CLOTHING I NO LONGER BUY

I absolutely love clothes, and I have loved clothes for as long as I can ever remember.

I still vividly remember the first piece of clothing I was able to chose for myself - a grey and purple sweatshirt with The Little Mermaid on the front. And whilst that purchase was a very successful one (because my mum had to coerce me to take it off so it could be washed and I likely wore way past it's best), I haven't always been so good at avoiding mistakes when shopping for clothing.

Over the last three years I have bought very little clothing and that, along with beginning to declutter my wardrobe, has made me take a long hard look at the clothing I own and recognise some of the mistakes I was previously making.

With this in mind, there are a few types of clothing I have decided to no longer buy...

CLOTHING TO SLIM INTO OR CLOTHING THAT DOES NOT FIT

With the benefit of hindsight I'm actually embarrassed at how many items I own that would fit into this category. I'm not talking about the items that perhaps need a small amount of tailoring to fit you even better, I mean the items that straight up do not fit.

Often these items were found in the sale, they don't have the size up available, so you say to yourself - 'No problem, it will give me an incentive to lose those extra five pounds' or whatever. But what I've found is even if you do fit into the item in maybe a few months time, often it doesn't fit the way you imagined it would, it doesn't look the way you imagined it would, and you don't feel the way you imagined you would, and you end up not wearing it anyway. And that's without mentioning the items that never end up fitting. 

From now on, if it doesn't fit, I'm leaving it in the shop.

ITEMS FOR MY FANTASY LIFESTYLE OR ITEMS THAT DON'T FIT MY ACTUAL LIFESTYLE

I'm sure this is a concept most people are familiar with already, but I think its a trap many of us can fall into when shopping for clothing.

For example, in my fantasy life I go to amazing restaurants and bars in the city wearing glam dresses and sparkly heels several times a week. I wear powersuits and skyscraper heels to work, but this is not remotely my life.

Whilst I enjoy a night out with friends and the opportunity to dress up from time to time, and I am most definitely a lover of a dress - these days you are far more likely to find me going for a walk in nature, visiting a stately home, doing my gardening, or visiting a country gastropub, where the required attire is rather different to that of my fantasy lifestyle.

So whilst I am like a magpie in stores when it comes to anything sparkly and glam, I am going to be realistic about the life I actually lead and ensure my clothing budget is spent with that in mind.

CLOTHING PRIMARILY BOUGHT BECAUSE IT'S ON SALE OR A BARGAIN

Now I love shopping in the sales, I have bought some genuinely fantasic items in the sale that I have worn an incredible amount of times - but equally I've been guilty of buying things where the primary reason was because it was highly discounted or inexpensive. In other words I didn't particularly love the item or feel my best in it, and generally what happened was I didn't really reach for that item and although the item perhaps didn't have a huge initial cost, because I didn't truly love it in the first place, the cost per wear can be much higher than something purchased at full retail cost but worn over and over again.

So whilst I will absolutely be shopping in the sales in the future, I will be adding the same scruitiny to those purchases as I would for something that is not discounted, and if I'm not confident that I will wear it multiple times, I will leave it in the store for someone else who will love it, and save my budget for something I know I'm going to get value for money out of.

ITEMS THAT DON'T MATCH MY STYLE OR PERSONALITY

Whilst for the most part I tend to stay away from trends (well, apart from my bandage dress phase, but the less said about that the better...), I have been guilty of seeing maybe a celebrity, an influencer, or a friend wearing something that looks so great on them, that I've purchased something similar to try and carry off the same look. But whilst all of my friends look great in what they wear, they all have very different styles and body shapes.

Often when I do purchase these items they do not suit my body shape, my style, my lifestyle or my personality - not matter how hard I try. So ultimately they don't really get worn, because it never really feels quite right or I lack confidence in it.

ITEMS 'THAT WILL DO' OR ITEMS I DON'T FEEL GOOD IN

Leading nicely on from the last point, when I was looking through my wardrobe I realised I had so many items that I didn't really love and I didn't feel great about myself when wearing them.

These were likely bought in the sale, or because I couldn't find quite what I was looking for and thought 'that will do'. But again, if you don't truly feel good about yourself when wearing an item, it will likely end up unworn and therefore a bit of a waste of money.

ITEMS FOR A ONE OFF EVENT

We've all done it, we've got a hot date, a wedding, or a gala dinner to attend and we head out looking for something new to wear. But more often than not these items tend to just get one outing and from a cost per wear perspective they are super expensive.

So in the future, I will avoid doing thi sand make sure I'm buying items that would be suitable for different events and can perhaps be dressed up or down - or just wear something I already have that I feel good in, who will even know if it's new or not?

Ultimately, I still love clothes and probably always will, but I am quite fed up of finding clothing in my wardrobe with tags still on them, or items I know I've worn only a handful of times. Hopefully using the above 'rules' will help me avoid making so many mistakes when shopping for clothing in the future.