Just Walk on By

Yesterday, I went to the mall for a haircut (the first in about 3 months). The salon was having a special for anyone who could prove their unemployment, offering 1/2 price haircuts. Woo hoo! I made sure to tip my stylist (who is amazing) based on what the full price of the haircut was, though.

After the cut, I was wandering the mall and looked in the window of Dress Barn, one of my favorite stores. There were so many cute tops in the window, I literally had to stop and tell myself not to go into the store, that I had more than enough summer tops in my closet, especially for just kicking around the house and the pool, like I will be doing this summer.

When I was working, even though I prided myself on always shopping the clearance rack or the sales, I never really hesitated if I saw something cute on sale. I would get it, and rationalize it by telling myself what a great deal I got and how well it would go with everything else in my wardrobe. But, the reality is, most of what I bought is now hanging in my closet, unworn.

The frugal moral of this story is to just walk on by when you are attracted by a store window display, unless you really have a legitimate need.

Assessing Your Wardrobe

As I got out my warmer-weather clothes recently, I was struck by how many of them are more suited to working in an office than what I am doing now. I kept asking myself, "will I even wear this shirt/skirt/whatever" this summer? So, I decided to implement a little trick that I learned from the book "It's All Too Much" by Peter Walsh. I organized everything in my closet by color, then I turned all the hangars around so they are hanging backward on the bar (the opening on the hangar hook facing forward instead of facing to the back). Every time I wear something new, I can then hang it on a hanger that faces the normal way. At the end of the season, I will be able to determine what I wore and what I didn't, and can decide if I really want to keep all the things I didn't wear. While I probably will keep most of the things, in case I ever go back to work and need a business-casual wardrobe again, if you are suffering through having too many clothes in your closet/dresser drawers, this is a really great way to determine what you are really wearing and what, as Peter says, is just too much.

Speaking of different types of wardrobes, I remember reading articles or books about how it is actually cheaper to stay at home (as a woman) than have a job, and one of the things that was always cited was saving on your wardrobe expenses. I always rolled my eyes at this one; I never wore $1,000 power suits, or $450 stiletto heels, so how could that possibly apply to me? Well, it does. I can get by on 3 pairs of jeans and a handful of season-appropriate shirts or sweaters and a couple of pairs of shoes. In fact, right after I got laid off, I received 4 pairs of work-appropriate slacks that I had ordered online. I debated keeping them; after all, I had gotten them on a GREAT sale (about $9.00/pair) and they could come in handy in the future, right? I decided not to keep them. In fact, when they arrived, I didn't even open the package, I just went straight to the local retail location and returned them, sight unseen.