Bài đọc 2
Last January, after counting forty-three items in my wardrobe that I had never or almost never worn, I made a decision: for one whole year, I would not buy a single piece of new clothing.
There were a few exceptions, which I wrote down in advance so that I could not cheat. I was allowed to buy underwear and socks, and to replace anything that was completely worn out, but only with a second-hand item. Gifts were allowed, as long as I did not ask for them.
The first two months were surprisingly difficult. I had not realised how often I bought clothes without really thinking, usually online late at night or on my lunch break when I was bored. Shopping, I discovered, was less about needing things and more about filling time. Whenever I felt the urge to buy something, I made myself wait seventy-two hours. By then, the urge had almost always disappeared.
Instead of shopping, I started looking again at what I already owned. I took two jackets that no longer fitted me properly to a tailor, who altered them for less than the price of one new jacket. I learned to sew on buttons and repair small holes, skills my grandmother had tried to teach me when I was ten. I also organised a clothes swap with friends: each of us brought five things we no longer wore, and we went home with someone else's.
By the end of the year, I had saved around £1,200, but the money was not the most important result. I had stopped feeling that I had "nothing to wear", even though I owned fewer clothes than before. Getting dressed in the morning had become quicker and easier, because I knew and liked everything in my wardrobe.
I have started buying clothes again, but much less often and more carefully. Before I buy anything now, I ask myself one simple question: will I still want to wear this in five years' time? Usually the answer is no.