The smart way to go shopping
Idea
Did you ever bought a piece of clothing never to wear it, or maximum once or twice? We are often excited about a piece in the shop however when we check it a few days later it’s actually not so exciting anymore, or maybe it was even a bad decision to buy it. There is a smarter way to go about clothes shopping.
How?
The way I shop for clothes, or generally, anything is that I have a list of things which I would like to buy. I keep this clothes shopping list in Evernote, so I can always check the list from my phone. Whenever I have the chance to buy some clothes, I’ll simply check the list and ask directly for the items which I would like to buy. This way I will not buy anything that I don’t need. If I see any additional item which I consider buying I will think it through first and then decide or add it to the list to check. Shopping takes less time as I’m looking for specific things, trying them on or moving to the next shop if they don’t have the ones I’m looking for.
I prefer having a rather minimal wardrobe with easily matchable items. I have to admit that I have a huge collection of biking clothes (after 6-7 years of biking this is probably natural), however, this means I go out biking in each weather condition. Winter time and snowfall are no exceptions.
Clean your wardrobe
For me, it’s a nice feeling when I give away some clothes regardless of the reason. Either the size doesn’t match me anymore or simply because I don’t wear that piece. It’s a good idea to check your wardrobe after each season and give away all the clothes which:
- You never wear
- You wore 1-2 times in the last season. Although probably it’s a good idea to keep your suit, even if you don’t wear it that often.
Actually, the same concept could be applied to any shopping
- Groceries
- Technical items like gadgets, phones
Although Evernote supports lists with checkmarks check out Wunderlist if you’re looking for a simple checklist software for your phone / browser / computer.
Next steps
- Clean your wardrobe
- Write a shopping list of clothes
- Write a shopping list of other products
Balise
2018-11-17 at 22:01I don’t shop for clothes, so that’s not an issue 😉 but our “grocery shopping” process is fairly well tuned by now (and probably quite similar in spirit to your clothes shopping).
1/ Plan menus for the meals you intend to take at home, taking into account stuff you already have if you have stuff that need to be cooked “soon”
2/ Check the ingredients of the recipes, check fridge and pantry to determine what’s already available, make a list of the rest
3/ Maintain a list of “specialty items” that are only available in some places – by place – we use Google Keep instead of Evernote, and we have a “general shopping list” and “specific places lists”
4/ Also maintain a list of “stuff that you need but typically don’t need to buy” – typical exemple, olive oil. We keep the “current” bottle and one bottle in storage; when the “current” bottle is done, the one in storage becomes the “current” one, and we put “olive oil” on the list. Same for general pantry items that have enough “turnover” that it makes sense to have some in storage; stuff like spices and similar we just make a note whenever the “current” is almost over (that’s, however, more error-prone than to link it to “opening the one that’s in storage” – we may or may not have three jars of dried oregano at home right now :P)
5/ Shop for stuff, and typically don’t add anything to what’s on the list during shopping.
Advantages: very little overhead during the week for meal prep (because everything is already planned and shopped for), and virtually no food spoilage (not saying it NEVER happens, but it definitely happens less than, say, 5 times a year). It takes a bit of discipline to maintain that at all time, but I’m lucky enough that my husband has discipline for two 😉
András Kapros
2018-11-18 at 13:45Great comment Isa,
I do a similar method to yours, I usually keep 1-2 bottles of extra olive oils and I do this for other products too which don’t go bad in the pantry. If I see that I use my last bottle or one before the last, I’ll add it to the list. I never really run out of these things this way.
Luckily I can buy vegetables, eggs, cheese, and yogurt almost any time as the farm nearby has the usual vending machine system in place which is open from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. So even if I have to skip any additional shopping I can make a very nice meal 😀