I am finally starting to buy more (or buy more of what I buy, I mean) at the beginning of the season, and I think this will be a good move for me. Angie has written about this several times.

I have no idea why it has taken me most of my life to do this. Perhaps because my dear Mom and I always shopped end-of-season sales. Also because I had the daft idea that things are classic and you can buy anything any time and use it next year or whenever. So I often bought items that I would not put into immediate use. Also as Gaylene described, I was a bit of a hoarder--not in terms of huge volume, but saving something so it would be there next year or later, as though I'd never come across something that I would like better, and never thinking I might tire of it before I'd even worn it much.

It's not that I never bought in-season at all, it's more that a) I never actually made a plan for hmm, summer coming up, what items would be FUN and serve a specific wardrobe purpose and if I see it I'll buy it, and b) I did think that most of my stuff should come from the sale racks, so I didn't usually "window shop" critically at all the new items a store might have to offer, and so with sizes selling out and colors and so forth, was just limiting, but I bought from what was left anyway.

Last year I bought my Tahari blazer right off the bat at full price and started wearing it immediately and got a huge happiness from it. In the fall I paid full price for a BR tweed blazer that is not super-fine quality but I recognized it was really "wearable" for how I dress, so again, I started wearing it immediately and in doing began putting together outfits that were more creative and fun than usual for me.

The point is not how smart it is to "pay full price"--though neither of these items were really expensive, IMO (though probably over-priced--not the same thing!). The point is that I got my size and fit at a time when I could really use the items and felt they fit into my plan right then, and by putting it into use I already started getting a return on my investment. Or if the item does NOT work as well as thought, then again, I get immediate feedback. So it's not just, no sales, either, as of course you can buy things in season that are on sale. I often did not do that, either, because I was kind of used to being off-cycle.

I still like to use coupons and still look at sales. I just feel that now I have more options. The 30% off coupon that arrives next month does not help me when my size is sold out or I settle for the wrong color.

So this is a combination of Team Seasonal Shopping, Team Clothes Ought to Feel Happy and Team Wear Now--for me they overlap.

These are all old saws, and probably nobody is as slow to figure this out, but I'm learning! But thank Angie and YLF posters for repeating the lessons in so many different ways, from such varied viewpoints, because that helps me.