"Shopping My Plan" until March to Slow Wardrobe Bloat... - YouLookFab Forum

Category

General

"Shopping My Plan" until March to Slow Wardrobe Bloat...

Emily

Veteran

I've set a number of less fab items aside in a holding zone, I'm feeling great about my winter wardrobe, and besides, I've made an absurd number of purchases between December and now (see evidence, below). In order to keep from ending up with an overstuffed mess of a closet, and save a bit of scratch besides, I am setting myself a challenge to stop shopping for clothes between now and March, aside from two HEWIs on my spring+ wishlist.

I'd better get it all out on the table... here are my purchases since December. I love them all, but I don't love that there are so many!

Hole Fillers:

Kate Spade Beau Bag (Structured work tote)
Blue Sparkly Tee (Smart casual tops)
Striped Black and white Tee (Smart casual tops)
Dynamite Black Graphic Tee (Smart casual tops)
Dynamite Blue Wrap Sleeveless Top (Work Tops for Summer)

Replacements:

Black Express Slim Pants
Cream BR Trench (maybe)

Refreshers:

White Denim Jacket
Anthropologie Plaid Dress
Zara Blue Blazer
Black Nine West Pumps
Red Ivanka Trump Pumps
Old navy gray and white striped hoodie
Fossil Bear Blouse

Yowza. It is time to quit bringing home new things and just enjoy the things I have! I put together a wishlist for spring/summer, but it will be months before anything springish will be practical.

Spring and beyond wishlist:

Replacements:

New Wallet/Wristlet - March
Dupe of my fave skinny Jeans - March
New Short Sleeved White Blouse
Fashion Sneakers

Holes:

Tops for HOT summer weather - 2 or 3 (HEWI)
Chic Non-Black Work Dress (HEWI)
Sandals for work - Black Stacked Heel? - April

Refreshers:

Another Square Scarf
Express Gray Bootcut Work Pants (Columnist)
White Skinny Jeans - (March)
Chambray shirt
Gray skirt in non-pencil cut
Sole Society Mesh Cutout Flats (http://www.solesociety.com/sam-black.html)

Dream items to stalk:

Joie Wedges from Anthropologie (http://www.anthropologie.com/a.....433668.jsp)

I've labelled some as HEWIs and assigned some a month when I will consider purchasing them. Between now and March 1, I will keep an eye out for just my elusive items - sleeveless tops and a great dress for work - and enjoy my closet. In March I'll take another look at my plan and decide what to do next.

Since my epic 5 garbage bags purge when I first joined YLF I feel I should be extra careful to avoid a bloated, non-functional wardrobe. What are your strategies for stopping wardrobe creep?

General

22 replies

Latest reply was from poirot0153

Mo

(website)

Veteran

I'll study your post in more detail in a sec, but wanted to join you in the "whoa horsey!"
I am returning my booties, so the budget is totally okay, but the number of pieces will still be 4 for January. Not a good rate to start with! Time to simmer down until Feb. at least!
We can do this. I need to let items find me more than actively hunting them out, for starters. Of course, the hunting is how I find great deals, too. Maybe I need to figure a way to better delay the purchase more than stopping the hunt. Hmmmm.

Peri

Veteran

I may have you beat, since after the mega-purge I think I bought 8 sweaters and 4 pairs of pants. I'm stopping for now also, but my summer needs are massive. Gathering my patience for the next big push!

lyn*

(website)

Veteran

Which anthropologie plaid dress?

kkards

Veteran

Such a well thought out, and organized list. I'm finding that one of my biggest needs is a revised closet. The way mine is currently set up, it's hard to see the shoes, sweaters, pants, blazers at the same time, so I'm filling holes that don't really exist, because with a little imagine and some thought I could mix out things I already own differently. It's been my dream to have my closet done, and I'm put hard thought into moving it from dream to reality.

Emily

Veteran

Mo, glad to know we're in this together; and Peri, I'm glad I'm not the only mega-shopper!

Lyn, it's this one: http://www.anthropologie.com/a.....747251.jsp I wore it last week.

Catnip

Veteran

Wow! The term mega-shopper hardly describes it! And the break you're taking is only just over a month.

Wardrobe creep has never been a problem for me. I don't like shopping much, but I really want a larger, more functional wardrobe. So please tell me how you managed to find all this in such a short time?

jennifer

Veteran

Sounds like they all are pretty cohesive in style and colors .I'm kinda in a similar boat trying to not keep things incoming without some equal or greater number outgoing. I've been pretty good so far only a skirt and a necklace (the necklace may end up in my gift stash ) I may end up getting a pair of flat burgundy boots as they are clearance ,fit okay ,would work with some looks and are extremely hard to find for me.
I know it's hard to not shop ,to save for later,but think of the PPP things you'll be totally in love with later vs the okay items that are SALE now that likely won't be great workhorses .

Windchime

Veteran

I really like your shopping categories: replacements, holes, refreshers, and
dream items. I may borrow them to organize my own lists.

It sounds like you're making great progress on your wardrobe! You've done a major purge and have identified items you need/want. The hard part about a shopping hiatus is that shopping is so fun!

Thistle

Veteran

I honestly plan to buy a lot in January. My work schedule is scary busy in November and December when the true winter pieced come out. As I live in the frozen tundra, I really need winter wear. And yeah, I bought 4 cashmere sweaters alone in January. Along with 4 other sweaters, 2 wool jackets, and 2 pars of shoes. Not to mention adding some new workout pants. and I am searching for jeans.

I save all year for this month, and I stayed within what I had saved. But other than jeans, I can't see too many more purchases. No need for resort wear, and spring won't be here until April or May.

I still struggle buying in retail season as I am so on Team Wear and the spring summer retail season are on clearance by the time we can wear them here.

E

Veteran

That sounds like a good plan!

It's kind of terrifying how quickly wardrobe bloat can happen: I've noticed it's becoming a pain to put my clothes away, because I added one more pair of trousers and a couple of sweaters and suddenly my neat piles are a bit too tight. Sigh. Wardrobe creep has taken over. So I need to do a bit of editing, and I've decided any thrifting I do this year comes with a strict '1 in, 1 out' policy. I'm thinking about also limiting the number of items I'm allowed to buy, but haven't decided for sure. I love the vast majority of my wardrobe, so making myself do 1 in, 1 out should naturally limit the new items. It'll just be a question of following through!

Lisa

Veteran

Wardrobe creep, indeed this has happened to me. I am currently doing a very strict one in/one out policy. I also have a large number of items in a holding zone/boutique. Any new purchases (or gifts) I receive require something from either my working closet or the holding zone to be purged. I'm also spending more time looking for outfit inspiration instead of retailers websites for new things.

Emily

Veteran

@kkards - yes, my closet itself is a problem - DH and I are in the midst of planning a redo to make it more usable for us both. I think we've finally settled on a system and layout. Hopefully you and I both will be rocking shiny new closets sooner rather than later!

@Catnip - it's about a month and a half, now, but yeah, I'm a bit embarassed. If you think I kept a lot, though, you should see all the things that I returned! Just realized that I forgot to list my bear blouse in there, too... Most of the things I bought were ordered online from retailers with free shipping and returns or returns to stores convenient to me. I really like being able to try things on at home.

@Jennifer - you're so right, the waiting will be worth it!

@Windchime - the worst part is that shopping is the most fun when I don't really need anything and have a closet full of great basics! The fun pieces are so much more tempting...

@Thistle - it sounds like you have a system that really works for you. I like the idea of doing all my shopping for the season at once but first have to break my habit of browsing all the time...

@E - Trouble staying organized is my first sign of "too many"! I like "one-in-one-out", but I think I'll have to figure out how many of each thing I really need before I implement something like that. Perhaps I should go back to Mo's "how much is enough" and do some quick math...

@Lisa - I've been watching your DH closet challenge with interest and plan to go back and read all the posts from start to finish! I like the idea of browsing for outfit inspiration instead of checking retailers' sites I'll be doing more of that for suresies.

Anonymous

I think it is always good to step back and enjoy your new items for awhile. Sometimes I can get too caught up in adding items and I need to focus more on wearing items!

E

Veteran

Emily, I've got way over what I technically 'need' in each category a la Mo's post, but as long as they fit comfortably in my storage space, I don't worry about my desire for variety. So once I clear out enough to get back to laundry day being easy (I think it'll just take 1 or 2 from each pile, or some clever rearranging, I'll have to see), I'll just follow 1 in/1 out from there!

Of course, I'm planning a move later this year, and if my new place has less closet space, then I'll have to do a more drastic wardrobe slimming plan. So we'll see!

cheryl

Veteran

Sounds like you got some wonderful new pieces so hopefully that will be enough to keep you happy until you want to shop again. In the meantime if you get the itch maybe try making some new outfit combos or some mini capsules.

Anonymous

Your plan sounds smart and organized, but not so strict that it might be hard to stick to. So seems pretty good to me!

I've got no real wardrobe creep strategies, sadly. Mostly I just alternate phases where I buy a bunch of stuff with ones where I feel guilty and overthink myself out of buying much of anything at all. And I usually have a mental "on notice" list of things I'm wearing just because they're there, so that can at least sort of guide my shopping.

I also really love that Anthro plaid dress.

poirot0153

What is HEWI?

Emily

Veteran

http://youlookfab.com/2013/10/.....obe-items/

Elizabeth P

Veteran

I'm kinda on a "whoa horsey" reality check as well... but I do need to know where you found a chambray shirt, and how you like it.. that's the one thing I'm still allowing myslef to get...

Anonymous

This time of year is a tough time for me to shop unless winter items need replenishing. We never know how long the frigid weather will be around, but it's far to early to shop for hot weather and our springs are short to nonexistent. I can usually find some real deals now on last year's summer things, but it will be a long time before they can be worn. By then they are forgotten or not what I want. If I buy winter things, they may get little use and by next winter I may have moved away from the color or style. Best for me to play with what I have. My lone January purchase has been DV wedges that are an update. I'm stalking an expensive sweater dress and may spring for it at the end of the month to replace one that is getting badly pilled. If my perfect HEWI narrow calf boots show up, that is another possible purchase.
I like your strategy.

Emily

Veteran

@Elizabeth, I'll let you know if I find one! A chambray shirt is on my wishlist for spring (and has been since last summer). I haven't been able to find one with the right fit and drape.

@Joy, you point out some very good reasons not to shop too much at this time of year. I am going to keep them in mind.

poirot0153

@Emily - Thanks for the link to HEWI explanation. I driving myself nuts trying to figure that one out.