Shopping of 2012
Sunday, January 06, 2013I kept a record, month by month, of my clothing and accessory purchases for 2012 (you can see all items here). Taking part in Frugal February made me wonder how much I spent and I was interested to see what I buy and what I wear and use. I'd say it was a typical year of spending although taking part in Frugal February and Only Once August stopped my spending temporarily.
M spending was as follows - Jan £181, Feb was frugal, March £272, April £50, May £86, June £180, July £293, August was Only Once, Sept £309, October £178, November £128, December £74.
Which is a total of ...
Wowzer! I purchased a total of 138 items of which 42% are pre loved, 9.4% no longer belong to me (mostly donated to charity) and 33.3% have been worn / used once or not at all (yet) but this does include a lot of recent purchases, and, just so you know, I'm not counting my ritual of 'wear around the house immediately after purchase' as 'being worn'.
Percentages courtesy of this neat little website, maths is not a strong point for me.
The most expensive one
Kurt Geiger shoes, half price at £105.00. Sadly these are in the 33.3% of 'unworns' but I will remedy this and be back to share the photos.
The most worn one
Simple above the knuckle ring from The Bohemian Collection (previously known as Wired Jewellery). This rarely leaves my finger, silly, simple little thing.
The one I wish I hadn't bought
Stupid, dumb, silly hat. It looks huge on my head, I'm never going to wear it!
The best of the pre loved
It's hard to pick just one item, but at the moment this bag is getting a lot of love. It's Monsoon but I won it in an eBay auction in September for £13.93
The one I was most surprised by
When the peplum trend first emerged it made me shudder. I couldn't think of anything worse than something that flared out over the hips. But I tried it and liked it, once again reminding myself to never say never.
The one I wish I still had
This H&M cardigan just seemed to work with everything. Why don't I have it anymore? It got kittened, thanks to Tinker and her penchant for digging in her tiny, pin sharp claws, I ended up with a big hole on the right shoulder. Shame.
Have you ever kept a tally of your purchases? I've really enjoyed keeping a record and looking back over what I have, what I love and what I no longer own.
What would you do with £1,700 if you couldn't buy clothes?
Love
19 comments
Hi - hmmm this is an interesting concept...I am not sure I could trace exactly what I spent! But really thought-provoking. I had a lean year last year for sure, and for a few months it became a really good habit NOT to buy. If I felt I was wavering I just read some of the financial posts from the blog 'Zen Habits' and that put me straight! But now it's wearing of...and I have been BAAAAD lately. The sales are so compelling as I tend to covet expensive items from smaller brands and then when the price drops - it really drops! Case in point: Me & Em who reduced by 70%. Hmmm. Anyway - you have made me think - so that is always good :-) Lou x
ReplyDeleteThanks Lou. I'll have to take a look at Zen Habits, I really want to spend less this year, especially as so much of my wardrobe is hardly ever worn.
DeleteIt was a fun project to do, but this year I'll be doing a monthly review to track my spending.
Oh wow this is so interesting, I might do this this year - hopefully it'll make me think twice before spending!
ReplyDeleteI compiled the list at the end of each month and was often surprised to find that I'd forgotten about purchases I'd made.
DeleteKeeping track throughout the month may very well have curbed my spending.
this is amazing!
ReplyDeletei really need to do this - i think it'd probably give me a bit of a shock at the end of the year, haha.
Rosie xo
A Pocketful of Rosie
I honestly had no idea what the final total would be, Goggle suggested that £500 - £1,000 would be average but I'm not surprised I was over that.
DeleteGood luck if you do it
X
I am very impressed with how well you kept a record of everything! It sounds like a really worthwhile thing to do though, if I can keep it up like you!
ReplyDeleteThis tapped into my obsession with lists so was actually fun to do ;)
DeleteSuch an interesting post! I keep a monthly note of my spending but I've never thought to add it up over a whole year.
ReplyDeleteI started the 100 day spending ban challenge on the 1st of January & I'm finding it ok so far. I am having to delete every sale email or discount code which drops into my inbox before even opening the email though. Too tempting!
I unsubscribed to a lot of email mailing lists during Frugal February which helped. Staying away from magazines would've helped too, but as I subscribed there was no getting away from them.
DeleteGood luck with the 100 day spending ban, I couldn't do it, if I tell myself that I can't shop it's all I want to do!
I think I'd be mortified at my spending. Hoping that this year it will be pretty minimal with my new resolution thinking. hmmmph.
ReplyDeleteIt's depressing to think about not buying clothes isn't it?
DeleteI should do this too! I dread to think how much I spend!
ReplyDeleteSaw your above reply: "Good luck with the 100 day spending ban, I couldn't do it, if I tell myself that I can't shop it's all I want to do!"- yes, I know this feeling too! Right now, I can't bear the thought of buying anymore but I know once I'm back at school, I'll waver! Well done for doing it!
I'd recommend doing it, it will certainly help me to limit spending this year.
Deletei am actually scared to keep track of what i spend! you did pretty good, though...a lot of people spend that much on 3 things! i love that ring...i think i might need one now!
ReplyDeleteI'd be too scared to wear anything that cost that much!!
DeleteAt the beginning I had no idea what the final total would be so its been an eye opener!
Gosh this IS interesting. I always say I never spend anything on clothes but I wonder how much sneaks in there un-noticed. Maybe this year I need to keep track.
ReplyDeleteI can feel a spreadsheet coming on...
Also those Kurt Geiger shoes? *faints with jealousy*
I love the idea of the spending tally, not sure if I dare though!
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely going to have a look at the Frugal February and Only Once August posts next.
Also, congratulations on your Style Is... competition win, and thank you for following my blog :)
Stacey x
www.words-and-stuff.com
P.S The Kurt Geigers are beautiful!
I really like this idea. I haven't bought anything this year but maybe next year I'll be in a better position to track exactly what I spend.
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to comment x