New Year's Resolution: No New Clothes in 2013

A few pairs of never-worn socks from my sock drawer.

I'm not good at shopping for clothes and shoes: I shop impulsively. I shop out of boredom. I shop carelessly. I shop from a place of insecurity, and I shop to soothe myself. I buy clothes and shoes because I think they will change my life—that this or that new item will make me cool (finally), make me irresistible to men, earn me love, or make me love myself. I have bought things simply because I didn't want a friendly sales clerk to feel like he had wasted his time with me.

Basically, I shop like I shopped when I was 14—the problem is that, as a 40-something adult, I can do a lot more financial damage now than I could with part-time job money, no credit, and no real financial responsibilities.

I buy too much, and I stockpile: This year, I bought a pair of shoes that I really liked. And that's fine, but then I bought a second (identical) pair just to have in case the company stops making them before I want to replace them. (Oh, and I already have dozens of pairs of shoes.) I recently cleaned out my drawers and counted over 100 pairs of dress socks, many of them never worn. I have at least six shirts with the tags still on them, and more than one of those is more than a year old.

Everything still fits in my closet—I haven't gotten into Hoarders territory yet—but I recognize a problem in the way I buy clothes. The real kicker is that I tend to wear the same handful of outfits over and over! So one of 2013's resolutions is to buy no new clothes or shoes—all year. I don't need anything, and I will save thousands of dollars. And it's going to be challenging! (I was coveting a shirt I saw in an ad during a Facebook break taken while I was writing this.)

My other resolutions are mostly of the fun sort:

• Cook more (even if it's just for myself—I have too many cheese-sandwich dinners). 
• Write more (starting with this kinda boring blog post about my socks). 
• Practice meditation until I can actually do it. 
• Master some interesting cocktail recipes (and have cocktail parties). 
• Grow a beard (just to see how it looks).
• Grow my business (Moxy Creative).
• Ride my new bike a lot. 

We'll check in next January to see how I did.