By now every week I find myself scrolling through Shein or Zara and end up with packages of stuff I just put away without even wearing. I know it's an environmental disaster, especially after watching that documentary about textile waste in Bangladesh. How do you guys manage to resist impulse purchases and only buy what you actually need?
What helps me most is waiting at least a week before confirming a purchase - I add it to cart and then forget the link. If after seven days I still think I need it, then maybe I'll buy it, but 90% of the time I realize it was just an impulse. Another stupidly simple strategy is deleting the apps from my phone and only accessing them through the browser, because those extra three clicks are enough to stop me; plus I keep a list of things I actually need in Notes, so when I feel like scrolling through Zara at least I compare it to that list instead of getting lost in random stuff. Finally, I try to do a mental calculation of the cost per wear - if a piece costs 15 euros but I only wear it once, it actually costs way more than I think - and that's really changed my perspective.
The trick that works for me is photographing the clothes I already have in my wardrobe and keeping the photos on my phone - when I see something online, I compare it to what I own, and 90% of the time I realize I already have something similar that I don't even wear. After a while you start to hate the idea of more useless stuff piling up at home, and the urge to buy just goes away on its own.
Don't download the app, that's the key 🚫 On the browser it's more of a pain to scroll and pay, it gives you time to think twice. I deleted Shein from my phone like two months ago and stopped buying random stuff, now if I want something I have to open the site on my PC and usually I get bored before I even reach checkout 😅 what really helped was realizing that every time I click "buy" I'm basically throwing money down a black hole - I don't wear it, I just throw it away, end of story.
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