How To Stop Buying Clothes To Save Money

If you’re looking for ways to save money, it’s time to stop buying clothes.

The how to stop buying clothes you never wear is a problem that most people face. Some people may be able to save money by not buying clothes they don’t wear, but it’s difficult for some people.

Are you trying to find out how to quit purchasing clothing and scratching your head? 

Perhaps you’re fed up with the lack of room in your closet, or you’ve just been motivated to Marie Kondo it. Or maybe you’re just broke as a result of all those sales. 

I’ve got you covered, buddy!

Yes, you CAN put your clothes away! It is feasible, and it does not imply that you must always dress in the same manner. Even if you don’t have much money, you can still buy new clothing. 

You may inquire as to how. 

Allow me to offer some ideas on how to avoid purchasing clothing in order to save money, maintain your style, and save money!

DISCLOSURE

Some of the links on this page are affiliate links, which means that if you click on them, I may get a commission at no additional cost to you. I hope you find the material on this page to be helpful! Thanks.

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How to Quit Shopping for Clothes 

If you’ve come to read this post, you’re probably searching for a quick fix for not spending money on clothing. 

Whether it’s because you’re saving for something or because you just got your credit card statement and are kicking yourself for all the shopping you did last month. 

I’m here to inform you that you have the option to quit if you so want. In a nutshell, here’s a list of things you can do right now to stop:

  1. Examine your present attire.
  2. To begin, set a 30-day challenge for yourself.
  3. Recognize your triggers.
  4. Take your credit card out of your online shopping cart. 
  5. Remove yourself from your favorite online shops’ mailing lists.
  6. Tell your friends about it.
  7. Allow time to pass.
  8. Swap with your pals.
  9. Participate in clothes exchanges.
  10. Repair worn-out garments
  11. Repurpose old garments
  12. Make a savings goal for yourself.

1. Examine Your Present Wardrobe

How To Stop Buying Clothes

According to a Wall Street Journal report, most individuals only wear around 20% of their clothing on a daily basis. 

If you’re the kind of person who buys so many clothing that you forget what you have, or if your internet purchases are piling up in your room, take a moment to stop and think about what you have. 

Is it really reasonable to claim you need to shop because you don’t have clothing to wear if you have a lot of clothes? If you don’t know what you have, is it really fair to say you need to shop because you don’t have clothes to wear?

So the next time you’re in the want to buy, rummage through your closet, open those haul boxes, and find items you may have forgotten about.

You’ll feel as though you’re buying from your own closet! 

The best thing about it? It’s completely free!

2. Set a 30-day challenge for yourself to begin with.

Those of us who made fitness new year goals likely set a goal for ourselves to exercise a particular number of times per week, such as participating in a 30-day challenge.

In reality, this means no shopping for 30 days.

30-day challenges can be a great way to start new habits or make changes in your life – and they don’t require you to go shopping. 

Why does it work? Because when you establish a short-term, immediate objective, such as avoiding buying for a month instead of a year, your brain perceives it as a “now” goal.

A “now” objective is seen to be more attainable and acceptable. You don’t have to give up buying for a year; just attempt to do it for a month. 

Who knows, maybe by the end of the month, you’ll have acquired the habit of not shopping at all! 

3. Recognize Your Triggers

If you want to break a harmful habit like shopping, you’ll need to consider WHY you shop in order to find out how to stop buying clothing. 

  • Do you go shopping when you can’t find something to wear? Examine your closet. 
  • Or do you do it because you’re exhausted after a long week at work and want to treat yourself? To de-stress, go for a run or treat yourself with a warm bubble bath.
  • Perhaps you go shopping in order to impress others.

What’s more impressive, though? 

Instead of possibly getting into debt as a result of excessive buying, when you have money saved, objectives accomplished, and you’re out there smashing life.

4. Don’t Use Your Credit Card at Your Favorite Online Shops

how to not buy clothes

Aside from recognizing your triggers, you should also make shopping more difficult for yourself by erecting obstacles.

Removing your stored payment cards and addresses from your favorite online shops is one method to accomplish this.

As a result, every time you want to buy, you’ll have to go through the bother of pulling out your credit card and entering all of your information. 

Offline, you may accomplish it by avoiding shopping malls and not bringing your credit card or cash with you when you go out. Alternatively, bringing just enough to complete the task at hand.

5. Delete Your Favorite Online Stores’ Subscriptions

How To Stop Buying Clothes (2)

Unsubscribe from your favorite online shops so you don’t get notified every time there is a discount or a new arrival is another method to build barriers to purchasing clothing and prevent getting prompted to purchase.

If you want to shop, you must also go through the extra trouble of manually visiting the website.

You may utilize email cleaning services like Unroll Me to figure out which mailing lists you’re on and swiftly unsubscribe from them.  

Unfollowing your favorite online shops on social media is also a part of this.

They say “out of sight, out of mind.”

6. Inform Your Pals

Another method to avoid spending money on clothes is to inform your acquaintances that you are no longer purchasing clothing.

When you broke up with your toxic ex, you warned your pals that if you attempted to contact or text them, they should stop you.

Exactly the same thing. 

You are keeping yourself responsible by informing your pals that you want to quit shopping and not spend money on clothing.

They’ll be more careful of not informing you about discounts or new purchases the next time they’re out with you and see you admiring a new item, minimizing your potential triggers to buy additional clothing.

7. Be patient. 

We sometimes purchase clothing because we’re drawn to something fresh in the store’s window displays. 

If you’ve ever bought anything, arrived home or gotten it in the mail, and then regretted it, you might try waiting a week before buying something else.

We purchase on the spur of the moment, out of curiosity, boredom, and a variety of other reasons.

Set a time limit for yourself, such as a week or a month, and if you still desire that item of apparel after that time, go ahead and buy it.

You may discover that you don’t need it after all, or you may have been so preoccupied with life that you forgot about the purchase. Alternatively, the item may run out of stock, leaving you with no option to purchase it – which is even better for you. 

8. Do a Swap with a Friend

How To Stop Buying Clothes

If you’ve gone through your closet and discovered a large number of items that you’ve outgrown, whether in terms of size or style, ask your pals if they’d be willing to exchange to save money on clothing. 

Your buddy may be seeking to update their wardrobe while also getting rid of some outdated items. 

This way, you’ll save money for both of you. Plus, if they’re your buddy, you’re certain to have a similar sense of style, right?

9. Participate in clothing swaps

If you want to avoid purchasing clothing but still desire new ones, another option is to exchange your old ones for “new” ones.

Garment exchanges are becoming more common as people become more aware of the environmental effect that clothing manufacturing has. 

If you don’t have any friends with whom to exchange clothes, join clothing swap sites, events, or platforms to update your wardrobe. You may visit the following sites/groups to exchange your clothes:

Some swap sites charge a modest admin fee or utilize a point system to guarantee that you don’t cheat the system by giving other swappers unwearable clothing. 

But apart from that, it’s a great method to avoid spending money on clothing while still adding a few new items to your collection.

10. Make Repairs to Old Clothes 

how to not spend money on clothes

So far, the majority of the answers have focused on how to prevent purchasing new clothing by avoiding your triggers, making it more difficult, or borrowing items from others.

But what if you discover clothes that have lost a button, have holes, or are just too lengthy for your taste during your wardrobe review?

Put the needle to the fabric and attempt to repair these old garments to save money on clothes by giving them new life. 

If you’re not a natural seamstress, Udemy offers a number of free sewing courses:

11. Use Old Clothes for New Purposes 

If you don’t know how to sew, you may simply extend the life of your existing wardrobe items by reusing outdated clothing or clothes that are a little ill-fitting.

Do you have a dress that has become a little too short for you? Wear it as a blouse with it tucked in.

Have you ever bought a skirt that you thought was ideal but turned out to be much too long or short? Depending on the length, it may be worn as a tube dress or a tube top.

Use a belt if you have a pair of trousers that are too large. 

Here’s a simple life hack to keep your trousers up if they’re too tight but you can’t stand to throw them away. Mummies who use this trick regularly to fit their expanding stomachs have tried and proven it. 

12. Set a savings goal for yourself.

Beyond all of these short-term fixes, the longer-term answer is to consider why you want to quit purchasing clothing in the first place. 

If you want to save money, consider why you want to do so. 

Is it a journey? Is this a home? 

A vacation will leave you with memories, and a home will provide you with a permanent roof over your head, while buying that attractive dress will provide you with short-term pleasure.

If you start with the end in mind, you’ll keep that objective in mind everytime you swipe your card for a new purchase. 

FAQs on How to Stop Buying Clothes

how you can stop buying clothes to save money

Why Do I Continue to Buy Clothes?

If you’re wondering why you keep purchasing clothing, it’s probably not because you need them; after all, most of us only use around 20% of our wardrobes, so it’s not a scarcity problem.

Have you ever purchased any clothing that you thought would look fantastic on you, only to discover that they didn’t work out in real life or with your other outfits?

Some experts believe it’s because people buy with their emotions rather than their brains. 

When we find a deal or a cheap item, we believe we will need or wear it at some point in the future, so we purchase it.  

We purchase for an ideal version of ourselves, but that perfect version may not be what we need right now.

How Can I Save Money While Not Buying Clothes?

When you go shopping for clothing, you almost always come upon a deal. 

When we purchase things on sale, we tend to focus on the money we’ll save rather than the money we’ll spend. 

When you purchase something for $20 at 50% discount, though, you didn’t save $10; instead, you paid $10 in order to save $10. 

If you want to save money on clothing, the answer isn’t to purchase cheaper clothes; the solution is to stop purchasing clothes. 

If you don’t mind investing a little money on a new item or two for your wardrobe every few months, though, understanding how to save money on clothing is essential. 

Sales may be a fantastic method to acquire a lot of clothing for a little money IF you exercise self-control and establish a goal (for example, to add five adaptable pieces to your work wardrobe to go with your other current pieces) and if you stick to a budget. 

In this manner, you’re not purchasing anything just because it’s cheap; rather, you’re taking advantage of a deal to acquire something you’ve previously determined you need, and you’ve clearly defined what you can and can’t buy. 

Knowing how to mix and match the essentials and things you already own, as well as having a capsule collection, may help you acquire a lot of clothing for less money.

Trends are irrelevant in this case. It’s more about finding high-quality, timeless, classic items that work well together. 

If you’re not sure where to begin, consider the following suggestions:

Is It A Waste Of Money To Buy Clothes?

save money on clothes

No, is the simple response. 

Purchasing clothing is not a waste of cash. However, purchasing clothing that you don’t need, already have, or won’t wear is a waste of money.

Consider what you currently have, clothing with longer-lasting materials, quality items, and if you truly need them if you want to know how to save money on clothes. 

If you want to buy a nice dress to wear to a friend’s wedding someday, wait until the wedding is over before you consider the purchase. You never know whether you’ll discover something newer and less expensive by then. 

If you still need clothes, there are a variety of ways to save money when shopping for clothes, like visiting secondhand clothing shops, participating in clothing exchanging activities, or shopping at vintage stores, which provide fashionable goods for a fraction of the cost.

Fashion fads come around every twenty years or so, so you never know, you may just discover the next big thing at a vintage shop. 

How Do You Refrain From Buying Clothes?

Take stock of what you currently have in your closet, eliminate any triggers like online shop newsletters, and make it tough for you to purchase clothing. 

It’s also critical to seek social support from friends, family, and loved ones.

 They’ll be less likely to keep you updated on discounts and flaunt new purchases in front of you if they know you’re attempting to avoid purchasing clothing.

You may also contact them if you suddenly feel compelled to check out your cart or go shopping at the mall.

A more severe step would be to deactivate your credit cards; internet purchasing would be very impossible without credit cards. 

If you must purchase anything at a real store, do it with cash. According to studies, individuals who pay with a credit card spend more, so if you want to save money and feel the pain a bit more, pay with cash. You will spend less if at all. 

Also, if you find yourself grabbing something on the spur of the moment, put it back and come back to it in a week. After some time has gone, you may not desire it as much.

What Should You Do With Your Unworn Clothes?

If you’ve gone through your closet and discovered a bunch of clothing you don’t wear and aren’t sure what to do with them, here are some ideas:

  • Bring them to a clothing exchange (and receive free items in the process!)
  • Donate them to a charitable organization like the Salvation Army. 
  • Resell them to secondhand shops for a little fee in exchange for good-quality clothing. 
  • Drop them off at stores like H&M, which has a clothing collection program – you’ll get a shopping voucher in exchange, but remember to use it carefully!
  • Sell them on Carousell, Refash, Poshmark, and Facebook Marketplace for a profit.

Other Money-Saving Options 

Aside from learning how to quit purchasing clothing to save money, there are a few more things you may do to save money:

If you’re ready to take things to the next level, consider using some of these extreme frugal ideas to see where else you can save money:

Conclusion

Knowing how to quit purchasing clothing is just the first step if you want to save money.

Start with a month with no new clothing, then work your way up to a quarter (three months), and finally a year. 

You can definitely do some clothing exchanges and buy some used items along the road, but you’ll quickly realize that new clothes are overrated and that you may not need as many as you think. 

You may still look fashionable with the clothing you already own or can afford to buy on the cheap.

Your clothing may improve your appearance, but if you are saving for your objectives, only purchasing what you really need, and are debt-free, realize that this is the greatest look and decision you can make for yourself.

To Save Money, Learn How To Stop Buying Clothes

In order to stop buying clothes you don’t need, try these tips. Reference: why do i keep buying clothes i don’t need.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I stop buying unnecessary clothes?

You can buy clothes that are only needed for the specific occasion, or you could ask your friends to borrow them.

Why you should not buy clothes?

There are many reasons why you should not buy clothes. One is because there are things like fast fashion that will make you feel bad about the world and the way its going. Another reason is because clothing companies often use toxic chemicals to make their clothes and these chemicals can cause health problems, including cancer.

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