Hello everyone! First, I have to say that I am very excited about the fact that our state will actually get to vote in a Democratic primary and it will matter! This is the first time in my own personal North Carolina presidential history that my vote will actually count towards anything! Usually, Late Primary + Red State + Electoral College = Why do I bother? But not this year! Woo hooo!Okay, enough of that. On to the topic of today's post...
At Stitch+Bitch on Monday night a friend was asking whether we knew anyone taking the Buy Nothing for a Year pledge. I don't think I know anyone personally who is, but it really got me thinking. This is the year that I want to drastically pay down my student loans, and I've been fiddling with budget numbers to try to see how I could make that happen. I also made a New Year's Resolution to cook & eat much more of our food from the CSA and the garden (which will be challenging in this awful drought). Then there's the impact of overconsumption on the environment, labor and pollution problems from garment manufacturing... you know all this.
To get right to the point, I'm not going to buy any new clothes or shoes this year. I sure as heck don't need any! You ought to see my closet, it's ridiculous. I will make occasional allowances for thrifted or maybe even consigned clothing, and perhaps once in a while a hand-made thing from a wonderful local maker like this one, but the Banana Republic is going to have to survive the consumer slowdown without me.
I'm going to be leaning on y'all for support! I just signed up for the next round of Wardrobe Refashion (sign-ups through February 15th!) -- and I went for the Big Mama 6-month pledge. That will get me through the summer, and then I'll have to re-up for another round to get through the year (or fling myself into an H&M waving my credit card and begging for mercy).
This is going to be tough, because I really really want an Obama T-shirt, but I guess I'll just have to make one of my own.
The Pledge:
I, fawn pea, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 6 months. I pledge that i shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoated, recylcled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftyness brings! Signed, fawn pea.
Witnessed by samm! This is admirable! :O)
ReplyDeleteLocal maker will work for homegrown tomatoes. Or beer. (Or both!)
ReplyDeleteand you
ReplyDeleteare doing this
BEFORE
H & M releases
their
Marimekko
line of clothes.
you are brave
and strong.
i am not sure
i am.
shoes
are my
great weakness.
and that
everything
has to match.
and and
and...
does used
or small
production
count?
Good luck with this! :)
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea! I'm excited to see some of your refashioned clothes. I'm constantly tweaking my budget, trying to figure out how I can save more etc. Well my clothing budget for this year is $150. I'm going to see how little of that I can touch. I'll be excited if I use none of it!
ReplyDeleteyou are strong indeed. sadly i had to buy a ton of new clothes last month for interview season around here. i thought my business-y clothes from UF would be fine till i realized that all my pants had holes in the hem from my bike chain. since i worked alone there, i never really noticed... whoops. and now i have a matching skirt suit. sigh. at least it was on sale. xox
ReplyDeletei sort of tried this last year, when i was moving about..had to clean my closet out and donate lots of clothes and realize what i could live with and without...generally realized i have a standard outfit and it's perfectly okay to wear the same pair of pants twice a week...even skirts. it even saves water (less laundry, yay). when i did want to buy something it made me think really hard, like is it durable? is it really, really necessary (i.e. do i have it in my closet already)? is it going to help the environment? am i going to wear it everyday, every week, and not just every 6 months? i also got interested in making my own clothes, although i have yet to make a start! looking forward to your refashioning adventures.
ReplyDeletealso...think of all the yarn you can buy now that you don't spend money on clothes. :)