Being honest, saving money can be real a slog at times… but this savings challenge is actually a LOT of fun! Are you ready to take on the Shop Your Closet Challenge?
When I was younger I had a fancy dress box of clothes (containing mostly Halloween outfits and my glam Nan’s 80’s sparkly boob tubes). I loved nothing more than putting outfits together from this box. The more OTT the better!
Fast forward 10 years, to a couple of weeks before I started Sixth Form, and after so many years of school uniform, having the freedom to put outfits together seemed so exciting. I would spend hours trying on different combinations of clothes and planning my outfits in advance.
I had neither a huge Carrie Bradshaw style walk in wardrobe, nor any form of income at either of these points in my life. However I tried to pull together outfits in a creative way and worked with what I had. I enjoyed it so much!
Once my income increased, the amount of clothes I bought did too.
After several years of buying way too many clothes that didn’t suit me and frankly I didn’t even like that much, I had an epiphany. I was spending too much money on clothes. I had slipped into bad habits of not returning online orders on time, buying items on a whim, and generally wasting my money.
If this feels familiar, it might be time to give this challenge a try.
What does it mean to Shop Your Closet?
Shopping your Closet means using items in your wardrobe that you already own to put together outfits, instead of buying new. By being creative with combinations of clothes, shoes, and accessories, you can give your existing wardrobe a fresh twist.
Why should we try Shopping Our Closet?
There are tons of benefits of shopping our wardrobe… it can help us to spend less, be more eco-friendly, and more grateful for what we already have.
It can also benefit us to press pause and think a little more before making purchases. By shopping more mindfully, as opposed to impulse purchasing, we are more likely to buy items that we truly love.
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5 Tips for Shopping Your Closet
1. Get organised and take stock
Fail to prepare… prepare to wear the same boring outfit over the next 30 days, probably!
Spend an hour hauling everything out of your wardrobe and then organising it into clear sections. It helps to know what you’re working with. Do your clothing items fit comfortably? Do any of your pieces need repairing or altering?
Having a rough idea of what’s ready to wear will be really helpful in staying on track, and will also help you to identify any gaps in your wardrobe.
2. Get inspired
Online ‘influencers’ or content creators are often the culprits responsible for encouraging overspending and excessive consumption. However, they can also be a great source of free inspiration too.
Slow fashion and sustainable shopping has never been more popular, with Gen Z driving a renaissance for thrifting. A few places to start when looking for inspiration include:
- Searching for thrift bloggers on Pinterest
- Browsing the hashtag #thrift on Instagram
- Searching ‘second hand September’ on Tiktok
Some fab fashion bloggers that favour thrifting and can help with styling looks from pre-loved clothes include Best Dressed, Thrifty Finnie, and Lucy Jane.
3. Plan outfits in advance
Got a birthday bash to attend during the challenge? Make sure you plan your outfit in advance to stop any last-minute panic ASOS parcels making their way to your doorstep!
Leaving it to the last minute is a risky game, so make a note of any weddings, parties, or day trips that you have planned over the next month, and make sure your outfits are washed, steamed, and ready to go.
4. Keep Track
To keep yourself accountable, you could try taking a photo every day so that you can look back on your outfits at the end of the challenge. Perhaps try posting to your social media channels, or ask a friend if they want to join in too so you can share looks!
Another option is to keep a paper tracker to tick off your progress each day. Whatever works for you!
5. Try using an app that generates outfit options
Okay so this one is a bit of work, so it depends on whether you want to make the commitment, but there are apps that can give you a little helping hand when styling your clothes.
If you need some assistance in restyling your items, perhaps check out outfit generator apps such as Smart Closet or Pureple (both free to use) that might come in handy!
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30 Shop your Closet Challenge Prompts to help Spark Inspiration
If you are on board and ready to take on the challenge but are feeling a little unsure of where to start, I’ve compiled a list of 30 daily prompts to provide a little extra inspo…
- Your favourite outfit
- Neutrals
- Polka Dots
- Cottagecore
- Clashing patterns
- All black everything
- An outfit inspired by your favourite TV Character
- Y2K
- Dark Academia
- Stripes
- Monochrome
- An outfit inspired by your favourite cartoon character
- Animal print
- Florals
- 70’s
- Glam
- Double Denim
- Rainbow
- Your favourite colour combo
- Grunge
- Primary colours
- Streetwear
- Hogwarts house chic
- Boho
- Vintage
- 90’s
- Parisian inspired
- Graphic T-shirt
- Velvet
- Layer it up
Shop your Closet Challenge Rules
You might decide (depending on how many items of clothing you own) that you can only wear each piece once during the month. You may decide that items can be worn again, but they must be styled differently. Or you may just choose to have fun and not set any rules!
Similarly, the prompts are there to help, not hinder you. If you’d rather pick and choose your favourites from the list, or perhaps start off with a 7-day challenge if you can’t commit to 30 days, that’s okay too.
It’s supposed to be a fun challenge after all; the focus isn’t on following set rules!
Final Thoughts: Shop Your Closet Challenge
It can be so easy to click ‘add to cart’ when you are feeling uninspired or bored with your go to outfit choices. But when you have a wardrobe full of clothes, do you really need to?
The Shop Your Closet challenge is such a good one if you are trying out minimalism or looking to reduce your consumption, as well as save some cash because fast fashion can be pricey!
You might even find that you have more clothes options than you even realised once your start exploring! Give those hidden gems some love before you head out to the high street.
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