Clothes Fast update!!

Greetings! I’m almost 2 months into the clothes fast. It’s still going...

When I began this fast, I seemingly had everything I needed for the year. Since then I’ve had 2 pairs of trousers get holes in them, which have had to be repaired with patches and my flip-flops are cracking at the toe bit. I think any further cracks and I’ll be getting the superglue out. I have of course got other sandals/flip-flops, but they’re just not pretty pink ugg ones.

So it’s 2 months down 10 to go!! It’s not that easy, I’m in Tavistock with Abi this week. We went into a few lovely little shops today, where I would normally be thinking, “ooh must get this, I won’t find this anywhere else” etc. well I’m still thinking that! I really wanted to buy a very cool Tavistock hoody, but instead tried to persuade Abi to buy one, but she declined! Then we went to Fat Face where I stroked some pretty jumpers.

To remind anyone as to why I’m doing this, it’s because the money I would have spent buying clothes to satisfy my own self’s needs, is going to be used to help the beautiful Thai children living in big institutions who broke my heart. I’ve decided to specifically use this money now to sponsor a long-term volunteer Julia Valentine, to help her continue the amazing work she does out there at the girls’ home.

For anyone interested in supporting the work in Thailand, there are a few ways to can get involved. Firstly, I’m setting up a BT My Donate page (like Just Giving, but the charity get all the money), for For Life Thailand. This is the UK arm of the Thai Charity CCD, enabling it to continue with its wonderful work. This BT My Donate page is for anyone who wanted to sponsor me to do this, or perhaps if anyone was wanting to have their own clothes fast for a certain amount of time, could donate the money they would have spent to my BT My Donate page. For Life are going to register with this page and then this will be set up in the next few weeks.

Secondly, I’m actually going out to Thailand mid October for 2 weeks to work in the girls’ home where I worked earlier this year. For this there’s lots of ways to help, I'll be taking the girls out on as many trips as I can manage, so trip money is really appreciated. We often take the children swimming, for ice-cream, dinner etc. so money to fund these trips is really helpful. Ten pounds for example would fund a trip for 4-5 girls to go swimming and have dinner. Any trip money not spent will be left with the volunteers out there for future trips.

Another way of helping here is to support the volunteers. All the volunteers work really really hard for free. They have to be completely self-funding and the long-term volunteers especially live on quite a strict budget. Long-term volunteers are vital for keeping projects running smoothly and supporting short-term volunteers. Living in Thailand can be extremely hard. When I was volunteering I found it really important to do social things outside of work, such as going to the cinema, going for dinner, usually western themed (air-con, good coffee etc!). These are things which are on my doorstep at home and that I very much take for granted. When living in Pakkred (which is on the outskirts of Bangkok and very Thai) it’s quite expensive to go to Western places and also quite an effort when you’re so exhausted, but I found it vital to help deal with the emotional rollercoaster that comes with working in the orphanages.

Finally I’m just having a bit of a fund-raise to buy supplies of fortisip, which is a build up drink we give to poorly or very thin girls. The volunteers are almost out of stock of this, so desperately need more supplies. It’s another really good way of supporting the girls, when you can’t be there yourself.

Thank you from everyone’s support and interest so far, the next blog update will likely be whilst I’m in Thailand  with the beautiful girls xx

My 1 year clothes fast - the beginning july 2012

So I’m having one of those days where i want to make a change. I’ve just signed up to Rhythms, which is part of Tearfund (www.tearfund.org.uk) and found some really interesting points.

Firstly, seeing where i am in the global rich list (www.globalrichlist.com) I’m in the top 97%! Even on my NHS physio wage, a very humbling thought. I posted it on my Facebook, wondering how many other people it may affect.  

Secondly, I came across a blog from a lady who didn’t buy any clothes for a year, i was interested. I like a bit of a challenge. Realistically I’m not a huge shopper and go through phases of having huge clearouts and giving it all to charity shops. However as I read on, there were a few things that really hit home for me.

Like the lady in the blog, I use shopping to treat myself, especially if I’ve lost weight there’s a real sense of satisfaction buying clothes that are perhaps a size smaller than normal. My clothes give me at times an enhanced sense of self-worth. Not to mention feeling a little superior, if I’m wearing a brand or something more unique. I am therefore at times guilty of “buying” my sense of self and as highlighted by the rich list, I can apparently afford to do this. Shopping can however at times have the opposite effect on me, if I’ve put on weight, trying to find things that fit can be sometimes sole destroying. 

In more recent years though I have become more aware of the above habits and although I could use shopping to make me feel better, I realise this isn’t the solution for me. At this point I think it’s important to highlight that I do not have an opinion or judgement on anyone else who does enjoy shopping, this is just me.

Over the last couple of years shopping has started to feel really self-indulgent. From initially saving up to have a 6 month career break, to going away and working with the beautiful girls who live in the large orphanages in Thailand. These girls have none of their own clothes and all wear the same oversized t-shirts and baggy shorts, every single day. The only time they wear anything else, is when the volunteers take them out on trips and for that they get to wear something different. The volunteers have a small collection of clothes that the girls can choose from. They get to wear them for a few hours before having to put their “ward clothes” back on. But they are not their clothes, a week later some of the other girls will be wearing them on a trip.

Despite saying all of the above you may be thinking why am I considering this, when I am clearly already aware of how self-indulgent shopping can be? I believe however, that I do still have some dis-jointed views on the value of shopping and labels and the impact on my self-image and there’s always room for improvement. I still have days where I “feel” like I have no clothes. At this point however, I’m embarrassed to say I currently have a double wardrobe; 3 drawer chest of drawers; a drawer under my bed that are all stuffed with clothes. Not to mention the pile on my stool; the items randomly lying on my old computer; the things hanging on the back of my door; the big box of shoes in my wardrobe; the overflowing shoe rack downstairs. I also have clothes out on the line and in the airing cupboard and last but probably not, there are a few odd bits in my car. Gosh I cringe at the thought!

Ok, so the challenge...1 year without shopping, ooh I feel a little bit sick as I write this. Why not 6 months, or 5 and a half, in time for me going to Thailand so I can stock up at the markets? No, I get the feel it needs to be longer. I panic; do I have enough clothes to sustain me? I believe the answer to this lies in the paragraph above!

The rules:

1: No shopping for anything for myself for 1 year. This includes clothes, shoes, jewellery, bags etc but does not include toiletries or food – that’s too much!

2: I cannot accept any of the excluded items as gifts.

I would suggest to anyone desperate to buy me these things to donate the money they would have spent to CCD www.ccdthailand.org or For Life Thailand http://4lifethailand.org  (UK arm of the same charity). I too plan to donate money I would have likely spent on shopping, to the above charities. I hope that this blog may inspire others, raise awareness and help us who don’t already know, realise and appreciate how lucky we are. I plan to update this blog as and when during the year.