Monday 9 January 2017

A Year Of Buyer's Archive

For the past two years I've been keeping a note of all my clothing purchases, after being introduced to the concept of the Buyer's Archive by Elise. The goal was twofold: first, to make myself more accountable for my spending and to face up to the frankly ridiculous amount of cash I piss away on new clothes and shoes. And secondly, to give myself a tool with which to analyse my purchases a year down the line, the aim then being to become a smarter and more savvy consumer, buying what I know I will wear rather then frittering money away.

Numbers & Statistics
Between January 1st and December 31st 2016 I spent £712.57 on clothes, shoes and accessories and bought 61 different items, giving an average per-item spend of £11.48. This is a significant decrease of £457 on my spending during 2015, when the overall total was £1170 (partly because I didn't buy as many 'big ticket' items like coats in 2016 and partly because my income dropped so sharply after I left teaching).

A Closer Look
- Unlike 2015 (when I bought more dresses than anything else) in 2016 I obviously started experimenting with separates, buying more tops, t-shirt and blouses, and skirts, than any other item. I didn't buy any coats or jackets last year, but my shoe collection increased by 6 pairs. All of which, apart from one, were tan. Ahem.

- If striped tops and t-shirts were a discrete category, they would have made up 16% of my 2016 purchases. I definitely need a ban on new stripes in 2017!

- Almost exactly half (49%) of my purchases were bought new and at full price, with 12% bought secondhand and the remaining 39% bought new but at a discount (ah I love a good discount code!)

- 13 items came into my wardrobe from secondhand sources - charity shops, vintage stores or clothes swaps - which is the same total as in 2015. It can be extremely difficult to find decent plus size clothes in charity or vintage shops, but I did ok last year.

- The high street store I bought the most from in 2016 was H&M, followed by ASOS, Dorothy Perkins and La Redoute. All the bags and jewellery I bought were from independent sellers and markets, while clothes-wise I only bought a couple of t-shirts from independent sellers (via Etsy).

- My most expensive buy of 2016 was £40 on a secondhand Fjallraven backpack. The cheapest was £1.75 for a floral midi skirt from Age UK in Leicester.

- 12 items - or 19% of the total - have already been returned, sold on or donated. This is an improvement on 2015, when I returned, sold or donated 24% of what I bought.
The Best & Worst Buys Of 2016
My best finds were a black denim skirt from Primark, which I wear constantly, and the amazing t-bar shoes from Deichmanns which I bought in September (other ace purchases that month were the Fight Like A Grrrl t-shirt and the perfect polka dot midi skirt). While on the subject of polka dots, this skater skirt, a bargain at just €7 from C&A, was another bargain buy.

Sadly, my H&M cat t-shirt did not turn out to be a smart buy: Missy is mortally afraid of it so I'm going to be selling it on soon. And I haven't used the Fjallraven backpack as much as I expected - I think I'm too wedded to my tote bags to adjust to wearing a rucksack. Meanwhile, I'm not thrilled that such a large percentage of my buys are still being returned or sold/donated within a year.

Targets For 2017
Overall, I'm pleased that my spending went down in 2016 but I'd still like to get it lower: below £600 ideally. It's also ridiculous that - a handful of items aside - the majority of what I wear on a day-to-day basis are items I've had in my wardrobe for two or more years. Good for getting wear out of things, yes, but it suggests that the majority of these new purchases aren't actually useful additions to my wardrobe. So in future the questions I'll ask are: Does it fill a gap in my wardrobe, and Does it go with something I already own? If the answers to either are "no" then I'll be leaving it in the shop.

18 comments:

  1. Someone will be very happy to find your cat T-shirt and your backpack, if you don't keep them! One of my clothes shopping problems is that I buy replacements for things I already have, only to find out the new one doesn't wear as well, so I hang onto the old one! I now have an increasing stack of blue sweaters and black tops.

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    1. Oh gosh I do this ALL the time too! Hence my ridiculous collection of striped tops....

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  2. I think it's great to keep track of your spending in such a detailed way! I can't imagine spending that much money in a year on clothes though... I hate shopping and I tend to wear (and love!) the same old things. I reckon I spent £100 max a year on clothes, and when I shop, it's because I need to replace something! Books on the other hand... maybe I should do the Buyers Archive to analyse my bookish spending habits, haha!

    On the subject, I did that quiz I saw here recently and did link to your post :)

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    1. My problem is that I love shopping, love clothes, but am fairly poor at actually finding/ buying clothes I actually want to wear.

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  3. Ooh I love these analytic posts! Surely tan shoes go with everything, that doesn't seem like bad purchasing ;) it's interesting that you note that most of your day-to-day items are older things - in the same on my bottom half (since I'm wearing jeans to work every day) but I do like the novelty of a new tshirt... there definitely some long worn favourites pulled out regularly though! :)

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    1. Tan shoes DO go with everything and this is why I am so addicted to them! This year I really struggled to find new dresses that became part of my everyday wardrobe, and as I still love wearing them I end up wearing a lot of older items.

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  4. I wish I'd kept it up (to shame myself mainly!) you've done quite well! I can't believe Missy hates the top so much - how bizarre!!

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    1. It's so weird, I really thought I was imagining it until she stalked me around the garden and pounced on me!

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  5. We have some very similar stats! I do love a good number crunch. I've been keeping track for 5 years and it does make a difference. I pondered a £600 target too, and now I feel the pressure is on ;)

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    1. Seeing your £600 target shamed me into setting it as mine!

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  6. I'm loving the stats and the fact that you made an actual pie chart. Graphs ftw. The post has made me think it might be worth keeping a similar record, at least in a notebook as I think it's really useful to be able to look back over a year or two. Hope you meet your Xmas 2017 targets :)

    Liz x
    Distract Me Now Please

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    1. Ooh I love a graph, I do. I think it is really helpful - having the photographic record helps me to be better at knowing what I already have and what I actually wear, too.

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  7. This SO interesting and definitely something which I would like to try. Although I don't feel like I spend much on my wardrobe, I would probably be surprised the minute I start actually logging it. S x

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    1. I know I had NO idea how much I spent until I started recording it, and was then horrified! This year, some months have been £30 and others over £100. It's useful to track when I spend the most so I can save in advance if necessary.

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  8. I love that there's a pie chart in here! I'm similar when purchasing stripes and manage to convince myself they're completely different to all the others I own whilst in the shop, only to return home and discover that I already have something practically identical!

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  9. I love this post!! I don't buy a lot of clothes but I love seeing what other people buy, and I think this is fascinating. It does intrigue me that Missy's afraid of the cat t shirt!! And if you do decide to sell the backpack, please give me a shout - I need to buy a decent new one ;)

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  10. The pie chart and the stats are great! Such a shame about the cat t-shirt, it is so very brilliant. I've been googling breton tops today as a few of mine are looking a bit ratty, am thinking of investing in a couple of Armor Lux ones but the ££!

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  11. The graph/pie chart though! So impressive. I think part of why I struggle to do the buyer's archive is if I buy something small like a t-shirt I rip off the tags right away, the end of month tallying is always problematic for me. And you know that 16% of a wardrobe being striped tops is never going to seem unreasonable to me! ;-) I'm pretty sure I bought a lot less this year than average (no data to back it up but still). Good work! :-)

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