Inspired by Angie... - YouLookFab Forum

I have decided to exclude accessories from my monthly clothing budget. This means Angie is either a terrible enabler, or I am being deliberately delusional. Hee hee.

Seriously - DH and I went over our finances once again and I'm realizing I probably cut my clothing budget down too steeply. (I allowed myself only 1/3 of what I usually spend - 1/2 would've probably been more realistic).

I'm still going to stick with that original budget for clothing AND shoes (I have enough shoes). To keep that part in control and discipline my purchases. BUT I'm going to allow myself to buy scarves, jewelry, purses and not count it towards the budget. My thought is that this will encourage me to add items that help extend the versatility of the rest of my wardrobe (as demonstrated by Angie's recent posts), and get me in the habit of checking the accessories before the clothing.

I don't expect I will completely bust the budget with this strategy, as I tend to be super SUPER picky about accessories since scale is such a huge issue and there is no such thing as "petite" accessories. Which is probably why I am more apt to buy yet another grey top instead of a purple purse or scarf - I just get so frustrated.

What do you think?

16 years ago

JewelryGirl

Active Member

I LOVE it - can't wait to see what you land on! This will be so fun! Shiny, check with your friend that does jewelry that you mentioned in your other thread - she should be able to help you with ideas on scale. My guess is you will be the opposite of me. I tend to look for at least a 17" necklace & love it when they have extenders built in or I add 1 or 2 myself. You will be able to wear the more petite length necklaces (15" & 16") I'm guessing. Versatlity is key for me - if I can get a necklace that I can wear 3-5 ways I love it!!

On bracelets - I find that the oval shaped bangles fit a smaller wrist better than the circle bangles. Lobster or toggle clasp styles - look for one's where you can hook them up smaller on a different link or sometimes a bracelet will have 2 or 3 loops for the toggle. Stretchy bracelets are a little harder - either their on or off for small wrists I've found.

Watches - if it's the link style you can obviously have some links taken out at the jeweler.

I'm excited to see what you do with scarves as well because I would love to start working those into my wardrobe too.

I like to get several pieces in a stone combination that I can wear different ways - then I've got an easy pop of color whenever I need it & it's very versatile for me.

Have Fun - Accessories are my favorite thing to shop for I think!

Alecia

Veteran

Sounds like an interesting plan. I would have a no problem using a plan like yours. It would make perfect sense to me. My hubby, on the other hand, would never get this.

By the same token, I wouldn't need to exclude anything from a budget line item to focus on getting them. By just add things to my list of "things to get," I kind of get tunnel vision about them. This is good for me in that I'm super focused. But it can also be kind of problematic because I don't really allow myself to look at things that might be off the "things to get" list that could be great additions.

I'll be interested to see how others respond.

Anonymous

Prices for accessories are all over the place. When looking for scarves in aqua and yellow I found I could spend $5.50 at Forever21 or $60 at Talbots and I didn't even make it to Nordstroms. I ended up getting the cheap ones to try out for the pop of color and especially because I didn't want such a big scarf, but if anyone sees the coral scarf at Talbots go on sale, I'd like to know.

Laura

(website)

Great strategy - maybe you'll wind up (like Angie) being so happy with your accessories purchases that you won't even feel tempted to purchase clothing items.

Angie

Fashion Stylist

Shiny, I don't fully understand your plan – I guess I’m a little dense today. Bear with me. So you’re:

o increasing the budget
o purchasing clothing, shoes AND accessories
o still buying shoes but actually have enough

How is this different to your usual plan, other than that your budget is less than what it was last year?

Tanya

Sounds like a good plan to me! Looking forward to seeing what you get.

anne

Angie, I am guess it migh work like this.

Say Shiny's clothes budget for last year was $1200
This year it was originally 1/3 of that - $400
She has decided that she'll stick to that $400 for her clothing and shoe needs but spend more on accessories
If she spent up to half her previous budget that would be $600 in total giving her up to $200 to spend on accessories. (but she suspects she won't spend the whole amount)

Is that right Shiny? I just picked those numbers for easy divisibility

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