Money - the nitty gritty

Tracking my (over)spending

I have kept track of my clothing and shoe expenses for many years, with the goal of making more mindful purchases. I've never had a lot of money, and I think I've used too much every single year the last 7 years... Still, I believe my being a thrift-store fiend and loving the "hunt" for quality items in natural fibers has led to better value purchases than those who use the same amounts yearly on fast fashion.

Still, this is too much money out of my income, considering how few items I actually wear on a regular basis. To my defense, these numbers include maintenance fees too, such as visits to the cobbler and tailor (I don't dry clean anything). Secondly, I have actually saved a lot of money since I started working full-time in 2014, considering I have been without work some periods because of temporary jobs. Apart from these steep* amounts on clothing and shoes, I've lived pretty frugally.

7 years of shopping

This is making me absolutely cringe, but for transparency, here goes:

2012: $1900 (USD)
2013: $1700
2014: $2000
2015: $1800
2016: $1000
2017: $1200
2018: $980 (sold clothing for $450) = $530
Total: $10.100 (on average $1400 a year)

Comparing my consumption with a reference budget

The Norwegian institute for consumer research (SIFO) has a reference budget, and the yearly amount on clothing is estimated to $1200, so my numbers are a bit above the average adult consumer. The budget is not based on statistics, though, but is meant to show a reasonable consumption according to their research. I would guess the average adult Norwegian consumer uses more (at least someone compared to my profile), but I couldn't find those numbers.

Considering what SIFO calls reasonable, I don't think my numbers are shockingly high for a style-interested-late-twenties-female-without-children-in-a-European-capital, and either way, the point is not comparison.

The goals

1. I don't want to spend this kind of money on clothing and shoes,
2. what seems like small sums thrifting do add up, and
3. I don't want my hard-earned money to go to clothing and shoes (but it's ok that it has these past years).

I would rather save even more money and pay off my student loan and home mortgage (fyi: everyone who owns property here basically has a pretty high mortgage unless they have a big inheritance).

Accountability

Having to summarize and write this down was an eye-opener, actually. Time to put words into action - or rather, non-action: keep my money in my pocket and wait for an actual need to appear. Do you know how much money you spend on clothing and shoes yearly?

*"steep" for me and my financial situation