Shopping of 2013

Saturday, January 11, 2014

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








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11 comments

  1. I don't want to think about how much I spent last year, eeek. But on the flipside, how amazingly charitable was I? *pats self on back*.
    Those KG shoes are too good to wear, just put them on display as art and consider them an investment.

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    1. You could call your shopping charitable donations :-)
      I love those shoes, I have to wear them at least once and then I'll be happy to put them on display. I do sometimes just put them on and stare at my feet - but I don't think that counts as wearing them :)

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  2. Well done you! Although you really do need to wear those shoes! x

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    Replies
    1. I need a good excuse. Will start dropping hints to Andy... a fancy pants restaurant should suffice ;)

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  3. Well done on your reduction in spend. Its amazing how much we do spend when we add it all up.

    Loving the shoes, you most definitely need an occasion to wear them.

    X x

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  4. Wow, I should do this too and see how much I probably wasted!!! I dread to think!! You did buy some nice items x

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  5. A really interesting exercise to see how much you spent on clothes in 2013. I have never actually added mine up but doubt I would be surprised if I did. The largest gathering of fairies in one place sounds amazing!

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    Replies
    1. It was an amazing day, a lot of planning but so worth it (and not just because I got to wear a tutu!)

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  6. i would actually be scared to add up what i spend on clothes...good for you for keeping track and for saving so much more in 2013!!

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    Replies
    1. I'm so excited to see the results for 2014, it gets addictive!

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  7. Keeping track and holding yourself accountable is such a good idea! I was tracking my finances for some of 2013 and would categorise my clothes purchases but I realised I wasn't reviewing it; it was as if I was allowing myself to carry on regardless because at least I was categorising and that was enough. It's not. I must be better.

    I love the elephant dress by the way! And the wearing it all challenge sounds like a great one. I really need to get rid of more clothes. :(

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All products that are featured on Hazel’s World of Joy have been purchased by me unless otherwise stated. Any PR samples, items that have been sent to me for review or similar will be declared as such at the end of the post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.