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The
Clothing Chronicles ================================================
In This Issue: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ How much do you spend on clothing every year? How much of what you buy do you actually wear? Do you have any mistakes hanging in your closet right now? Or do you wear everything you own? If you have more clutter in there than you'd like to admit, today's (first run in June 2004 and repeated following numerous requests) article will show you why it's probably there. And perhaps more importantly, how to stop one of the most expensive habits that's no doubt adding to the waste. Enjoy!
Diana P.S. If you're enjoying your subscription to THE CLOTHING CHRONICLES and think some of your friends might like it too, please feel free to forward it to them, fully intact. Thanks! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Online Clothes Shopping Resources Need business clothes? Maternity clothes? Clothes for tall, petite, or plus-size bodies? Then take a look at the FashionForRealWomen.com shopping resource guide for great looks at great prices, http://www.fashionforrealwomen.com/resources.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The High Cost Of Dressing By Outfit "My Nana's coming for a visit this week," I overheard one little girl tell her friend on a playground recently. "I got a special outfit to wear when we pick her up at the airport." The sentence made me smile and shake my head. Ah, yes. I remember those days. Special outfits. Special outfits for special occasions like dates, parties, or speeches. Or weddings. Or funerals. Or graduations. Heck, we even used to get special outfits for school or holiday pictures. In fact, we rarely went shopping for clothes; we went shopping for special outfits. Then when the event was over, the outfit usually just hung in the closet as a reminder of what we'd worn when. New function? New outfit! Heaven forbid we should be seen in the same thing twice. Sound familiar? It's an expensive habit that can add up quickly, particularly if you've never shopped any other way. If you tend to shop by outfit, then what I'm about to reveal may hit you like the proverbial "ton of bricks." Are you ready? It's cheaper to plan and buy a wardrobe than to fill your closet with special outfits. Let me put it to you another way: it's cheaper to plan a week of menus and go buy groceries than it is to eat out every night. Now the second one seems obvious. If you take your family to a restaurant or through a drive thru every night for dinner, you could easily spend several hundred dollars in a week. The entrees, the beverages, the tips - it all adds up pretty quickly. If you've ever eaten out every meal while on vacation, you know this is true. And when you consider that a lot of families do this ALL THE TIME, it's no wonder everyone's squawking about the high cost of food. So let's apply that same analogy to your closet. Let's say that instead of planning and buying what you need at the beginning of a season, that you buy a new outfit as needed every time something comes up. Buying outfit by outfit may seem cheaper than buying a bunch of clothes at once, but if you consider that when you buy a new outfit, you often buy new shoes, hosiery, and other accessories to go with it, you can easily see how costs add up. That $40 "great" deal can suddenly become $200 worth of shoes and jewelry that doesn't go with anything else you own. So what's a better strategy? Well, first, to GET a strategy. To deliberately plan how you're going to spend your money on clothes. Here are a few things to consider: 1. Your Lifestyle Look at how you spend your waking hours over the course of a week. If it looks something like this: Work - 60% Social - 20% Leisure - 20% Then your wardrobe should consist of 60% work, 20% social (church, parties, visiting, etc.), and 20% leisure (running errands, watching TV, cleaning house) appropriate attire. If you're a stay-at-home mom and your time is spent like this: With Kids - 80% Social - 10% Leisure - 10% Then your wardrobe should reflect this with 80% of what you wear appropriate to work with kids, 10% appropriate for social activities, and 10% appropriate for leisure time. Adjust this according to your particular situation. 2. Your Budget You should spend anywhere from 3-10% of what you earn on clothing. If you wear a uniform to work, you'll probably spend less (3%); if you're in a high profile position (defense lawyer, socialite, television personality), you'll probably spend more (10%). The average person should spend around 6%. REMEMBER: This figure correlates to your household income and expenses. So if your household income is $50,000 per year, for example, you should allocate approximately 6% (or $3,000) to clothe EVERYONE in the household. If your household income is $100,000 per year, then you have $6,000 (6%) to spread among the family. This isn't per person, unless you live alone. This is per household. Once you know what kinds of clothes should be in your wardrobe and how much you should allocate in your budget, see how your closet stacks up. If your lifestyle is: Work - 60% Social - 20% Leisure - 20% But your existing wardrobe is: Work - 90% Social - 3% Leisure - 7% then it's no wonder you start looking for something to wear whenever you're extended an invitation, or that your errand clothes have holes in them because you wear the same two or three things all the time. It's because your wardrobe doesn't match your lifestyle. So how do you fix it? 1. Fill in The Gaps Go spend some of your budget to fill in the gaps so that your closet reflects your lifestyle. 2. Buy Mix-and-Match Items Buy items that you can mix-and-match with other pieces in your wardrobe, not something that can only be worn one way.
All clothes from Coldwater Creek 3. Decide on A Color Scheme If you look best in black, white, and blue, buy clothes in those colors and maybe only two or three more (like red, taupe, and green). If you lean toward a warm palette of gold, ivory, and brown, then buy clothes in those colors and maybe two or three more (French navy, camel, peach). Why? Because they'll mix-and-match with each other, as will your accessories. You'll get a lot more "bang" for your money. 4. Stick To Your Budget Once you've determined how much you can spend on yourself for a season, make a list of what you need to fill in the gaps, and head to the store with CASH. No credit cards, checks, etc. You'll find yourself carefully considering each purchase, and be a lot less likely to impulse buy. The end result? You'll only buy what you need. Planning your wardrobe purchases DOES take time and a little practice, but can yield you great rewards. You'll become better at working with what you already own instead of always assuming you need something new. Not only does this save you money, it also reduces all that closet clutter so you can actually see what you have so you can wear what you own.
Until next time,
Diana Pemberton-Sikes
http://www.FashionForRealWomen.com ------------------------ Published by:
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