Last week, Nora shared how she fared this summer with our little social experiment.   I like lists,  so that’s how we’re going to break this bad boy down.

5 Things I Liked About No Shopping Summer:

1. Less Shopping, More Experiences – This summer I went to concerts, went on trips, and did a lot more with friends because I decided to spend the clothing money on experiences.
2. Playing Dress Up – I have a lot more clothes than I realized. It was fun this summer to work through what I had available and figuring out which pieces I really like.
3. Sharing is Caring – I gave a lot of clothes away this summer. This just highlighted that I don’t need a lot of things to wear.
4. Save, Save, Save – I already save money but it was nice to save a little more.
5. Mistakes are okay – There were a couple of times I didn’t have the will power to say no, namely a pair of shoes that I had literally been looking for since last year. No one’s perfect, and Jesus can only be a fence around my wallet for so long, really he has other things to do. So when putting restraints on your budget or when you’re trying to change habits, understand you have to be reasonable with yourself and be okay if you stray off course. Just get back into the swing of things and it will be okay.

The thing that was most interesting about this experience is to think ahead about your needs, events, and wardrobe overall. This was something I didn’t do when agreeing to the No Shopping Summer. So here are the three things I learned from No Shopping Summer:

1. You have a tailor, not a magician – All of my summer clothes didn’t fit, so I spent a healthy amount on tailoring. Word to the wise, you can only tailor something so much. If you are going to a tailor that is worth their salt, they will let you know what is possible. When it’s not possible, see “Things I liked #3” above.
2. T-Shirts don’t make the outfit – I love a good t-shirt and am a big fan of dressing them up. This summer made me fall in love with blouses since they are a little more structured and can be belted if need be. T shirts, can’t be tailored. So cutting my reliance on them was a nice bonus.
3. I like shopping, but I don’t have to do it.- It’s fun to put together an interesting outfit. But it’s more rewarding to do it when I know I have pulled together different ideas out of things already in my closet. This summer I really started using Pinterest to search and find combinations that I liked to see what was available to me.

Now that the summer is over, I’m starting to go through my closet and see what I will need for the Fall.  To help me get rid of some summer stuff and a lot of my fall attire, I ordered a ThredUp bag. This online consignment shop will help me pare down my closet and give me a little bit of extra cash. Be on the lookout for my review of that post.

How’d your No Shopping Summer go? Would love to hear from #TeamPCA on your experience if you participated. What are you looking forward to the most for Fall?