CPW Budget Experiment - so far ...

In September after some number crunching I decided to set a clothing budget that was rather low for me - $1540 for the year or about $130 per month.

http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....experiment

http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....t-a-budget

Here are the results so far ...

Purchased since September 1st ...
2 pj pants $70
1 flannel robe $45
2 J Crew pj pants $100 (Christmas gift)
1 Eddie Bauer puffer vest $160 (Christmas gift)
1 BR faux fur stole $55
9 Halogen camis $160
1 pair Bogs boots $160
2 sports bras $50 (Boxing week sales)

I dithered so much about adding a wool coat that it was sold out by the time I was ready to pull the trigger. It's on the list for next winter and it's big $ so I'll have to revisit the budget Sept. 1, 2017. So many of you made great points about CPW being a tricky beast and this is one example. The coat would blow most of the $1540 budget.

Yes, there's lots of pj pants! I hadn't bought pjs in several years and inexplicably I lost a pair and then another pair fell apart! And yes I replaced 2 lost pairs with 4 new pairs. I started experimenting this fall with doing my daughter's laundry less frequently as a way to encourage her to wear more of her wardrobe. I extended the strategy to myself as well which is why I had the need for more pj pants and camis.

The camis were a great deal (Nordstrom Canada doesn't offer many colours so I ordered from the US) and I was trying to get cost per item down below what it would cost to buy in Canada which meant I needed free shipping. Turns out I use all the camis (plus the 5 I already had) as in winter I wear one almost every day.

So far the robe has a CPW of less than $1, the camis are at about $3.50 and will be at $1 or less by the end of the budget year (Sept. 1). The first 2 pj pants are at about $7 and will be less than $1.50 by year's end. The Bogs have a CPW of about $10. I expect the pj pants to last at least 3 years, the camis and robe too. I want the Bogs and vest to last a minimum 5 years. I have no end-date for the stole.

The other pj pants and vest were Christmas gifts so have not been worn a lot yet. The bras are a very recent purchase.

The faux fur stole is part of a special occasion capsule which I arbitrarily chose not to include as part of the CPW budget as they're not worn much. I don't think I overbuy for this capsule.

I'm thinking winter outerwear and gear will not be part of the budget either. You see, I don't overbuy in these categories so don't feel the need for limits. In my everyday categories I think I overbuy. I don't think I buy efficiently. What I mean is I duplicate stuff I don't need/want, miss out on buying stuff that would let me have more fun with fashion and buy too many placeholders.

The placeholders are tricky because I don't want to spend a lot on individual items because that could easily get ruined at work.

I'm also still trying to figure out my best threshold for choice - too much and I'm overwhelmed and too little and I'm bored (especially in winter (loooong season). I'm also still trying to figure out acceptable closet churn - how much my wardrobe I'm willing to retire each year and what degree of refresh will keep me happy.

Budget numbers

Total spend $800 (way over budget)
- $260 (Christmas gifts)
-$55 (special occasion capsule)
=$485

$485/4 months = $120 (on budget)

Overall I'm happy with this number. I think I achieved part of my goal. I bought items that I need (camis, pj pants and bras) and bought some wardrobe refreshers (robe, boots and vest).

7 years ago

Suz

(website)

Veteran

It sounds to me as if you did really well. I don't actually include my basics (like camis) in my fashion calculations (although of course they are in the budget). What I mean is that I don't count them in my fashion "numbers" of items bought.

There are times when you need to stock up on these things and in my case, I look for sales, etc. and do as you did -- try to avoid delivery charges if ordering online.

I think the distinction between the areas you tend to overbuy for and those you don't makes a lot of sense. I also have areas where I'm at risk of over-purchasing and those where I am not. In my case, I buy a lot more shirts/ blouses than I wear because in winter I tend to like cozy cuddly knits so much more. Yet I love the variety that different prints and cuts of tops give to an outfit. It's a dilemma I have yet to solve.

shedev

I don't count things like bras and underwear as part of my fashion budget. I also don't count athletic wear, so I likely wouldn't count pj's . I just purchase those as needed. They are not part of my numbers or budget.
I over buy tops and jeans. I'm working on limiting myself to just a couple of things per catagory of clothing per season. Doing a refresh instead of an overhaul.

Nordstrom

BLANKNYC Distressed Skinny Jeans

$118.00

View Info

Top Pick

FLY London 'Yex' Platform Wedge Bootie

$199.95

two finds snuck in. they won't edit out

Shedev, you remind me that I also tend to overbuy jeans. At least some times. Or maybe I under-prune in that area. When I love a pair, I hate to get rid of it, even if it is not current (and updating jeans is a key way I stay current). So I decided this year to institute a holding zone for jeans I still love but am not currently wearing. LIke my True Religion BF jeans.

I also separate the jeans by season. I can't really wear crops so well in true winter, so they go into a different place.

Anonymous

YOU DID GREAT!!! Great goals. Great analysis. I see success all the way around.

Emily K

Kerry--I really enjoyed your thoughtful analysis. Sometimes a concrete answer is not what is needed as much as is thoughtfulness/awareness of the process. I'm trying to make up some rule like this for myself. Now that I'm thinking about it, there are a couple of categories in which I may overbuy--leather sandals/flats of a certain type, and "good" T-shirts. I think it's FOMO--fear that these items (that I like and need) might fade from the marketplace. But what happens is that I just accumulate an abundance of these items and some go unworn. Harder to buy items, or more expensive items go unpurchased because I can't pull the trigger. Rules might help me to minimize purchases of the redundant items and to feel allowed to make the more difficult/expensive purchase decisions. I really have no idea, though, how to go about establishing an acceptable cost per wear. It must be a very individual process that maybe I can reverse-engineer from budget, wardrobe size, and rate of refresh?

ETA: I did read your links and kinda had to laugh about how you started off--but I did find some answers, there.

Style Fan

Kerry I found this a very interesting analysis. I think you did very well. I started to review my clothing purchases last year and I am always looking for ways to budget my clothing money.
I find my basics like pjs, camis, undies, etc. all fall apart at once.

rachylou

Wait, why did you count gifts? Unless they were gifts to yourself?

Joy

You did extremely well! You have kept track of your purchases and wears. That is 3/4 of the battle. You are aware and that will make reaching your goal possible.

kerry

Thanks!

Suz, Shedev - I think I need to think more about what to include in the budget challenge and why. After my initial success of weaning myself off of online buying, I need to step up the challenge and think more about why I'm doing this (not just for curiosity's sake as I'd originally thought).

Sterling - I always enjoy your analytic posts. You're so honest with yourself.

Style Fan - yes! And this can really mess with a budget - especially if it's an amount per month.

Rachy - I included gifts because I wanted to do the accounting for every new wardrobe item. And since the gifts were from husband/daughter, it comes from the same money pot anyway!

Joy - your festive outfits posts have inspired me to try similar next year. I have one item I take out for just the holidays - wine velvet leggings. I pulled them out around the middle of November.

LaPed

This is a great analysis, kerry. I keep meaning to try CPW tracking, but I often buy things at the end of the season when they're on sale, so sometimes it takes a year or more for those numbers to be meaningful. My suspicion is that my wardrobe has a distinct split between items that have earned their keep many times over (thrift store jeans that I wear 2-3x per week for years) and some that will never shake off their price tag (dressy coat, job interview shoes, pretty much any blazer I buy -- unless I can really embrace blazers as off-duty casual wear) despite being necessary and lovely. I have to learn to accept and enjoy both, and remind myself that one balances out the other. To make CPW work for me, I may have to take a broader, more holistic view and start paying attention to the overall big-sticker price of my entire wardrobe, and then break that out by percentage (lounge, casual, chore, formal, professional, travel, etc) and see if I'm happy with those numbers. My CPW target for, say, a dressy capsule, will be inherently higher than for my gear capsule, even if my gear jackets and shoes cost roughly the same (or more) than my dressy event wear.

Kerry, I lost my post, boo hoo!
Just wanted to say quickly that I hear you about outerwear. I end up not buying outerwear too. Generally because it's over my threashold of comfort. Up to $300 I'm ok with spending without too much deliberation, but over that, I need to think about it. And then I hem and haw and then it's gone.

I don't know what the solution is except to prepare myself for a huge spend every 3 years or so in October/November, alternating puffer buying and wool coat buying.
So yes, a separate budget for outerwear.

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