A graphic of a woman weighing up the shopping dos and don'ts
Episode 145 – The dos and don’ts of shopping for clothes

In this episode, we are talking about the key dos and don'ts when you are out shopping. They create a more methodical shopping method, and ensure you don't end up with unwanted things such as hangers that can really clutter up your home!
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Transcript of this podcast episode
Intro  0:07  
Welcome to today's episode of The Declutter Hub Podcast, your channel for super easy, no nonsense advice on how to declutter and organise your home. Please welcome your host professional organisers, Ingrid Jansen, and Lesley Spellman.

Ingrid  0:31  
Hello, and welcome listeners to Episode 145 of the Declutter Hub Podcast. I'm Ingrid. And I'm Lesley. If you have clutter and want to sort it out, this is the show for you. Now, in today's episode, Lesley and I are talking about the do's and don'ts when shopping for clothes.

Lesley  0:51  
Now, before we get started, you can do whatever you like when you're shopping. I am not going to sit here and lay down the law about the do's and don'ts. But if you struggle and shopping is something that you really want to get a handle on. Maybe some of our hints and tips will help you.

Ingrid  1:07  
Yes, exactly. Because it sounds a bit severe, doesn't it? The do's and don'ts when shopping for clothes, but exactly what LSU says, if you feel like you're kind of always shopping that little bit too much. And if you feel that it's really holding you back in your decluttering journey, because there's just too much stuff coming in all the time, and not enough leaving, then we hope that this podcast with the do's and don'ts of shopping for clothes is really going to help you.

Lesley  1:37  
Yes. And so we like to start to end on a positive. So we're going to start with the negative. Yeah, so we're going to do the don'ts first, aren't we? And then we're going to do the do's afterwards.

Ingrid  1:49  
Yeah, yeah, I know. That's, that's what feels better. Let's do the don'ts first, and then to dues.

Lesley  1:54  
Yeah, cuz people might switch off and get very quiet. Well, well, if we do the negative, I don't know. Really. Now I'm thinking do we do the dues. First, we do the don'ts. We need to stick to our guns and we need to do the don'ts first. So we should call it the don'ts and do's of shopping with that. Does that roll off the tongue? Don't do their shopping. I just made me laugh. I'm so sorry. I know that I shouldn't. That's not funny. Is it? Really? It's just tickled me today.

Ingrid  2:21  
Yeah, that's let's just get back to the task at hand and we need to get back to the task at hand. Come on, come on. So right, let's just do it. We've got five don'ts and five do's. So let's start with the don'ts then. And I think the first one is really should be don't shop for close to make yourself feel better. That will retail therapy. Lesley, everyone succumbs to it. You're feeling a bit knee. And you think oh, let me see if a combined new top med cheer myself up make me feel better. But it's often a mistake purchase then, isn't it?

Lesley  3:01  
Yeah. And that dopamine hit that we all get from retail therapy is very short lived, isn't it? It's very momentary. And that's the thing. So if we're feeling genuinely rubbish, and when we're just buying something, just because we want to make ourselves feel better, then that's never really a great reason. Is it? So we need to be aware of retail therapy and what comes along with that, don't we?

Ingrid  3:22  
Yes. And you know, you might not envisage yourself going to the shops actually with your shopping bags and going into seeing all the nice mannequins with all the clothes on. But it's the same for online shopping as well. Isn't it kind of browsing through pages and pages of oldest dresses or trousers or talking you think, Oh, like that, and then you before you know, you're clicking away for hours on end. And then you've got a basket full of stuff. And then it is so tempting to press that buy now button, isn't it Lesley?

Lesley  3:54  
Oh, yeah. In the Declutter. We talk all the time, though, about emotions and habits, and it's almost a process that you need to go through. So retail therapy can't be fixed overnight, you almost need to go through the rest of the decluttering and organising process. And simplification before that desire for retail therapy starts to weigh in as well. So it's almost at the end of your decluttering journey, isn't it?

Ingrid  4:17  
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And it's it's a hard habit to crack if you're so used to shopping all the time and and that's where the next one the next don't comes in as well. Don't get kind of tempted by those bargains that sale rack your if you're one who kind of loves to get a sale or something with money or for 30% off or whatever. And you're like, oh, every time I go to the shops, that's the first thing I want to have a little Snoop at and see if I can find something amazing. But it's so tempting to go off. It's 30% off or Oh, it's half price, or it's 70% and you don't even need it. But before you know it, it's in your baskets and you're you're at the tills paying for it.

Lesley  4:58  
I think a good strategy is Really think about whether or not you would have paid full price for that. That's quite a good gauge sometimes, isn't it? I know, of course, we Some of us need to buy things that are on sale. And that's the only way that we can buy things. But just really think about whether or not we you would have paid full price for something. And that will help you along your way.

Ingrid  5:16  
Yeah. Now the next don't is don't buy something you think, Oh, that might come in one day, or oh, I'm going to have a party in the future where I'm going to wear this item. When there's not even a party in your diary or you've got no special occasion. Don't go for the Oh, yeah, that coming? One might might come in handy.

Lesley  5:39  
Yeah, exactly. We talk a lot. Don't worry about living for the moment about having stuff in our lives that reflect the current you your current lifestyle, or not your past lifestyle, or your future lifestyle, because that's something that we all fall foul of. We keep things from the past. And we keep things for the future, just in case. And so really important when you're shopping is to think about today, is that something that I'm going to put in my wardrobe tonight, open those doors and be able to wear tomorrow or within the next week or so, really, really important. And that's why so many of us still have things hanging in our wardrobes with taxon.

Ingrid  6:14  
Yes, Lesley. And another one that happens a lot is that we kind of end up buying the same thing over and over and over and over and over again. Because it's a safe item to buy because we know we can wear it. We feel good in it. And then before you know it's one day you open your wardrobe and you're like why actually have I got 30 pairs of black trousers? Well, I wear the same three, four or five all the time, because it's a safe item. And then when you want that retail therapy thing, only because about black trousers, because I'm aware those

Lesley  6:51  
Yeah, exactly. It's that's definitely what we like to call it our go to items, and everybody's is different. You know, black trousers is one. For some people, it's leggings. For some people, it's a loose top. For some people, it's a little black dress, it very much depends, but you need to identify what your go to item is. And try and really evaluate how many of those have I got in my wardrobe? When do I really need another one? Really important. So don't fall foul of buying the same thing? repeatedly.

Ingrid  7:20  
Yes. And then another big don't is don't take the hanger home, leave the hanger in the shop, especially if you've got a one style hanger in your wardrobe. And you've made the switch to wooden hangers or velvet hangers or plastic hangers or you've got one type. Just leave the hangers in the shops, because the first thing you're going to do is come home, take the clothes off the hangers and throw the hanger away.

Lesley  7:45  
Yeah, it's a complete waste, isn't it? And so we really I think the shops are getting better at this as well asking you whether or not you want the hanger for so long used to get the hanger regardless of what you said. So it'd be snuck into the bag before you even knew it. But yeah, do get you get used to not take in those hangers, particularly if you don't need them. And in our experience, there are very few homes that need more hangers on their Ingrid who just need a little bit less stuff. Most people have got more than enough hangers for the clothes that they've got.

Ingrid  8:15  
Yes, definitely. Now, if you're thinking to yourself, oh, hangers, velvet hangers, wooden hangers, I want to know more. But we have a course in our membership, all about hanging clothes and how you need to do that in your wardrobes. And it even includes a hanger video. So if you think of yourself that interests me, I want to know more. Find out more about our membership on members multicultural hub.com.

Lesley  8:39  
Yes, we love to talk about hanger don't wear. We do have to hanger stow in the products we love as well. So we have the velvet hangers that we absolutely love. If anybody went through our wardrobe challenge recently, then you know all about the velvet hanger and you may be enjoying your new velvet hangers stash. And so we have those in our products. We love pages, not many things that we have the cakes, we're not really big fans of shopping things. Because we're not really big fans of buying things that you don't need. But velvet hangers on wooden hangers are definitely two things that we are big fans of and they are in our products. We love page.

Ingrid  9:16  
Yep. So if you want to know where they are, they're on Declutter. hub.com forward slash products. So check them out. Now Lesley, we have few. We've done the don'ts. Can we talk about the do's now, please?

Lesley  9:27  
Yeah, I'm just a word of warning. And I think there's a lot more don'ts but that's a very small list of don'ts. But yeah, let's cover the basics, haven't we now we can go on to what you do do when you shop in which is what I prefer. Because as we all know, I do love my clothes. And so I prefer the do's and the don'ts. Ingrid?

Ingrid  9:46  
Yeah. So what's your first do that Lesley, kick us off then?

Lesley  9:50  
Yeah, I think it's really important that if you are going to go out shopping and this takes us back to the kind of retail therapy idea. If you if you think yeah, I'm gonna go out shopping and really think about what's going to go out of my wardrobe when I bring something home. So if you're already packed to the brim with clothes, you need to operate a one in one out policy. So if something's going to come in, in principle you need it, something needs to go out quite often. And if people are overwhelmed with clutter, you might even go for a one in two out policy to get things under control. So sometimes just that kind of right, well, I've got to think about two things. Or one thing that needs to leave my wardrobe to make place for this new thing that I'm going to buy is enough to put you off, isn't it? And so if you are going to buy something new, think about what it's going to replace.

Ingrid  10:38  
Yes, that's a really good point, Lesley. And you can also see you know, what also might help is, before you go shopping, just have a little rummage through your wardrobe. Find out do you actually have hangers now spare that you can hang those new clothes on? If you can't move when you've got no spare hangers at all? How you're going to put that item in your cupboards. So that one in one out rule I think works really, really well. The second do and I think that's really important that I do this a lot, especially when I shop for for my kids. I show up with a list because I go through the cupboards before I go shopping and a look how many trousers have they got? How many shorts? How many T shirts? Do they have a hoodie? Do they have enough socks? Is there still underwear? What's the current situation? And I then write a tiny little list to go okay, so I need to show up for two trousers, three pairs of shorts, a pair of pyjamas, a pack of socks, and a try to ride down two sizes because they're growing so fast. You think, oh, what size are they now? What's the current size and that kind of thing? Okay, I need to get the next size up. So that really helps me. When I'm shopping. My son couldn't care less I can basically buy anything for him. My daughter now goes with me so she can immediately say, Oh, I like that or no, I don't fancy that and we need to look for something else.

Lesley  12:01  
Yes, shopping with a list sounds like you're gonna buy a lot of stuff. I'm not gonna lie with a list like that. It's like a shopping list when he goes through your pen. Gone your list?

Ingrid  12:09  
Well, not that many just some socks and some underwear and pyjamas and T shirts and then maybe a hoodie or look for a raincoat or a new pair of shoes. But I shopped twice a year for the kids once and

Lesley  12:22  
that's a big hole. He likes 27 items in one shop. Yeah, Ingrid is not a shopper just for the avoidance of doubt. She is not a shopper. I'm like, why are you buying all those statements at the same time? But yeah, do you know what buying for kids is a little bit easier because you can almost mark out how many things that they need. Because in this country in the UK, our kids wear school uniform generally. And so we know that they don't need those day to day outfit as part of when they go out. And you know, they're only wearing those two or three times a week. Obviously, they need a set amount of underwear and so on. So I think kids are a little bit easier to shop with a list for aren't they?

Ingrid  12:57  
Yeah, definitely. But even for myself, you know, what I normally try to do is when I think oh, the summer is coming or the winter is coming. I kind of look in my wardrobe first. What have I got? Because you always think oh yeah, we forgot I had that. Or oh yeah, that's a top about last year but it's not in you forgotten you had it. So I have a little look and see if I go shopping what I need to look for because I am not a shopper. I actually plan. When I go to the shops. I don't suddenly randomly wander into the town centre and think let me go shopping it for me. It doesn't work like that. But that works for me. And I'm not a shopper, but I'm hoping maybe my ideas make people think and he's like, Oh, can you make a list? Yes, you can make a list. Absolutely. Yeah, well,

Lesley  13:46  
your your your ideas of shopping are not going to rub off on me. I will continue on my path of shopping. Thank you very much, Ingrid. I do like to declutter. So we're okay, I do sharp but I do Declutter. So because I do like a change. You know, I like a change. And I do like to look at things and think, Oh, that's nice. But I do think about a one in one out policy, what can that replace? So I regularly Declutter. So I never get overwhelmed with the amounts that I've got. Yeah, exactly. I think as well, that, you know, just talking about the fact that I like a change is an interesting one, because the one that we've got coming up next, which is by well and make it last a really, really good thing to think about. So we're at the hands of fast fashion at the moment aren't where there's an awful lot of things that are super, super cheap, that are kind of almost designed to be a little bit throwaway, aren't they to wear a couple of times and then get rid of perhaps other things that are age but certainly for younger kids. fast fashion is a big thing. You know, you can go to shops, you can buy things for five pounds, seven pounds, and then you really don't feel any great desire to wear them 3040 50 times a year. So it's an interesting one, and once you get a little bit older, I think it's important to maybe spend a little bit more money on your clothing. And to try and make it last longer. Yeah.

Ingrid  15:04  
And interesting is I think somebody posted something really interesting. And she said, if you buy something for 200 pounds, but then end up wearing it 50 times, because it's really well made, it's a classic piece, it's only 44 pounds per wear. But if you buy something for 25 pounds and end up wearing it only three times, you pay about, it's about eight pounds per wear. So the classic pieces, the things that last in the washing machine that last with dry cleaning, that last, when you wear it over and over and over again, in the end are always cheaper, it's just that the investment is is larger.

Lesley  15:51  
Yeah, it's definitely useful, isn't it to look at cost per wear, I mean, I definitely do that with, you know, quite often I'll buy a new pair of winter boots each season, because I'm quite heavy on MFI, and so my shoes don't last forever. And so, but I don't mind paying more for a winter pair of boots, because chances are, I'm going to have those boots on pretty much every day throughout the winter. And so the cost per wear then is very small on those. Whereas if I buy a pair of going out shoes that I love, you know, those kinds of shoes that you fall in love with it, you're gonna wear on one night out, you might only wear those five or 10 times you know, and so if you pay a lot of money for those, that it's as you said, the the cost per wear is going to be a lot a lot more.

Ingrid  16:30  
Yeah. And I think as well as the it's not only about buying well and making items last, you need to think about what you're buying. Think about the outfits, not just the one item. If you buy a new top, where does it fit? How many? Do you have a trouser or skirt or long skirt or anything? Can you wear that top in different different outfits? Can you maybe get a jacket to go over a top that you can wear on different tops. So you've got you get more aware of it. Especially if you've got quite an outspoken tastes. And you'll use quite bold colours and bold patterns, you need to really think about how can I make use of this item? So don't just wear the one time because people are gonna think, oh, that's her and then that top again? How can you make sure that it fits into the clothes you already have?

Lesley  17:24  
Yeah, it's really important, isn't it? So think about what is this actually going to go with? Because we do of course we fall foul of things being on that approximately gorgeous, I'd really like that top but not really think through how that's going to fit into your current lifestyle. And current wardrobe. Really. So that's super important as well. So have we got any more dues? Are we allowed to do any more dues?

Ingrid  17:46  
Yeah, I think I've got one more Lesley, if you can try on in the shops. If you're going shopping for clothes, make sure if the changing rooms are open, try the clothes on. Because then immediately you can see, do I like the material? does it sit properly on me? Is it the right size? Do I need the size smaller? Do we need the size bigger? Is it he? Or does it feel really comfortable? Is that always the neckline really low? And does it gate quite a lot? Do I like the arms? All of those things that you can already then try on in the shop. So you have better success in the purchases you make?

Lesley  18:27  
Yeah, man is that was possible or practical is it's a trial and sometimes but I think it's it's useful. And the same thing a lot of us now buy shopping, buy clothes, then online. And so equally, what tends to happen, we see this with clients, don't we Ingrid, we see returns sitting there for months on end and going past the point that they can be returned. And so this is the reason why we talk about this. Because experience shows us that you have to be really on top of returns. And if you tend to be a more disorganised and organised person, that's the kind of thing that goes by the wayside. And that's when you make mistakes, that's when you spend money that you don't need to you forget about returning them. Quite often we see parcels that are not even being opened because people have forgotten what's inside them. And they get buried under other clutter. And then six months later, they come up for air, and it's too late to return them. So it's really, really important to try things on as soon as you can after you buy them or ideally in the shop or when they appear through the post. And then to have a very robust returns policy to make sure that it's possible for you to go back to that shop to return them or to return them straightaway online that that process is simple. It's not going to cost you a lot of money. You know, because it is a real problem as Ingrid and the clutter that we see.

Ingrid  19:42  
Yeah. Without a shadow of a doubt. I mean, over the years I think the more and more we've become used to online shopping, the bigger this problem has gotten because it can be really overwhelming when suddenly this whole box of clothes shows up and it's like oh, now I need to Try them on. And then the you got a busy couple of days ahead of you. And then you forget about anything, I'll get around to it, I get around to to get around to it. And then but the moment you get around to it, it's like, oh, oh, the 28 days have already gone or you've lost the form that you need to fill in to send stuff back, or the boxes cost or the return envelope which disappeared. And then it gets really tedious to do these kinds of jobs. So really make sure that when you shop online, if it arrives scheduled time in your diary to go, right, I'm going to try these clothes on and I'm going to take action on the things that I no longer want.

Lesley  20:36  
Yeah, really, really important. In fact, it's potentially one of the most important things within this whole podcast, get on top of your returns, because that's one of the biggest clutter problems that we see.

Ingrid  20:46  
Yeah. And not only with clothes less you also with other bits and bobs around the house. Close definitely the most I think shoes, clothes, all of those kinds of things. Definitely. Well, listeners. These were our five do's and don'ts,

Lesley  21:02  
don'ts and do's don'ts and do's Oh

Ingrid  21:06  
yes, these were the five don'ts and do's of shopping for clothes. So we hope this was helpful and that you've enjoyed listening and are inspired to take action because that's what we are all about here at the declutter hub. We appreciate you listening to us. And if you've enjoyed this podcast to share it with other people. The sharing buttons are on our show notes page on our website. So do tell other people about our podcast. If you want more handy tips of less CNI. Come and join us in our Facebook group to declutter hub community. We have a great time in there and such a supportive and guided group of people. We are also an Instagram we've got a Facebook page and a YouTube channel if you want to be inspired even more. Now if you don't want to miss our next podcast, subscribe to the clutter have podcast and it will pop into your notifications each Friday. Thanks so much for listening. I will see you next time.

Outro  22:06  
Thanks for listening to this week's episode of The declutter hub podcast. Check out declutterhub.com for more inspiration. Don't forget to tune in next week.
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