Week 9: Finishing Strong

It’s finished. We can all buy clothes again. This really hasn’t been as difficult as I thought it would be, but I’ve also been too busy to shop, which probably helped. I am glad to have my freedom back, though. It’s nice to be able to decide whether or not I’ll get a new shirt or pair of jeans this week. Maybe I’ll even get to replace my holey ballet flats.

Only time will tell whether this assignment helped my hone my decision-making skills, but I think I’ll find it has. If nothing else, it’s helped the budget over the last month.

Week 8: The Purpose of the Assignment?

I slipped up a little. I bought a tube of lipstick. If I hadn’t been doing this project, it would have been a great purchase. It’s all-natural, a great color, and I got a discount. But it was against the assignment rules. 

This started me thinking: What is the real purpose of this project? I’ve been asking myself that for years, and it can get me into trouble when the answer is, “to help students learn the information”. As someone who learns by reading or hearing, those assignments always seemed excessive. That’s clearly not the purpose for this, so I figured it was safe to think it through. 

I have come to the conclusion that the purpose of this assignment is to make us more conscious consumers, break the shopping habit cycle, and equip us to make better decisions in the future. 

My purchase was opposed to these goals because it was an impulse buy. If I had planned ahead that I would get it, it would have been fine. (Assuming it was not during the project). What do you think? Is my understanding correct, or do you have a different theory of what this project means in the long run?

Week 7: Spring Break

This was actually an easy week. It’s amazing how little you’re tempted to spend money when you don’t really have any extra. We’re saving for a trip to Arkansas to see my best friend graduate and for moving this May. I’m really looking forward to having both spending money and the freedom to buy new clothes. 

I’ve started a list of things I wish I could buy, and I’m hoping it will help me spend wisely once this project ends. Not only will it help me focus my shopping, but after thinking on it, I would guess many things on the list will be taken off. Time can make you realize that some things aren’t as important as they seem right away. In fact, I may institute that as a permanent rule: if I want something, it goes on the list. If I still think it’s worth buying a week later, I’ll get it.

Week 6: Settling into Routine

This week wasn’t really difficult for me. I’ve learned to just avoid going places where I’ll be tempted. It helps that I’m too busy to go shopping, anyway. If I do get time to go buy things, it’s fabric and notions for the fashion show. Not buying fashion items has been easier than I expected, probably because it’s helping me find long-lost shoes and products. I still haven’t managed to get a capsule wardrobe together. That’s the plan for this week, since I’ll actually have a little time.

My tennis shoes died this week, less than a week after I lost my ballet flats. I can’t make this kind of stuff up. I haven’t actually needed new shoes in 6 months, but now, when I can’t buy anything, I need to replace both of my everyday shoes. Life is funny sometimes.

I predict this next week will be difficult, since I don’t have any classes. I just picked up a few audiobooks from the public library, so I will have something to listen to while I spend every waking hour sewing. I’m looking forward to rediscovering Tolkein and getting into some new John Green. I might even listen to The Screwtape Letters for the 4th time.

 

Food for thought

I came across this great image on Pinterest.  

 
Source: Pikaland.com

This zine is full of drawings of shoes and compares the cost to bills and other necessities. Obviously, these aren’t real shoes, but it really makes you think. Before you buy that next dress (or shoes, makeup, or jewelry) that isn’t in the budget, think about what you have to give up. Sometimes, it will be worth it. (10 boxes of Ramen? That’s like $20, even if you get the 12-pack.) Often, though, the joy doesn’t justify the expense. 

Week 5: Eulogy for my Shoes

This week, I lost my favorite ballet flats. A mere two days after this challenge started, I came in from some terrible weather to discover a hole in the side of the shoes I wear approximately every other day. Since I cannot replace them, and I have no other neutral flats, I’m not sure how to adapt my wardrobe. I might just wear a lot of neutrals so my colored shoes look good. 

I got a haircut, but I didn’t buy any fashion items. I even resisted getting the hair products the salon used. I’ve never realized how a haircut can lead to more spending. A new style can require different products, or even a new curling iron. I’m considering those banned, so I will get by without them. Surprisingly, I haven’t had much trouble with not buying clothes, but my ruined shoes made for a long week. 

Week Four: It’s Over

My brief period between “no shopping” assignments has ended. Back to no new clothes. The thing is, I didn’t exactly buy much anyway. Of course, as soon as Sunday rolled around, with its ban on shopping, I realized that I need a new foundation. And mascara. I’m not sure if that counts, but I’m going to try to get by with what I have anyway. Also, I’m getting my hair cut during this sabbatical. After a ridiculously long internal debate, I decided a haircut was allowed, but hair color was not. (Partially because I can’t stand having to wear my hair up all the time). Let me know if you agree, or if that’s cheating. 

I bought nothing fashion-related this week (I was too busy driving back and forth across the state). I also didn’t get much done in the way of choosing a capsule wardrobe. That’s my goal for this week. We’ll see if I can carve out the time to do it properly. 

Week 3: One Small Purchase

This is actually the first time since starting this blog that I have bought a fashion item. I got these adorable earrings for $8 at Retrofit Culture, a great little vintage and handmade shop in West Bloomington. I stopped in to see what they were all about, and I ended up with earrings, two little air plants (currently living in a seldom-used wine glass), and a packet of bath salts. It’s the cutest little store, and they have everything from vintage flannels to handmade Star Wars posters.

 Since I’m already buying very few fashion products, I don’t know how difficult this assignment will be. I plan to develop a capsule wardrobe for the end of the season to see if I like the concept on a larger, longer-term scale than my 3-week mini project. That means I won’t be shopping until late March anyway, so this assignment will simply give me more time to plan my spring wardrobe before buying anything.

My focus for the duration of this project is going to be getting rid of the pieces I don’t wear and really refining my wardrobe to fit my personal style. If I decide to get rid of any good-quality pieces, I will be selling them to ThredUp because anything they don’t accept, they donate to a company that recycles clothing into carpet. Anything not name-brand I will either give to my mom or sister or donate to a local charity.

If you’re planning to get rid of any clothes during this process, I recommend choosing where you’ll send them before you start. It makes it easier to part with pieces that are in good shape  but just aren’t you.

Extreme Capsule Wardrobe! 21 days, 12 pieces

Recently, I completed a class assignment unlike any I’d ever experienced: wear only 6 items for 3 weeks. It’s like a super, super tiny capsule wardrobe. I have considered transitioning to a capsule wardrobe for quite a while now. I think it would help me avoid the typical morning stress. You know, the one that goes, “What should I wear today? Those don’t go together! Aaaarrgh! I’ll just wear a t-shirt.” I’m a fashion student. I want to look like one.

A few things I would like to note about this assignment:

-We were allowed multiples. For example, if one of your categories was black cardigan (like mine), you could have more than one in your mini-wardrobe. I did my best to minimize this. I ended up with a total of 12 items, 1 of which I never even wore. 

-We were also not to buy any fashion items during this time. 

-Accessories, shoes, underwear, and outerwear weren’t included in these items. 

-I did not violate any of these rules. I completed 3 weeks of my life wearing only 11 items. 

These were my pieces: 

 
2 pair of jeans-1 skinny, 1 bootcut  

 
2 blue tops (I know the one on the right looks green, but it’s more of a blue-green in person, so I counted it!)

 
3 gray/black tops (not pictured: a plain black 3/4-sleeve tee)

 
2 button-ups 

 
2 black cardigans 

 
1 blazer (this is the item I didn’t wear) 

 
I really only included the blazer because I had a couple of presentations, and I wasn’t sure if I would need to dress up. I didn’t. 

This was a great opportunity for me to experience a capsule wardrobe without the commitment. It was tough, but rewarding. I encourage you to try an experiment like this. You really get to know your personal style. 

Week 2: My Shopping Pitfalls

One thing I have learned through years of studying how to live better (Thank you, Happiness Project!) is the importance of knowing your personal tendencies. We all eat, study, and shop in different ways. These are some of the things I do wrong when buying clothes. Recognizing where I go wrong will help me develop better habits through the rest of this process.

1. Not buying garments I need

Sometimes, I discover a great piece that my wardrobe desperately needs. It fits well, it works in my wardrobe, and it will increase my options exponentially. The only problem is that I hate to spend money on myself. Anything I love seems like a luxury that doesn’t fit in my college, married budget. Most of the time, this prevents me from making a stupid purchase (see #3 below), but it often keeps me from getting the things I need. Remember the chambray shirt I talked about in my first post? I had been wanting one for over 6 months. Every time I saw one, I almost bought it, but told myself I would never wear it. I was so, so wrong. It’s now one of my favorite shirts.

 

2. Investing in pieces that don’t fit in my wardrobe

Obviously, I do buy clothing. I am a fashion major, and I love beautiful clothes. This means that when I do spend money on my wardrobe, I usually buy things that are great to look at, whether they go with anything I own or not. For example, a skirt I found at Goodwill. It was in the boutique section and still had the tags on it, so it was much more than their usual clothes ($20, I think). It’s a beautiful floral print, but when I got home I realized I don’t have any tops to wear with it. It’s been worn once in the 5 or so months since I bought it.

 

3. Impulse purchases

Consistently denying myself the joy of shopping leads me to snap every once in a while and buy some completely random stuff. It may not even be clothing. I have a huge supply of stationery and office supplies (because that’s cheaper than clothes) that directly comes from this problem. I’ve found this happens more often when I actually make the effort to leave the town I live in to shop. When I lived in Searcy, AR, going to Little Rock or Memphis usually meant I came home with lots of purchases and much less money. The worst part was not being able to return the pieces I bought because I would have had to drive for 1-2 hours to get back to the store.

 

4. Buying clothes that don’t fit really well

My impulse purchases and foolish investment pieces are pretty few and far-between, and I have to buy clothes sometimes. Whether it’s because I just started a new job or because a lot of my wardrobe is getting worn out, I occasionally need new pieces. I don’t want to splash out on something expensive, especially because by this point I probably need a lot of clothing. This means I make a quick run to the store and buy a bunch of things that don’t really fit me or my wardrobe. For some reason, it feels like less of a luxury to spend money if it’s something I don’t even like that much, so I get things I would never want to wear. (Putting this in words, it makes even less sense than I thought.)

I’m slowly learning to conquer these pitfalls, although I doubt I’ll ever be completely free of them. If I achieve anything from this 3-month project, I hope to learn how to buy things I really love and need (and only those things). I know I can’t be alone in this. What do you struggle with when you shop?