Get Free Hangers!
What kind of hangers do you prefer? Having ruined more than my share of garments by hanging them on too-wide hangers, I now only use the plastic ones with the softly shaped shoulders. The ones you can buy for a dollar or two each. The ones your clothes are usually hanging on in the store when you buy them.
Occasionally I will forget to ask, but stores are almost always happy to throw in the hanger with the purchase. Last week, I bought two tank tops at the Eddie Outlet for $21.70 with tax. If the hangers had cost me $2 a piece, that is equal to almost a 20% savings!
Try it! What do you have to lose?
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Reverse Dying Black with Bleach
As you may or may not know, I am not a huge fan of wearing black. I am, however, a huge fan of really cheap, natural-fiber clothing that fits fabulously.
Enter Contemporary Dyecraft: Over 50 Tie-dye Projects for Scarves, Dresses, T-shirts and More
This concept has tremendous potential! For those on a budget, black clothing is abundantly available at thrift; for bleaching, who cares if it’s faded-out? If the look were perfect for one’s idiom and lifestyle, indeed, an entire wardrobe could be built around this one look.
Have you ever purposely used bleach to transform a garment?
dye craft books)
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Stock Up on Basics for Spring
An integral part of personal idiom is what you consider a basic. Those tee shirts, camis, cardis, or leggings that don’t really constitute a fashion item, but without which you can’t get dressed? Those may need to be replaced annually, and in duplicates. White and black are especially vulnerable to losing the freshness of their color.
Old Navy Semi-Annual Stock-Up Sale is here with basics starting at $4! Offer ends 3/17.
I’ve been thinking for some time about suggesting a basic accent color based on personality. In addition to one’s eye color, these are my top personality-based color recommendations for those pieces that tie the rest of the wardrobe together:
- expressive: white
- gentle: gray
- dynamic: red
- reflective: black
Because I wear jeans alot, buying some of these kinds of pieces to blend with jeans makes sense too.
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Shop Your Closet
Here in the Great Northwest, winter is far from over. I will be wearing wool sweaters until at least the official first day of Spring. Back when this was a baby blog, I described the formula I use to calculate the number of sweaters I need. But, even if I have enough, about this time of year I start to get tired of them.
So, for the past several days, I have been seeking new combinations. Yes, I know, I shouldn’t have any that I haven’t already discovered; after all, I did recommend that we all style in each new item when it enters our wardrobe. But, I have either been too lazy or (should I offer you the opportunity to vote?) spending too much time blogging.
Enter closet shopping. Even if you don’t have any new items, you may have combinations you have never tried. Because of the warmth afforded by extra layers, late winter is the perfect time for this project.
Wonder what I have been finding?
- Spring and summer t-shirts to wear under winter sweaters for a flash of color at the neckline.
- Sweaters that will fit under a tailored jacket.
- Sweaters and jackets that can be topped with a belt.
- Silk, cashmere, and cotton tops that can be layered three deep.
As an example, an uncommon color combo I wore yesterday: light taupe crewneck tee ( my hair color), topped by dark brown longsleeve thermal knit (my eye color), plus light blue cashmere cardigan (the complement of my light orange skin) with silver + crystal buttons (again, my haircolor). It works for me.
Results may vary. Some restrictions apply. See your closet for details.
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What to Shop for the First Week of February
Thrift:
- Suits. This is a good time in the fashion cycle to be wearing the matching skirt suit. Recently I found a black/white silk tweed at Goodwill for $7.99. It had to be really old (Ann Taylor size 6 jacket and size 10 skirt?) but looked completely contemporary.
- Jeans. Buying jeans thrift is a huge money saver.
- Boots, if you don’t already have too many pairs.
Stores: Hit the clearance racks, if at all possible! Just the other day I heard a story unlike any I’ve ever heard before: customer gets to the register with items marked-down to roughly a quarter of their original price, expecting them to be discounted another 50% off their marked-down price; instead they ring up at $0.00!
Online: baby stuff and maternity, if you need it; cashmere sweaters; and it’s not too soon to think about swimwear.
- Old Navy: Shop our Kids, Baby & Maternity Sale with great deals starting at $5! Ends 2/17.
- Rack New Arrivals Just In ¿ Shop the year’s largest delivery of new arrivals for the entire family online and in-store at NORDSTROM Rack.
- Athleta swimsuits are sold as separates, so you can mix or match. Find the perfect fit at Athleta.com - Shop now.
- Check Out Target’s Weekly Ad
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A New Dress A Day
My aunt sent me the link to this inspirational blog, New Dress A Day. The concept, both creative and frugal, is this:
The thing that makes this girl happiest is scouring flea markets, vintage stores and garage sales for the perfect pieces to add to my wardrobe. I love finding vintage goodies that may not fit me perfectly or translate well with the current state of fashion and then make them work on me. (thank you Tim Gunn – “make it work” has become my mantra) I get out my trusty sewing machine to change hems, cut sleeves and tweak to transform a lowbudge piece that had its’ moment back in 1976 and give it another shot today, decades later. I have to say that whenever I wear my handmade pieces, I always get complimented and the best part is that I get to tell everyone that I bought it for $1 and just shortened it, dyed it or cinched it to make it chic and current.
So, that’s where my ode to no traditional shopping begins. This year, I will be foregoing trips to Bloomies and Nordstrom for brand new gear. Goodbye to H&M purchases and accessory grabbing at Forever 21. And seeing the “must have” French Connection dress in People’s Style Watch will just have to suffice as a cut out on my inspiration board.
Instead, the only shopping that I’ll be able to do is that of pieces that have been used and worn already. So long to mall trips and hello to sifting through piles of vintage pieces at flea markets and at neighborhood garage sales. Each day for the entire year, I’m going to introduce a new piece into my existing wardrobe that I’ve found from these places. On top of this, I’m giving myself a budget of $1 a day.
(excerpted from the blog’s “about” page)
I love these dress makeovers! 
Sadly, while I can come up with lots of cool ideas for making over garments, I’m not so fab with the follow-through. That is, I never actually get around to doing anything. Hence, the racks of garments hanging in my studio. It always seems there is ironing or dishes, blogging or painting, and before you know it, there’ll be homework. Someday.
In the meantime, hopefully this will be inspirational for you!
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The $250 Skirt
Ever since last fall, when I pulled out my winter skirts only to discover I didn’t like the fit of one and then promptly ripped the lining of the other the first time I wore it, I’ve been limping and skimping in the Sunday wardrobe department. NONinspirational! Basically, winter alternatives can be reduced to:
- wool trousers, which I love. I have been diligently searching for another pair.
- jeans, which I’d rather not wear to church, but I do in a pinch. And believe me, I’m feeling the pinch now!
- dresses. A winter dress is a rarity in my wardrobe. So rare, in fact, that it doesn’t exist.
- which leaves skirts. And with as many skirt options as there are, why is it so hard for me to find even one that doesn’t leave me feeling frumpy and grumpy?
The skirt in my idiom, and I say this more for myself than for anyone else:
- is tapered, pegged, pencil, whatever you want to call it. I don’t mind a little do-flippy hem, but the full skirt on me is downright awful; A-line is a significant compromise.
- falls BELOW the knee, at the “hemline of supreme elegance”.
- has only tasteful and necessary slit(s).
- doesn’t cling to my legs and bunch up and move around when I walk. Also doesn’t have some dorky clash of sleazy underwear fabric “slipping” out from under it.
In desperation, I have begun collecting thrifted skirts, with the hopes of cannabilizing one or more to somehow piece together something that would work. I’ve found lots of cute prints and fabrics, but somehow when it comes time to actually cut or sew I end up painting or blogging instead! So, while I normally wouldn’t spend $15 on a thrifted skirt, when I found one this week that was lined and below-the-knee and tapered, $15 looked like a bargain.
Closer inspection revealed the bargain it really was: brand-new tags said $250 $100!
Admittedly, the peachy color and cotton/linen fabric make it more of a spring wardrobe staple than winter. But it rather looks like spring is here to stay this year, doesn’t it?
How would you define the perfect skirt in your own idiom?
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The Connection Between TV and Debt
Republished from Mercola.com.
Dr. Schor from Harvard University wrote the book The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don’t Need
which provides some marvelous insights on television watching. She conducted a large-scale study of American spending and saving habits and correlated the results with other lifestyle factors.
She concluded that for every hour of television a person watches per week, the average American spends $200. Sitting in front of the television five extra hours a week (two sitcoms a night) raises your yearly spending by about $1000.
Indebtedness as an outgrowth of TV watching arises not so much from viewers repeated exposure to advertising, but from their attempts to emulate the lavish lifestyles enjoyed by fictional characters in soap operas and prime-time television dramas. The more television people watch the more they tend to believe that ordinary citizens have servants, limousines, and huge houses.
TV will show 24 year old waitresses with expansive lofts and exotic sports cars, not ratty one-room apartments and battered Geo Metros. In addition, folks who watch a lot of TV are more willing to go into debt in pursuit of what they believe is an accurate depiction of normal life. Consumers rack up heavy credit-card debt chasing the televised fantasy or in academic jargon “engage in competitive consumption for the purpose of image management.”
Contrary to popular conceptions, Dr. Schor found a positive correlation with higher education and indebtedness. The further people have climbed up the educations ladder, the less likely the are to save money.
The heaviest shoppers are women with graduate degrees, which may be attributed to their heightened awareness of the trappings of social status.
Those most likely to live within their means and save money are the millionaires next door, folks with less formal education who have worked hard building their own businesses. Not surprisingly, the more successful people are with their own businesses the less time they have for watching TV.
Kids are by far the most voracious viewers, A report in a recent JAMA claims that children in the US watch 15,000 to 18,000 hours of television between he ages of 2 and 17 as compared to 12,000 hours of school.
Many medical studies have correlated excessive TV viewing with childhood obesity and adult depression. Certain crime statistics also correlate well with the market penetration of television, larceny and burglary both increased as a corresponding rate following TV’s rise in popularity in the 1950s.
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Out with the Old (and New) Summer Clothes
Updating my “what I’ve spent on clothes so far this year” page, brought me to the realization that I’m done. I’ve spent this year’s allowance. And then some. From now on, if I need or choose to buy any clothes the money will have to come from somewhere else. Like my “spending money” (which is totally fine, since I mostly shop thrift and spend not much).
Speaking of spending out of my pocket money: when I pulled my shorts out this year, I discovered I had not much that was going to work. Thankfully, this was the year to find lots of “short sleeved pants” for really cheap (which may mean that next year they are going to be officially “out”, but I don’t care). Most of these I bought this year at thrift stores, with my spending money, and I bet I didn’t spend over $30 for all of them together.
Click to view picture big enough to really see
- top row: grey pedal pushers, green/white mini-stripe, tan linen
- front row: light khaki sheeting, khaki twill, green convertible
The better part of my excuse for spending all my clothing money already lies in the fact that this year I bought a bunch of stuff that is expensive and doesn’t have to be replaced often:
- the mother of the bride ensemble
- runners
- swimwear, although I’m still working on filling in some of the subordinate coordinate pieces
From left: what we call “swim underwear”, the real (modest) suit, the necessary one-piece.
So far, I have packed all the swimwear into a cotton bag, which lives on the top shelf of my tiny closet and packed away my camping clothes in a cardboard box, also on the top shelf of the closet. Currently, I am finalizing the process of making sure all my shorts, tank tops, and white short sleeve shirts are clean, prior to putting them away for the season.
But I’d love to hear how the rest of you deal with off season clothes. Suggestions?
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Fall Wardrobe Planning Begins With a Budget
Going back to this previous post, in which I dealt with a dangling question regarding semi-annual shopping & budgeting, the further question of how to “wrap your spending plan around all the items you need” remains unanswered.
Some thoughts:
- Many years ago, when I did my initial cost per wear calculations, I concluded that half of my spending went toward fashiony uniform template items and the other half toward such necessities as coats, shoes, and under-garments.
If you are going to have to have a new winter coat this year, I would definitely take that money and set it aside. The best sales and selection are available in October.
- Do you have a method for figuring out how many of any wardrobe piece you need? If not, I describe one here.
- Identify your needs. You may find my post Creating the Spring Shopping List helpful.
- Now the hard part: you must assign a portion of your “spending plan” to each item on your shopping list.
One final thought: you could just budget the same amount for each piece. That would work for me, since I buy most of my stuff thrift. But realistically, if you are shopping in a real store, with real money, that method won’t work too well.
Consider that jackets are often double the cost of pants or skirts, and basic tops can be very inexpensive. If you split the money evenly between those three categories, you could potentially buy one jacket, a pant and a skirt, and maybe 5 tops.
Yes, I think I like it.
