Fashionista Finance: How to Do More with Less

rihanna shopping

At the beginning of this year I made a deal with myself: I’d rid my closet of any clothes, shoes, and accessories that I hadn’t worn in the last 3-6 months. I had read a fashion magazine article about a very stylish woman who had like 10 articles of clothing in her closet and looked fab every single day. Ok, maybe she had a little more than 10 articles of clothing, but being able to do more with less was intriguing to me. So I hacked about 30 pairs of designers jeans from my closet and sold them on ebay. Why would I need so many pairs of jeans when I really only wear the same 3 or 4 pairs all the time? Seeing all those designer jeans made me angry with myself though—each pair cost me on average $150 and I clearly didn’t need them if I was so willing to pass them on to someone else.

Also expunged from my closet were a series of dresses, skirts, blouses, tees, and shoes I could really do without. They parted ways with me via industrial-sized garbage bags en route to my local clothing drop. After clearing out my closet I was probably left with only 4 pairs of jeans, 10-15 jackets, 7 or 8 coats, 10 blouses, 4 dresses, and 7 or 8 tee-shirts. It was quite therapeutic actually.

Now that I have much less to work with, not only do I get dressed quicker but I’m much more reluctant to add anything else in my wardrobe unless it can pass my new wardrobe test:

1. Is there anything in my closet similar to this? (if yes, then I don’t buy it)
2. Will this go with pretty much everything I already own? (article must be interchangeable)
3. Can I wear this at least 100 times? (means article must be both durable and classic)
4. Would I buy this even if it were at full price? (I’m not buying it just because it’s on sale)
5. Does it truly fit my style? (it took some time, but I’ve finally realized that I personally don’t like skirts or dresses unless I’m at my day job)

When I was in my early 20s, I would have never have guessed that simply clearing out my closet could change my life! Back then I had to have EVERYTHING even if I just wore it once. Now I’m spending a lot less and still doing more with my wardrobe. And it feels absolutely GREAT!

If only I could do the same with my makeup stash. *sigh*

Baby steps.

Also check out Clean Out Your Closet.

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4 Comments

  1. Pingback: Danielle
  2. July 13, 2009 / 4:46 pm

    I’m trying to do this little by little. It works sometimes. LOL. It’s my dream to have a closet full of only stuff I love that I can pick out at random and wear.

    • July 18, 2009 / 12:49 am

      Time getting dressed goes down soo much when you have less stuff to choose from…lol

  3. Pingback: Danielle

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