TWELVE months ago Jacey Lamerton set herself a challenge not to buy any new clothes for a year.

Can you imagine? Not even a new pair of undies. Or tights. And when she had a special occasion to go to, she had to dig deep in her wardrobe.

And a deep dig it was.

You see, Jacey, a self-confessed fashionista who had an addiction for shopping in charity shops, had piles of stuff. Before she started the challenge, she made an inventory of her clothes, it totalled: 38 dresses, 23 cardigans, eight skirts, 24 coats and jackets, eight tops, seven pairs of trousers, 14 jumpers, 11 pairs of leggings and a whopping 61 T-shirts. She didn't count her shoes (but there were plenty).

Her challenge was inspired by Jen Gale, author of the blog, My Make Do and Mend Life. Jacey joined Jen's page on Facebook and began her shopping ban last September.

At first she really, really missed shopping. One of her favourite pastimes was trawling round second-hand shops on a Saturday afternoon.

"At first I was bored. When Saturday afternoon came around, I didn't know what to do with myself - had to find other things to do."

Luckily, Jacey, who is a writer, is also a good seamstress. She started making herself some clothes - not lots, but the projects kept her occupied at weekends and gave her some new dresses to wear come spring.

During the 12 months, she only fell off the wagon once. She was having a weekend break in London with some friends, browsing the stalls at Portobello Road Market.

"I came across these second-hand shoes in my favourite shade of blue. They were in my size, so I tried them on. My friends urged me to buy them. I turned them over to look at the price and they were called Jacey - they literally had my name on them."

In for a penny, she later bought some more shoes and a dress from Mary Portas's second-hand store in the area.

But on her return to York, she climbed back on the wagon, and stayed there until her year of no-fashion shopping was up.

So how did she find it - and what lessons did she learn?

"As time went by, I found it easier to stay out of shops. I saw friends more. I began to realise I didn't miss having new things all the time. If a special occasion came up, I looked through my wardrobe and found things to wear and nobody said: 'what, that old thing again!'."

It also focused her mind on what she really liked wearing, what suited her and eventually helped her redefine her own personal style.

And it led to a decluttering of her wardrobe, leaving her with the items she really loves to wear, and which suit her.

Some other members of the Facebook group say the experiment led them to scaling back their wardrobe to a very small capsule collection of just 12 items.

Jacey says she never intended to go that far. "I was really anti that. There is a joy in clothes and getting new things to wear. There is a delight in having an outfit for that day and being a different person for that day and putting things together in a new way."

She certainly hasn't lost her love of fashion. As soon as the anniversary was up she went shopping and bought herself a pair of jeans and a pretty shirt to wear with them. She didn't feel guilty (she saved hundreds of pounds from the shopping ban over the year).

The top is from Maude & Tommy, which sells ethically produced fashions, from its boutique on Grape Lane. Jacey said she tried to shop ethically, normally in charity shops, and would still do this, but be more mindful in the future.

She said: "The compulsion to go into a charity shop and buy something for a quick fix is now gone.

"It's been a good experience. I has made me turf lots of things out.

"I was addicted to bargains. I wasn't hurting anybody, I wasn't spending beyond my means, but I really didn't need to consume like that.

"When you buy something cheap, you get a quick fix and a bit of a buzz and you can get addicted to that buzz. Like an addict, you have to go cold turkey."

You can read more of Jacey's story on her blog: timeandsilence.co.uk