In 2012 I kept track of my clothes, shoes and accessories purchases in order to see how much I spent in a year. The total was over £1,700 and I was interested to see if I could reduce my overall spend in 2013 and take another look at how much I wear, what's never been worn and how much of it is pre-loved.

I'm happy to say I spent less and purchased less with a higher percentage (58%, 42% in 2012) of what I did buy being pre-loved.

The total spend for 2013 was...

That's £563 less than 2012. But when you break it down, it's £99 per month, which seems quite a lot considering I'm rarely in a position where I need more clothes. But new clothes are nice and I enjoy shopping so you could look at it (if you squint a bit lot) as a relaxing hobby?

I was surprised to see that 35% of items purchased I no longer have, this is much higher than in 2012. But when I looked at what was discarded, I discovered that most of it either didn't fit, I didn't like it (having bought it online) or it didn't suit me. Almost all of these items where charity shop or eBay purchases that couldn't be returned. I guess this is the risk you take when buying pre-loved. But adding up how much I spent on these things (£240) makes me realise that I need to be more selective.

In 2012 33.3% of my purchases had only been worn once or, in some cases, not at all. This figure now stands at 13% - much better but still has room for improvement.


I'm almost tempted to try another Wearing It All challenge to kick off the year. I especially need to wear my most expensive purchase of 2012 (Kurt Geiger peep toe sandals), which still haven't been worn! I do get them out of the box occasionally and gaze at them adoringly.


Once again my most expensive items where shoes - a pair of Toms that I wore almost constantly throughout the summer and some Next ballet pumps, which so far have only been worn once. Both where £35.00.


One item that I wish I still had is this jumper. I loved the stripes and the A (A for Andy) but I only got to wear it once as it shrunk in the wash (despite saying on the label to wash it at 30˚ grrrrr!).


My favourite purchase of 2013 is my elephant dress worn for my 3 for 33 challenge. I really should wear my dresses more.

Here are some of my favourite purchases of 2013.


April - a Monsoon tunic dress found on eBay for £5.00


June - my outfit for a world record attempt for the 'largest gathering of fairies in one place'. I would happily wear a tutu every. single. day!


July - H&M tunic. This was perfect for those scorching days we had in the summer. Another summer like that would be nice please.


December - a cape expertly revamped by Mother. This was £2.00 from Barnardos and I love it!

For 2014 I'd like to reduce my total spend further, under £1,000 would be nice. I hope I can be more selective when it comes to charity shop and eBay purchases to limit buying things that I then just give away. And, as always, I want to wear more of what I have - sounds obvious and simple but grabbing a pair of jeans first thing in the morning is such an easy thing to do...

Have you ever kept a tally of your clothes spend? I'd love to know!
Love