Going cold turkey

You have been waiting patiently in line for the checkout when finally it is your turn to claim your prize, to hand over the cash knowing that one swipe later, the gorgeous must-have items that you have scoured from the rails will be yours. Yours to wear with confidence and yours to love and to cherish. But hold on a minute, don’t you already have tens of t-shirts like the one you are handing to the happily waiting cashier? Don’t you have two or three skirts to go with that fabulous chiffon blouse that you have not got round to wearing yet? Well, yes probably, but who’s asking?

Then suddenly as you are caught up in your very own catwalk moment while your card is being authorised, the now not-so-friendly sales assistant promptly and not-so-discreetly tells you that your card has been declined. DECLINED. Fashion fantasy over, finance reality is staring you in the face.

The trouble with shopping is that there comes a point where self control is the must-have accessory, never mind the hot new tasselled clutch that has just arrived at Topshop. Self control and the idea of putting sense before lust is something that I must learn and really put into action. This may involve just steering clear of the rails emblazoned with sale stickers and ‘just in’ logos but fundamentally it has to be about building up a wardrobe that I can be happy with for months and not feel the need to buy something to add to my vast collection of clothes at every retail stop I take.

It sounds drastic, I know. And as a student with little income and even littler disposable cash, I have decided that for now, going cold turkey is the answer, at least until my bank account sees the light at the end of the tunnel anyway. This means that over the next couple of months I will do my best to buy absolutely no clothes, zilch, nada. So my journey to becoming a more sensible shopper begins here and I will document my progress herein. I am not willing to be confronted by another sympathetic shop worker any time soon, but I can still allow myself to live in a fabulous, fantasy-ridden world of fashion, wish me luck.