3 months without buying clothes

I've seen others do this...3 months, 6 months, even a year (a little excessive I think) without buying clothes. I have to be honest and admit that I didn't necessarily set out to do this, but once a month or so had gone by, I found myself asking is it worth breaking my no-spend streak for this {insert ridiculous over-the-top girly ruffled glittery skirt that I don't need}? And while this whole process didn't exactly start out intentionally, I wanted to jot down a few life lessons I learned. 

Stop Using Clothes as a Crutch
Every January, I set a yearly clothing budget. And I never add to this number after the fact. I've been doing this for years and have been incredibly proud of myself. But just because I was staying within budget, it doesn't mean that I wasn't buying unnecessarily. The past 3 months without buying clothes has made me realize how much I was using them as a crutch. When something wasn't going well in my life, I would simply go cheer myself up with a little shopping. It got to the point, that instead of pushing to hit goals and feel good about accomplishing those, I would just go shopping instead because that way I still got to feel good myself without actually putting any work in. 

Buying for Practicality 
I'm totally that girl with a closet full of floral print pants and ruffled shirts. And while these items are some of my favorites, they are also super impractical. This spending freeze has made me realize how few staples I have in my wardrobe. Seriously, I spent the past 3 months relying on the same white shirt (apparently it's the only one I own) to help me tone down my over the top patterned skirts. Now, that the shopping freeze is over, I think it might be a good time to add a few more white blouses into the mix, I'm thinking this or this for the warmer weather.

Better things to Do 
I never realized how much time I was spending buying clothes until I stopped. I live in a tiny town, so lots of online shopping happening around here. But the problem is that there are endless possibilities and way too many options to sift through. It's kind of time-consuming. Once an item arrived on my doorstep, if I decided I didn't like it, now I had to fit in time to mail everything back with multiple trips to UPS and FedEx and the Post Office. I was putting in way too much time and effort simply to buy a new skirt. And if I don't put that time in, well then I'm suddenly free to occupy my life with far more important things. 

These may seem like such simple concepts and I had assumed that I had a grasp on my clothes shopping, but when I really challenged myself to go without, I realized just how clueless I was.