I have been inspired to do a yearly review of my clothing purchases since I joined YLF and this weekend I set aside some time to actually do this. I reviewed my purchases from August 26, 2015 to August 25, 2016. I spent so much time as a student and then teaching that September feels like the start of a new year to me.

My Discoveries:
1. I spent the amount that I had sort of planned in my girly math method. I have a math degree but I use girly math when it comes to clothing purchases. I am not suggesting that girly math is not great math. Or that there is boy math. Maybe scientific math vs creative math would be better terminology. But math can be very creative and artistic. Enough rambling.
2. I did not make as many mistakes as I thought I had. I will get to the statistics later. My mistakes were mostly scarves. Scarves!
3. I am spending far less on emotional purchases now than I did before I joined YLF. Yeah! This was definitely one of my goals over the last few years. Really the only big emotional purchase was a pair of jeans that were very expensive (7s wide legged jeans) which is very good for me.
4. Footwear is expensive. I have to purchase footwear that works for my poor feet and of course it is expensive. And not trendy. Sigh.

Statistics:

My Purchases:
When I am giving the statistic it is the percentage of my total expenditure for the year.

1 Winter Coat - Planned-13 % of Purchases.
I had been looking for a new puffer for at least 2 years so this was a great find for me and checked all the boxes.

6 pairs of Footwear-all Planned-30% of Purchases
All of these were successes. I bought a pair of walking shoes, rain boots, El Naturalista Booties, Birks, Finn Comfort Sandals, Fly London Sandals for wedding (on sale!)

1 Bag-Planned-included in above purchases
I bought a silver clutch for the wedding. I have also used the clutch on other occasions so it was a big success.

Bottoms-50% were planned and 50% were not planned-27% of Purchases.
Altogether I bought 8 bottoms. One was a total miss. This was a pair of Free People printed pj pant. Looked great in the store. On sale. Oh well. I bought 3 pairs of jeans and 5 other bottoms.
2 pairs of Levis (faded and dark wash), 7s wide legged jeans, Jen 7 eggplant pants (big success), 3 pairs of Joe Fresh linen wide leg pants (I really only needed 2 but I got carried away with excitement at the grocery store).

Topper-planned-3% of purchases
This was a success now that I have realized how to wear it. The topper is an olive green (yes I do need more olive green) cropped cotton cardigan with a zipper. More of a fall and spring topper than winter.

Tops-planned-11% of purchases
I bought 8 tops. One is a possible miss and I may return it to Nordstroms. I may post it as a WIW and get opinions from YLF. The rest of the tops are all successes. Boring but successes. I bought 3 Three Dot T shirts, 1 short sleeved T shirt, one linen T shirt and one denim shirt. I also bought a purple/burgundy sweater as a statement piece. I am missing statements in my wardrobe.

Basics-planned-7% of purchases
I bought 3 pairs of dress socks, 4 pairs of smartwool socks, 1 bra and 5 pairs of undies. These were all successes. I also bought a pair of leggings that are iffy. I think they are too sheer to wear with a tunic but might work under jeans in the winter.

Other-planned-sort of-9% of purchases
I bought a poncho, a sun hat in Florida, a silver bangle, necklace with wooden beads and silver pendant and 3 scarves. Two of the scarves were misses. Not sure why I did that.

If you have made it this far then I am impressed. I will do a closet review someday.

In terms of my total expenditures 13% were failures. This number includes the Free People PJ pants, two scarves, sheer leggings and extra Joe Fresh pants.

My next post will be my planned purchases for next year.