What Six Months Of No Shopping Have Taught Me | Minimalism

In this post I'm sharing with you guys what I have learned from my shopping ban that I started in January 2018 and finished after June 2018.  Six months of no shopping definitely teach you a lot about fashion, shopping habits and also about yourself, especially as a fashion enthusiast. So without further ado, let's get into it!

You save not only money but also time and energy

Before I started this challenge, I never quite realised how stressful shopping is. You step into a probably crowded store. It most likely has music on blast plus the people talking... it's kinda loud.  Then most of the stuff is a complete mess because people are messy and fail to bring back items where they came from. So everyhing is loud and all over the place. Cool. So then the searching for your size starts...can take a while. If you didn't get your exact size you might want to try to make the size down or up work so you will want to try it on, right? minutes over minutes in the cue before the dressing rooms awaits you. Most of the time you will not even like what you picked. But if you did you will be confronted with the same cue situation at the cashpoint.
Nawh, now I realized how much time, money and energy I spent while shopping... I can get those stress wrinkles another way.

You get so much more creative with your outfits

You don't really have a choice. If you can not shop for a certain amount of time, you gotta work with what you have. Which is good. It leads you out of your comfort zone, makes you try out new combinations and reminds you of what jams you have in your closet. It results in more contentment with your clothes seing all the versatility that secretely has always been in front of you.

You find out what your style is and what really get's worn

Again, this comes with the nature of the challenge. If you can't shop for six months and you haven't worn this item... it's time to go bye bye.
You notice what you always grab and wear, with which pieces you create more and more outfits, again and again. The fabrics, silhouettes and colors that work for you and your everyday life will be so easy to filter out. You don't even need to do anything. It's the same concept as with a capsule wardrobe. Just more extreme because you can't add anything to it. But very eye-opening. You are guaranteed to find your style.

Missing out on trends is the last thing that matters...like ever 

Like for real. It doesn't even matter if you don't wear what everybody else is wearing right now. It will at most make you stand out. Everything comes back in fashion anyways. There's always a chance that you already have a current trend in your wardrobe.
→ Trends don't make fashion. Trends don't make people. Annnd trendy doen't mean stylish. Just because something is hyped up right now doesn't mean it's deserved.

A greater feel of gratitude for all the clothes you already have 

Every single piece matters. You can't add anything new so everything you already have is relevant. It makes you value every piece so much. It makes you want to take better care of your clothes to keep them longer in your life and to get more wear out of them.

Plus the three style lessons I learned about my own personal style:

1. I tend to buy a lot of jackets that I don't need. Jackets seem to appeal to me more than other fashion items. 
2.  One of the reasons my wardrobe is not as small as I'd like it to be is because it is not multifunctional enough. Too many things I own that I love to wear in my free time can not be worn at work.
3. I need a couple of statement pieces every big season (spring/summer, fall/winter) that can mix up my minimalist wardrobe, so I don't get bored with my clothes and can keep my closet curated and minimal.