I lost my job this week. This is no furlough, like I had earlier this year. This is permanent. I’ll be sorry to leave the place I’ve worked as a web and graphic designer for the past eight years and my boss is sorry to see me go, but our research group is grant-funded and, “in these tough economic times,” there just isn’t a lot of grant money for research right now.
Yesterday, my husband sat down and worked out a new budget for us, figuring out how we can get by with our income halved. We discussed various ways we can save money, cutting back on our cable service and newspaper subscriptions, for example. Having just started writing in this blog again, I thought of one way I can help.
I am setting my clothing budget to $0 for the next year, or until I get a new job, whichever comes first. I have plenty of stuff stashed away in my closets; I don’t imagine it’ll be at all hard to manage. Plus, I’m used to keeping and using clothes much longer than most people do (thus the title of this blog – I probably have socks older than some of y’all).
Terms and conditions: Clothing given as gifts doesn’t count. So, if I get some pajamas for Christmas, for example, I’m not giving them back. Exchanges or payment-in-kind is also OK, like when a lady knit me a scarf to thank me for making a poster for her church event. I just can’t spend any money on clothes.
I’ll be checking in on my progress occasionally. And, with any luck, before the year is out I will be ending the $0 Budget Challenge soon because I need to buy some clothes for my new job.
I’m so sorry about the job loss. I hope you find something new very quickly. Going without new clothes is surprisingly easy. I’ve really only bought socks and underwear since moving here and that’s been more than a year.
It’s surprisingly easy to not buy clothes – I’ve managed a 5 year stretch with no clothing purchases before (mainly because I have a cousin who has a wear once and give away policy) it’s also quite handy if you have mates the same size – you can have clothes swapping parties..
My friend Erin (have I mentioned her to you before? I feel like I have, but maybe I mentioned YOU to HER) has spent the last year trying to recover from purchasing clothing like crazy, and has a blog dedicated to working with what she’s got: http://workwithwhatyouvegot.blogspot.com.