I buy too much. I’m a hoarder. I buy things because I like them, not because I think I will wear them or use them. I think I’ve been aware of this for some time but since I’ve been trying to reduce the number of items hanging unworn in my closet I have been stunned at just how much I have bought.
I am an online shopping addict. I love the buying experience online – I can browse, compare prices – so I think I’m getting a bargain, my size is almost always available, I know it won’t have been tried on by 500 people and all I have to do is click a button and I’m done.
This weekend I made a vow to myself to 1) stick to a monthly clothing budget and 2) be more discerning about what I buy. I’m already putting this into practice – having returned all my Boden preview order for the Fall I know there are just 2 items that I really would like to reorder – both knitted tunics – and neither will be worn here till November. I am determined to wait till November to order – I know it’s a risk but by then I may have reappraised what I need/want and changed my mind…if I buy them now I could end up with 2 more tunics hanging in my closet unworn. I think this is how I’ve ended up with so many rarely or never worn items – I buy them in the preview before the weather is appropriate to wear them – so I either forget about them or have moved on to another item I want!
Here’s one of the tunics I ordered and returned – it’s the Boden smocked tunic dress and it is gorgeous – so soft and works perfectly as a dress with tights and boots. Fortunately there is a long wait right now for my size to be back in stock so that is helping me to stand my ground and wait to order until it is cool enough to wear it.
The second is from the Winter preview – and it is the bottle green collared tunic. I am actually just in love with this photo too – it makes me think of Twiggy every time I see it, not to mention the setting reminds me of my old haunt Notting Hill.
I will wait to order I swear. In the meantime I am going to try and go cold turkey and stop browsing the Zara website and Zappos.com – let’s see how it goes.
Fall arrived here this weekend – we’ll still have temperatures up in the 80s each day but this morning I actually had to wear a jacket at the bus stop – it was in the low 60s – just gorgeous! I took Tennyson, our boxer, for a long walk – another promise I made myself this weekend – I will walk him every morning!
I’m wearing my Hudson Collin jeans, Zara animal print t-shirt, Zara black jersey blazer and my Tory Burch black patent Eddies. I love wearing a jacket with jeans – and these jersey ones are so comfy and easy to wear.
To those of you who are helping me purge my closet I want to say a huge thank you and USPS are going to be busy with shipments of fabulous items all day. I am trying to be ruthless and have posted more items over the weekend on my Facebook store.
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Good for you Joanna! I’ve been forced to limit my spending and stick to a budget, too. I changed out my closet and realized how much I have that never gets worn. I will still keep my eyes open for good basics that always need to be replaced and shoes I actually don’t have that many shoes! p.s. I’m one of those people who checks Boden enough that the favorites (even if sold out temporarily) will be found eventually. It’s the keep looking principle.
Gorgeous outfit today – nice to see you wearing stuff that is more suited to our rubbish weather! We’re to have polar air this week…I’ll be wearing my thermals to Ladies Day at this rate! And well done on the purge…you’re great…lots of other happy girls will be looking fab in your lovely clothes now..Avril xx