Intentional Shopping Tips

Excessive shopping can be a difficult habit to break. There's countless reasons for doing it that can range from desperately trying to satisfy a void in life with something tangible, to falling victim to clever and relentless advertising. Being a more intentional shopper is a realistic alternative to having "buy bans" which is like a crash diet for your wardrobe. The following are tips and questions to ask yourself when you're shopping or even going through your wardrobe and trying to decide what's worth keeping and what you can fully let go of.

Are you able to care for all of your clothing? Properly clean, mend, steam and iron, take to specialist cleaners and restorers. Or is the thought of it overwhelming? Is the price of dry cleaning worth the frequency or infrequency you wear a garment?

If you find something while shopping in person put it on hold for 24 hours or even just an hour

Ask yourself if you want it because it would fit into your life and wardrobe or because it's pretty. Just because it's beautiful doesn't mean you need to possess it.

If it's on sale would you buy this item if it wasn't?

Are you buying an item of clothing or an emotional response/high?

Is this worth x amount of hours you worked to equal the price?

Would you rather have this or something else? (another article of clothing you've been thinking about, travel money, your favorite restaurant etc.)

Is this article of clothing taking up too much space in relation to how often you use it?

Is this article of clothing distracting from other items in a negative way? When you open your closet it is preventing you from seeing cohesive outfits?

What's your reason for being attracted to this garment? Is it purely about you and your tastes or is it about having something enviable or trendy?