Like a lot of people, I tend to fall into a routine and wear the same pieces together all the time--except when I do self-imposed shopping bans. It's interesting.

It ain't easy being green. by finalclothesout featuring tote handbags

I made up some general guidelines for myself, and for anybody who wants to join in and save some cash. If you don't want to do the whole summer, that's totally cool. Even if you try it for a month or a couple of weeks, come back and tell us how it went. If you've never done anything like this before, I think it'll be eye opening (at least, it was for me).

Anyhoodle, those guidelines.

1. No buying clothes, shoes, or accessories because you're bored, have a party to attend, are making an impulse purchase, found the item on sale, etc.

2. Necessary items, like new work uniforms, are fine to purchase.

3. Clothing for a major life event, like a wedding, also gets the green light.

4. Receiving the items as a gift is allowed if it's actually a holiday/birthday/anniversary. And if they're not a gift from yourself.

So, wish me luck! I think I'll need it. I like the idea of saving money, but I also like shopping. We'll see which side of my brain is victorious.

Does anybody want to join me? Do you have any shopping rules for yourself? Anybody else done a challenge like this in the past? What'd you think?