5 reasons shopping with friends is good for you

Some of you will think this post is rather obvious; after all, shopping with girlfriends is a pastime as old as time. I, however, am usually a solitary shopper. I recently had the opportunity to help a friend shop for some cute tops and dresses to be worn to her weekly swing dancing gatherings, and, in this year of not buying new clothes, I was surprised at how much fun I had and how fulfilling it was to shop for someone other than myself.

Why shopping with friends is good for you

1. Enjoy guilt-free browsing of pieces outside your budget
We all have those internal voices that keep even casual browsing from being as fun as it could be. One voice, the responsible, money-saving voice, is generally a good voice to listen to, but often that voice makes me overlook high quality pieces in favor of cheap ones that save me a few bucks, and I end up sorry later. Since I wasn't spending my money, I picked out pieces I would normally have overlooked, and I learned two things: 1) it doesn't hurt to try something on, even if it's expensive. In fact, you might find a cut or fit that you would not have discovered otherwise. 2) Sometimes it's better to spend a little more on a quality piece than pay the price of falling-apart-clothing later.

2. Enjoy judgment-free browsing of pieces in different sizes
The second voice that I often hear in my head while shopping is the voice that chastizes me about clothing size, making me feel bad about what does or doesn't fit my "ideal" size or body shape. Shopping for a friend, all such judgments were silenced. I love my friend. I have no pre-conceived notions about what sizes she "should" be wearing, so picking out clothes for her was fun. During our dressing room "fashion shows" (cue peppy music and rom-com dressing room movie montage) I was able to see my friend's beauty and provide a non-judgmental voice about what brought out her best features. It occurs to me that I ought to turn off the judgy voices about myself when I'm shopping too.

3. Enjoy the thrill of the hunt and the find, without the guilt of spending
I thought I would be a little sad doing all that shopping and taking nothing home with me. But I felt just as fulfilled helping my friend buy new clothes as I do when I buy something new for myself -- without the guilt of having spent extra money and adding to an already-full closet. The thrill of shopping, it turns out, is not really in owning a new piece, but in finding a great piece at a great price. Of course I'm looking forward to buying my own new clothes next year, but I need to remember that owning a new piece of clothing will not necessarily be as fulfilling as the hunt.

4. Learn from another person's shopping habits.
I learned some things while shopping with my friend. For instance, I learned that you can put items on hold at Marshalls. You guys are probably smarter than I am and you knew this already, but it was news to me. This is such a useful piece of knowledge because I can avoid bad purchase choices in the future by putting what I want on hold, looking elsewhere to be sure the things I put on hold are what I really want, and then coming back and purchasing only what is truly worthwhile. I also learned that saving up to purchase a lot of clothing in one trip is less stressful than my usual technique of squeezing whatever I want to buy into the margins of my budget each month.

5. Bond with friends!
This one ought to be a no-brainer, but really, shopping is a different kind of fun that my usual M.O. of coffee and conversation. We learned things about each other that we might not have learned otherwise, we bonded over our shared love of Keds, and we enjoyed our usual good conversation too. Along the way, we accomplished an important task, ending the day with 3 dresses (see photo, above -- bestill my stripe and polka-dot-loving heart!) and several tops -- all cute, versatile, comfortable, and perfect for swing dancing. But even if we hadn't found anything, at least the time would not have been wasted, because we still would have had good friend time. I will probably remain a solo shopper most of the time after this experience, but I hope that I will remember these fun times and try to recruit a friend or family member in my future clothes shopping excursions in 2015.
(Or in 2014, in case anyone wants to buy me clothes as gifts, which is allowed as part of the no-new-clothes challenge ;))