I have realised at the start of 2023 that I really need to make better choices when it comes to clothes shopping and to be honest shopping in general because if I want to hit those savings goals I have set for myself and achieve other goals my money needs to actually start going into savings rather than on items that I really don't need. At the moment my shopping habits are absolutely terrible and I am really buying things for the sake of it. I need to sit down and really try to find the cause of my terrible spending habits but the big thing for me seems to be that I never want to come home from a trip out empty handed and I know now looking at things closely I need to change this attitude and really make changes to my spending. To be honest like many people around the country our bills are increasing so I need to make sure I have enough to cover this plus we have something pretty exciting happening soon so we need extra money for that but more on that another day. I really need to start increasing my saving pots and if we want to get those jobs around the house done we need to get money sorted and get started on them as they are all pretty time consuming jobs and we are already in the second month of the year. I am also at the point where I am sick of buying new clothes, getting round to wearing them and them already being too big thanks to my current weight loss journey having an impact on my size constantly changing. I am literally just throwing money away and that needs to change now. 

My attitude towards money and spending overall really needs to be altered and here are some of the better choices that I am going to start making when it comes to general purchase and especially clothing purchases from now on...

In general I will be...

First up I will be making a list on my phone prior to any shopping trips for things that I need, such as cleaning products, homeware, clothing. I am hoping that creating these lists prior to shopping will mean I can refer back to the list whilst out and about and have a clear idea in mind on what I actually need to get and what I would be wasting my money on. Each month I will sit down whilst looking at my spending tracker and put on the list items I am 100% allowed to buy and try keep it to a small amount each month to help the savings grow but I will explain that in another post very soon as I am actually putting a real budget together now that I am 100% determined to stick to. 

I will also be thinking about purchases a lot more rather than rushing in and purchasing something straight away which I currently do. If there is something that catches my eye that isn't on my allowed to buy list I will be actually considering if it will be a worthwhile purchase I really need or if it is just going to be another wasted impulse purchase. If I will the shop and can't stop thinking about said item for an hour, a day or even a week I clearly didn't need it and I don't need to go back for it. 

A big thing that is going to happen is less shopping trips will be taking place. I have found I go shopping far too often just out of boredom and there is no need for it. I convince Liam to go out shopping rather than staying in a doing jobs around the house or other productive things I could get doing. If I cut out the shopping trips I could easily have extra hours to sit and work on blog posts & increase my productivity and consistency on all my social media platforms. The lack of shopping trips would be beneficial all round really I could grow my blogs, get jobs done and save money, it is a no brainer option really and I should start to only go shopping when I really need to. 

As part of my new budget I will be having a bit of a finance bullet journal which I am looking forward to sitting down and creating. In the journal I am going to have 2 specific pages each month... one for purchases made and one for the purchase I didn't make. I will add these up at the end of the month and see where I could save in the future and what I managed to resist and save money on. I am hoping that having these side by side will just spur me on to save more over the future months as I can visualize just how much I have saved by cutting back on purchases whilst out and about.

So those are the better choices for shopping in general however, my big issues seems to be with buying clothing, that is where a huge chunk of my money gets wasted especially now I am on my weight loss journey so here is how I am planning on making the better choices when it comes to clothes shopping...

First up I am going to go through my current clothing and see what fits and what areas need restocking. This way I know what I have plenty of and what items I actually need to be on the look out for when I am out and about. This way I can add essential items to my shopping list and make sure I am only buying what is on that list rather than wasting money.

I will also be making sure that if I want something but don't actually need it I am not just throwing my money away like previous, the money I would have spent I could easily move straight into my goal shop fund ready for that big shopping trip when I hit my goal weight, this is just another way to spur me on to save more as the money I save for this will only help provide a bigger and better shopping trip when I finally hit that goal weight & size.

When I do need to repurchase clothing items though I am going to make sure I shop around for the best deals, I don't want to be spending a fortune on clothing items that are only going to last me two minutes, I want to be budgeting my money so when I am at a stable size I can buy what I really want. Before buying anything I also need to consider if it is going to fit the style I am aiming for or is it just going to sit unused in my wardrobe. I also need to consider if I have any items similar already, if I do then I clearly don't need to purchase another. Finally I need to consider if the item I purchase is going to look good over sized as I am planning on making clothing last as long as possible but again more on that in another post, I aren't just buying clothes to get rid of them a month or so later, they need to be able to be styled well even when they are on the bigger side of things. 

Whilst I am out and about shopping I just need to make sure that I am keeping in mind all the things I want to get done and all those goals I set myself at the start of the year. if I am constantly losing weight there is no point in buying clothes, I can save for that goal shop and build my perfect wardrobe and more importantly if I want to get all the upstairs of the house sorted then I needto be adding plenty to my savings each month or we are just going to be pushing jobs back into 2024 and delaying completing the house at long last. 

I am really hoping to see a big change in my spending habits and increase those savings in 2023 so I need to start making these better choices and get more money in the bank. As I get going on this journey I will be adding more budget & finance posts on my blog and social media in the hopes that it holds me more accountable and helps me hit those goals.