Monthly Clothing Purchases - September 2025

I didn't really expect to continue with these posts after leaving work, but the habit of buying second hand clothes hasn't really abated, as it is too ingrained a habit. I paid a visit to my favouite out of town charity shop at the beginning of the month and bought this 100% cotton dress for £5.  I  subsequently made a post about how I turned this into a tiered skirt and I'm very happy with it's transformation.

On the same visit, I also bought this 100% cotton khaki blouse for £3. This will be good to wear under a dungaree dress now the weather is gettting cooler. I do prefer it buttoned to the top, so it will possibly also look good worn under a sweater vest . In any case, it was too nice to leave behind for the quality and price and I've got quite a few khaki items in my wardrobe that I can wear it with.

I then bought an item at an Essex car boot sale I went to in September. Almost as soon as I bought it, I regretted it, as I hadn't tried it on and I was convinced it might be too tight and unflattering, despite it being one size fits all. Anyway, when I got back to the car I tried it on and was pleasantly surprised to find that it fitted reasonably loosely and wasn't as unflattering as I imagined. 

It was new and cost £5 and is made of a soft cotton sweatshirt material, so I think it will be comfortable to wear, even if only for around the house. It combines two of my favourite styles: animal prints and dungarees. What's not to love. Also, when out and about in Whitby whilst we were away in September, I saw the exact same item priced at £24.99, so maybe I did get a bargain here.

Talking of our visit to Yorkshire this month, I did indulge in a bit of thrifting whilst there, which was a bit self-indulgent, but I had some time to kill when OH was cycling and used it to explore the charity shops in Malton, near where we were staying one night.

I bought three items in the charity shops there. 

The first was this denim style blouse for £6.50, which is from M&S originally. I like the frilly collar and cuffs and will enjoy wearing this under a sweater or knitted vest this autumn. 

The second item was this red leopard print layered skirt by George at ASDA. It is 100% cotton, was new with tags and cost £5. I really like it though. I didn't actually spend money on this, as I used a gift voucher I got from work to pay for it, which helped the budget. 

The third item I bought was this long denim skirt by Nutmeg at Morrison's for £3. I found it hard to leave it behind at this price. This will look great with long chunky sweaters and boots this winter and I've wanted one for a while, so I was happy to bring this home with me at such a good price.

I made another clothing purchase at a car boot sale in Yorkshire, before we came back to London. It was a black cotton vest for £1. I wear these a lot in the summer under dresses and with other outfits, so I'm always happy to add another one to my wardrobe if it's a good price.

Finally, I spent £6 at the Jumble trail the other week on two items. One was this cotton summer dress for £3 which is nice and flowy and I'll hopefully get some wear out of it next year.

The other was this cotton Zara top, which I also paid £3 for, but have since altered it by removing the sleeves, so I'm using a picture of the transformed version here.

In total then, I spent £34.50 on clothes this month, which is more than I expected to, but it is an improvement on recent monthly spending totals, so I'm slowly making progress.