Unintentional 90-Day No-Buy and the Latest Number-Crunching

I’ve been reading a lot online about clothing “no-buy” or “low-buy” challenges lately and my interest has been piqued. If you’re not familiar with the terms, a “no-buy” is when you refrain from buying clothing (or cosmetic items, etc.) for a certain period of time (30 days, 90 days, 1 year). In the case of a “low-buy”, you usually limit yourself to a certain number of items or a certain budget. It seems like a worthwhile endeavor for anyone looking to minimize their spending as well as their carbon footprint.

I thought I’d take a look at my recent purchases to see how I measure up, and whether this type of challenge could be beneficial for me. This is when I realized something surprising: I haven’t purchased any clothing in more than 90 days- it’s been 116 days to be exact. Since my weight has been relatively stable these past few months, I haven’t had to buy anything to accommodate any weight fluctuation. And I guess I just haven’t felt the need to shop retail- or even thrift- for some time.

Aside from factoring in my stabilized weight, there’s also my dipping into storage to consider. Some sweaters, pajamas, workout clothes, and even underwear have been freed from the storage bin and incorporated into my minimal wardrobe. I’m hoping I’ll be able to keep pulling items from storage going forward as my weight continues to change.

This makes me wonder how long I can keep this “no-buy” going. Is it possible that I’ve reached a point where I can stop constantly buying pants? I’m not so sure. I don’t have any men’s pants in smaller sizes, and since they’ve become a staple for me, that’s one gap I’ll probably need to fill in my future wardrobe. But otherwise, I might have enough in storage to make up the rest.

In any case, I thought it would be a good time to do a little “clothing accounting.” The last time I ran the numbers was in Crunching Numbers and Capsule Wardrobe Updates, May 1st, 2019.

Since then, here’s what we’re looking at (it’s currently the end of January, 2020):

Number of clothing items purchased: 26
Number of items returned: 5
Number of items kept: 21
Total spent on clothing after returns: $232.98

Here’s the breakdown:
Socks/bras/underwear purchased: 13
8/7/19 3 pairs underwear (Macy’s) $30
10/4/19 3 pairs underwear (Kohl’s) $30
10/4/19 1 bra (Kohl’s) $27.60 (exchanged for another size on 10/5/19)
10/4/19 3-pack socks (TJ Maxx) $6.99
10/4/19 3-pack socks (TJ Maxx) $5.99
Total spent on socks/bras/underwear: $100.58

Capsule clothing items and shoes purchased: 8
5/27/19 ASOS white tee $14.49
5/27/19 Adidas back-up sneakers (TJ Maxx) $34.99
8/15/19 Size 38 501 Levi’s (thrifted) $11.99
9/13/19 Size 36 501 Levi’s (Ebay) $18.55
9/13/19 Grey flannel men’s pants size 38 (Ebay) $18.15
9/25/19 Size 40 501 Levi’s (Ebay) $16.24
9/25/19 Black men’s dress pants size 38 (Ebay) $14.99
9/25/19 Everlane Pink Air Tee $25+$6 restocking fee-$28 credit=$3.00
Total spent on shoes and capsule clothing: $132.40

Almost half my total spent went towards socks, bras, and underwear. These items were all bought new from department stores since I could not find any suitable ethical/sustainable options in plus sizes and thrifting was ruled out for obvious reasons. Of the remaining 8 clothing items, 5 were thrift/Ebay finds, 1 was from a sustainable/ethical brand, and 2 were standard retail purchases. I’m happy with that result, but I can always aim to do better.

One major issue I had with this round of purchases was the number of failures (3). The ASOS white tee was stiffer and less comfortable than the one it was bought to replace, and so barely got worn. (I couldn’t return it because I’d already washed it.) The size 40 Levi’s never looked right from the start, but it wasn’t worth paying the shipping to return them, so they went into the discard pile. And the infamous Everlane Air Tee fell apart after only 2 wears, so it never really established residency in my wardrobe. This amounts to a waste of $33.73, as well as the resources used to manufacture the T-shirts and the environmental impact of all the shipping involved.

Budget-wise, if I total everything up and divide it by the approximate number of months (9), it comes out to $25.89 per month. This is a vast improvement over my last monthly average of $77 or so a month (for 5 months), but it still sounds like a lot for barely buying clothes. I guess knowing that half of it was for socks and underwear, it does make more sense. It seems like these categories are an unfortunate necessity, especially considering the limited plus-size options in ethical/sustainable brands. I’d love to be able to buy these high-turnover, non-thriftable items from Organic Basics, but they have yet to offer larger sizes. And my faith in Everlane as an option has waned. I’m clearly not convinced their clothes are of good quality. So it seems like Ebay, thrift stores, and those necessary evils- the department stores- are still my best bets.