One Year, no clothes, Exhilerating

One Year No Clothes: Exhilarating!

I’ve often wondered at how nudists must feel…..and now I think I have some idea.  You see I’ve been toying with this idea of a year without clothes and I think 2017 is the year for it!

Whoa! Before you start sending me hate mail or mutter at me under your breath, let me set the story straight.

What I have decided to do is to not buy myself any new (or used for that matter) clothes for all of 2017. I am not going to decide to go shopping mad for clothes either as soon as 2018 starts. I hear you asking the obvious question, why am I doing this. Well I am doing this mainly because I don’t NEED any new clothes and I can think of other things which I need which are far more important, and I am a frugalist!. As the year rolls on, I will give you updates so you can follow my progress. Do you want to dare me on this one?

Yes I am a bit apprehensive but I am going to face each challenge as it comes. I’ve never taken on such a big frugal challenge before so you can imagine I am quite excited. In fact, last Christmas when most people went mad with shopping in general and clothes shopping in particular, I did not buy any clothes for myself! Yup! No new  clothes from December 2016.

I have a few occasions so far that I have been invited to (including a birthday party and a baby dedication) and I’ve begun to wonder what I will wear. I have some ideas of course and they are already in my closet (not the ideas, lol, but the clothes). I have a few dresses that I have worn twice or perhaps three or four times. They’ve been sad and lonely in my closet and I am going to get them out and let them get to experience some daylight.

Some items can be jazzed up by being mixed with other items including scarves (of which I have a few), handbags, shoes, belts and hair accessories. In fact whilst I am online I have done a little research to see how you can bring light and life to clothes you already have in your closet and I will share some of these ideas. One of my favourites is to wear a scarf draped around both shoulders with a decorative clip. This does a number of things including masking the top being worn. Be sure to check that the scarf goes well with the rest of the outfit.

Check out the following ways to re-purpose unloved clothes in your closet:

1. Re-purposing t shirts: If you have sewing skills you can change a t shirt’s life. Put the t shirt on a flat surface. Cut the sleeves off. Fold the t shirt just under the arms and cut across. You can then sew elastic in the top and the bottom. This can now be worn as a tank top and accessorised as appropriate. You can even jazz it up further by sewing pockets on made from the sleeves.
2. Skirts: If you have an A length skirt and have sewing skills and a pair of scissors, you can turn it into a new fashionable mini skirt.
3. Scarves: You can intertwine 2 scarves together to create a new fashionable item. In fact if you have 3 scarves, you can braid (plait) them together to re-purpose.
4. If you have a denim jacket, you can remove the sleeves and wear as a fashionable new item. In fact, you can insert different sleeves from a t shirt to jazz it up even further.
5. Jeans shorts and trousers. There are various ways to re-purpose these including adding bursts of colour from other garments, but my favourite thing to do to re-purpose these are to up-cycle them using lace, especially white lace. There’s this ongoing trend to cut jeans, but why just stop there? You can cut shapes out of the jeans and then insert and sew in pretty cotton lace. Beautiful!

So there you have it, just a few ways to bring back life to a tired wardrobe and avoid spending money unnecessarily. Be sure to check back and I will not only tell you how I am getting on with my one year of no new clothes but if you sign up below, you will be sure to get new tips and hints on saving money.

Have a good, frugal week.