Ideas
How to stop buying clothes you don’t wear
Most of us wear a small part of our wardrobe most of the time and keep buying anyway, because shopping is how we play with style. The fix is not to stop loving clothes. It is to find other ways to enjoy them.
10 habits that help
- Wait 48 hours. Leave it in the basket. If you still want it in two days and can name three outfits it goes with, buy it.
- Count cost per wear. A $60 jacket worn 60 times costs $1 a wear; a $20 top worn twice costs $10.
- Unsubscribe and unfollow. Sale emails and haul videos create wants you did not have.
- Take an inventory. Photograph what you own. People are often surprised by how many of one thing they have.
- Shop your closet. Build three new outfits from things you already own before buying anything.
- Know your colors. A wardrobe with two neutrals and two accents mixes far better than one with ten random colors. See our outfit color combinations.
- Keep a wish list, not a basket. Write it down; most items fall off on their own.
- Set a one-in, one-out rule. Something new means something leaves.
- Try a capsule. A capsule wardrobe makes gaps obvious and impulse buys harder.
- Play with fashion without shopping. Pin outfits, sketch them, or color them. The fun of styling is mostly in the choosing.
Fashion without buying more
That last habit is why Color the Look exists. Choosing colors, fabrics and combinations scratches the same itch as an online basket, and costs nothing per outfit. Color the Look is a fashion coloring app for iPhone and iPad with 250+ outfit pages in 29 collections. Color the jacket you are tempted by in three colors, decide which you love, and then see whether you still need to buy it.
Frequently asked
How do I stop buying clothes I don’t wear?
Wait 48 hours before buying, check that a piece works with at least three things you own, count cost per wear, unsubscribe from sale emails, and find other ways to enjoy fashion, such as styling what you have, pinning outfits or coloring them.
Why do I keep buying clothes?
Shopping is often how people play with style, relieve boredom or respond to sales and social media. Replacing the fun part — choosing and combining — with something that costs nothing reduces the urge.
Is there an app for enjoying fashion without shopping?
Color the Look is a fashion coloring app for iPhone and iPad where you style 250+ outfits with colors, fabric textures and patterns, without buying anything.
