No Shopping Challenge Update + 7 Tips For Not Buying New

I’m now 4 months into not buying a SINGLE new item.

And the longer I go, the easier it is! I’ve noticed I’m looking at the things I do own differently, bringing them to life in new magical ways. I'm getting creative, pairing things together I may have otherwise overlooked because the new shiny thing would have distracted me.

Here are some tips I want to share from the past 100 days:

Tips for Not Buying New

1. Pledge to make food instead of ordering out. Whip up a bunch of soup and eat it this entire week—you just saved a hundred bucks or more.

2. Go through your closet and remove everything you haven't worn in three months, except for sentimental garments. Advertise your yard sale on Craigslist and put signs on the corners. Open up shop early and price everything at a dollar—the idea is to get rid of excess, period. Don't hold on.

3. In the mood to shop? Visit a thrift store and make it a game to find the gems amid the dross.  Live in LA? Check out special deal days like the Sunday Dollar Sale at Jetrag or the Two Dollar Clothing Store on Santa Monica Blvd.

4. Try on great, expensive clothes at fancy stores to figure out your size, then go home and order the same clothes from eBay for a quarter of the price. (DL1961 jeans are my newest obsession!)

5. Go to Crossroads Trading Co. and try things on. They specialize in designer and very on-trend garments, but you’ll end up paying only a tiny fraction of the retail cost.

6. Adapt old clothing. Cut the collar out of a comfy t-shirt and discover a refreshing new boat-neck situation for casual days. It's not that you *need* new clothes—it's that you just want to enjoy something new. So create newness your own self and have some fun.

7. The joy of life is being an individual. Don't worry about not keeping up with the latest styles (that everyone will buy and then get bored of because everyone has it). Make your own lovely aesthetic and get creative. You have all the tools you need ;)