a no-buy challenge<\/a> soon became a powerful lesson in self-worth, resilience, and the surprising freedom of living with less.<\/p>\nIn the exclusive extract below, Emma shares the six buying patterns we get trapped into thinking we actually need.<\/p>\n
RELATED<\/p>\n
The impact of our consumption habits creates an environment where we\u2019re cornered from every angle. We have a collection of clothes that don\u2019t work together, don\u2019t make us feel good and don\u2019t allow us to express ourselves the way we want to, which leaves us looking externally for what we\u2019re not getting. The problem is, when we look externally, we buy more and more of the same.<\/p>\n
Unravelling that idea of what can happen when we\u2019re in a \u2018yes\u2019 state, a state of openness to consumption even though our intentions might suggest otherwise, got me curious about some of the unhelpful buying cycles I\u2019d been stuck in. I really leaned into understanding how I ended up with the wardrobe I currently had, and what I could learn from the mistakes I made over and over again.<\/p>\n
I realised that if I could establish the mistakes I was making and the ways I was buying the wrong things, I\u2019d stop feeling compelled to buy more and more over time. Here are some of the patterns I uncovered in my wardrobe, and that I\u2019ve seen in others\u2019 too.<\/p>\n
Once I liked something in one colour (often black), I\u2019d giddily run out and buy it in another colour, thinking I was making some kind of ultra-smart decision and capitalising on what I loved. I\u2019m going to give you a piece of advice now that I hope you\u2019ll remember for many years. If you ever utter the words \u2018I\u2019m going to go and get this in another colour\u2019 \u2013 run. It\u2019s a trap. You probably won\u2019t like the other colour, and it\u2019ll just sit in your wardrobe and collect dust.<\/p>\n
There are certain things in my wardrobe that I struggled to wear confidently outside of one specific outfit silo. Usually, this is a sure-fire sign that I\u2019d bought it in a very specific context, like copying or replicating an outfit I\u2019d seen someone else wear.<\/p>\n
Story continues <\/p>\n
Seeing someone wear wide-leg trousers with a specific type of shirt and then buying said shirt is all well and good in that one outfit context, but unless we actually integrate the item into other outfits, it\u2019ll always just be a one-hit wonder.<\/p>\n
Why I ever did this is so beyond me. There are certain items in my wardrobe that haven\u2019t ever been right for me. How do I know that? Because I bought them that way. I\u2019ve made this mistake time and time again \u2013 either I\u2019ll try something on or order it online, and it won\u2019t be quite how I hope or expect it to be, but I\u2019ll keep it anyway because I like the idea of it so much. Or I try to convince myself I can somehow make it work, or it\u2019ll look different when my hair and make-up are done.<\/p>\n
Trying to get yourself to wear things you don\u2019t love or aren\u2019t quite right is always going to keep you wanting to buy more. While we might get the dopamine hit at the time of buying, the loop doesn\u2019t ever really close.<\/p>\n
![\"Emma](\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\")
The process of the book reveals the worst spending impulses Emma maintained. (Source: Supplied) \u00b7 Breeana Dunbar <\/p>\n
Ever go out looking for something specific, like a black jumper or a red cardigan or a pair of white jeans, and despite not being able to find what you want, you\u2019re so hungry to start wearing that item that you get something that isn\u2019t quite right and tell yourself it\u2019ll do? I had a few items that fell into this category.<\/p>\n
I recognised this mistake both in my wardrobe during the Project, and in memories of items I\u2019d owned before. This was proof of the urgency and pace that existed in my buying habits, as though once I\u2019d got the idea of an outfit or an item in my head, I had to get it even if it wasn\u2019t perfect.<\/p>\n
Isn\u2019t the whole point of neutrals that they\u2019re, well, neutral? They go with everything? Yeah, no. I learned the hard way that just because you have a wardrobe full of neutrals does not mean you have a wardrobe full of outfits. Who knew that not all blacks are the same. Not all whites are the same. And don\u2019t even get me started on creams, stones and beiges.<\/p>\n
Having an event or occasion to attend is one of the most common reasons why we buy clothes. When we want to look nice, we invoke the shortcut of buying something we\u2019re excited to wear. The problem with this is we\u2019re then left with pieces we bought for that one specific context, in a similar way to when we buy to replicate a specific outfit. That item is then siloed in our minds, and we\u2019re less likely to want to reach for it for the next event.<\/p>\n
Plus, we\u2019ve built up that behavioural loop of an event or occasion being a trigger to buy.<\/p>\n
This is an edited extract from The Wardrobe Project: A year of buying less and liking yourself more by Emma Edwards (Wiley, $34.95), available 26 November at all leading retailers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The forthcoming book follows her journey of one year without buying anything new and how it changed her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[45,134324,49,48,134323,133,131,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-298938","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-buying-habits","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-emma-edwards","13":"tag-finance","14":"tag-personal-finance","15":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}