The Great American Apparel Diet

no buying for one year

I was weak. I’ll admit. I had been doing so well!

Not really.

I’ve bought more shoes since starting TGAAD than I have in the last few years combined, I’m pretty sure. I’ve bought now THREE pairs of boots since September, plus shoes that replaced broken shoes, PLUS the “OMG they fit!!!! must buy!!” (at a 5~5.5 it’s really hard for me to find shoes that fit that I like)…. minus the OMG-they-fit shoes I ended up giving away to my similiar-footed friends b/c I was just never wearing them, or they started to hurt after coming out of their winter-hiberation.

Yesterday, I went to brunch with some galpals I hadn’t seen in a while right next to a shopping center. And one needed new shoes (she’d lost her good flipflops during some baggage loss), and the other needed a dress to wear to a wedding.

So I also bought some shoes to replace a pair of wedges that are breaking down due to getting caught in sudden rains and also another pair of boots that I don’t need, because they were just too cute, and too much on sale. Of course. I thought this was enough to sate my shopping hunger. Wrong.

I tried on some clothes to see what they would look like while my pals were also trying on new looks. I discovered that I actually really like ruffles, and planned on busting out the sewing machine to hack some old tanktops to recreate the look this weekend…

and then came the skirts.

For work… they look so nice. and were on moderate sale. but would be a great “other” option to my Ann Taylor dry-clean-only power skirts. And I’m so bored with my other skirts, and they don’t make me feel good. And it’s hard to accessorize a skirt. My old skirts make me feel OK, but these nice, new, trim pencil skirts made me feel good. And they fit. (I’ll admit, I’ve been tempted to buy thing before, but never could, b/c they weren’t in my size.) So I bought them.

New clothes!

BUT now I’m also really excited about the new season starting, the old summer clothes I can bust out again, and the modifications that I can’t wait to make to recreate and update some old garments to make them actually wearable.

I’ll be good again now!!

Onward!!!

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The zipper on my favourite purple Roots capri hoodie broke a few weeks ago and I was devastated.  It would be way too hard to fix and find the perfect colour in a replacement zipper, so I contacted Roots customer service to see if they could help in any possible way.  They were very helpful and said they would give me a store credit for my hoodie, but I would have to give it up to them.  Oh no!!  My “Go To” hoodie…gone forever…the one that travelled with me to San Fran and New York last year…ugh.  I guess I just have fond memories of this particular hoodie and it’s also just the perfect length and oh so cozy!  I pondered over it for two days, but they said they could not fix the zipper for me at all, so it would be better for me to give it up for the credit.  In the end, a hoodie without a working zipper is like a bra without a proper hook. 

This is probably the only time since being on TGAAD that I’ve been really really tempted to use my credit right away to get a replacement hoodie.  I did go and look at another capri hoodie the other day, but they are not on sale right now and my credit is only for $45, so I would still have to put more $$ into it.  I even went with my sister to the Roots Outlet location in hopes that they might still have some old stock of my particular hoodie.  No luck though.

Luckily for me…after some begging from me…my sister has a Roots hoodie in a similar purple colour that she gave to me today!  Hooray!!!  I love it…and I didn’t break any of TGAAD rules either!  What a great sis!!!  I guess she got tired of hearing me whine about my poor purple hoodie.  This one is great too…I love it!!  Thanks big Sis!!!  You’re the best!  (I did offer her a bunch of new items that were sitting in my closet like some Gap jeans, RW &Co. dresspants, etc., so you could say it was sort of a swap!)

And that’s how my sister saved the day and I am still on track with over three months now of no shopping at all.  That credit is still in my wallet, but now that I have this other purple hoodie, I am quite content to leave it there until the year is up!

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Opening the mail yesterday I got the usual: bills; banking stuff; pre-approved credit card applications etc… however, I did not expect to be faced with 100% temptation. COACH sent me this [ever-so-slightly-evil] promotional deal. “Our Gift to YOU!! Use this $100 card toward your purchase of $300 or more”

Whaaaaattt?!?! For realsies? Hmm… Well, I do really need a new purse. I mean, not now, but sometime in my life I will probably need another one so why not get a head of the game? OMG, this MUST be a sign! This is the heavenly purse gods telling me themselves that I need to buy a purse! A $600 purse!!!! And I’ll get $100 off! Yesssss! It’s the deal of the century! This is totally a one off; I’ll never see this kind of deal again. Ever. Everrrrr…! Aghhh!! I need purse. Must get purse:

Luckily for me, I have a completely normal and rational boyfriend. He flat out told me “NO don’t do it” and something like “What do you need a $600 purse for and $600 is a lot of money for a purse…blah, blah, blah” To which I quietly replied, “But… but I’d love it forever and it would last a lifetime; so the cost per wear would be incredibly low.” As I said those words, I realized that even I couldn’t convince myself that this was true. I know I don’t need it; I probably wouldn’t even use it that often. More so, I would most likely lose it, or have someone steal it from me.

So if you’re interested, have I got a deal for you! If you want this $100 off $300’s spent, message me and I’ll give it to you for $50 bucks. Don’t worry; you’re still getting a GREAT DEAL!!

What’s the moral of the story? Spending $300 to get $100 off is NOT a deal. You’re NOT saving money and you’re still spending $200 [or more] to get that so-called “deal”. Common sense can be so difficult sometimes…

xoxo $ixHundredDollar purse girl.

For previous post, please check out Naked Susie; a year without [new] clothes.

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I am proud to say that I’ve been on TGAAD for one entire month now and it’s been hard, but I think if I stick to my guns…I can actually do this for the entire year! 

Some of the things that have been helping me along so far are:

1. Keeping track of my daily outfits.  I am actually keeping a record of what I’m wearing everyday and trying to vary my outfits as much as possible.  I am aware that I’m still just wearing probably less than 10% of what I actually own, so that is motivating me to make better use of what’s been sitting in my closet and wardrobes.  I’ve even taken the tags off of some new items and have finally put them to use.  Something that I should have done a long time ago.

2. Over Christmas dinner, I finally had a chance to tell some other members of my family about my “apparel” diet and I could tell they were very skeptical about my plans.  I am quite stubborn, so I know I will go out of my way to prove them wrong and show them how much willpower I actually have!

3. I am enjoying watching my savings account grow.  I was tempted by a few sales and items that I spotted while Xmas shopping for others, but I was able to talk myself out of them.  There were huge sales at H&M, a beautiful leather bag from Banana Republic that was regularly over $300, but on sale for just over $100, shoes by Marc Fisher that were $115 and on sale for $25 and the list goes on and on.  I think by refraining just this past month, I’ve easily saved myself over $500. 

4. I am happy with my decision to go cold turkey on the shoes and accessories in addition to the clothing.  I have slowly, but surely been going through my things and trying to make use of necklaces I have forgotten about, new boots that are still in their boxes and anything else that I seem to have acquired from my years and years of overspending! 

Well, there are 11 months to go, but I’m taking my baby steps and learning a lot about myself and my spending habits along the way.

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Okay, so with my last week and a half of technically being able to shop, I am faced with this decision: To shop or NOT to shop?

I think it may be my nerves starting to catch up with me, however I’ve been thinking..should I use these last days to “stock up” on items I already have in my closet but can use more of? For example, in my last post I talked about a pair of jeans I recently bought from AE for $49. In the past, I have never really been a fan of AE jeans as they never fit me very well. But these jeans in particular fit so nicely that it has me questioning whether or not I should purchase another pair…………………………. decisions!

Update! They’re on sale!! For $34.95

But wait, there’s more! You see, there’s this jacket.. and it’s beautiful. It’s something I most definitely don’t have a problem paying full price for and it’s in a wonderful tangerine-ish colour. It would be great for snowshoeing and other outdoor activities as its not too warm and bulky [which is what I'm struggling with in my current arteryx] so I’m playing around with the idea of buying this new one.

The Boyfriend thinks it’s a stupid idea since I bought my current jacket this April, but what do you think??

To buy or not to buy?

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And I’m doing better than I usually am on the 2nd day of any diet.

My copy of Lucky magazine came in the mail today, and I was going to throw it out. But I figured I would keep it and leaf through it once. For one, I’m going to be exposed to fashion advertising whether I like it or not, so I might as well train myself to ignore it. Second, I will be able to resist buying new clothes if I can get back in the habit of being creative with what I already have, and I will most likely be using fashion advertising for inspiration. Third, I want to remind myself how RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE a lot of clothing is, and Lucky is actually good for practicing my “They want $235 for that sweater? Get real!” attitude.

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Currently I am facing a real pants problem.  All of the pants that I wear for work (4 or 5 pairs of khaki’s) are too tight in the waistband. I suspect that this is due to two reasons: shrinking and growing.  I purchased all of these pants when I started my new job 3.5 years ago, so I believe that over time they have shrunk from repeated washing and drying coupled with the fact that I am growing. Now that I am over 30 (ssh, don’t tell anyone…), I gain and lose an amazing amount of shape on various areas of my body. My waist line expands and shrinks in a way that I didn’t even know was possible. While I train to maintain consistency in diet and exerice, there are times when it is difficult (I recently tore my mensicus and haven’t been able to exercise for nearly two months). There are times when I have to work late, or have engagements that prevent me from getting in my exercise and sleep regularly. I eat pretty healthy, so that’s not much of an issue. I also quit smoking, which has led to some modest weight gain.  All of these things equal pants that don’t fit well. Ordinarly I would just go shopping for new pants at the Goodwill and Ebay first, then ultimately at the gap to replace them, but being on the diet means that I’m going to have to get creative.  For casual clothes this is always less of a challenge because I can take liberties in my creations. For work however, this is a different story. Thankfully, I had the foresight to purchase only wide leg pants, so the hips and thights are fine, it’s really only the waist band that has become an issue over time.  In the immediate future I can’t starve myself, and I can’t just start doing aerobics on a bum knee, so I’m going to try to snip out a little rectangle on each side of my waist band and put in a small piece of wide elastic and then cover with a coordinating fabric from some older scrap garments that I have on hand (maybe even old tshirts?).  I’ll post a tutorial on my personal blog and let you know how it goes; wish me luck.  In the long-term, I forsee a trip to the gap to replace my pants once the diet is over. I think that if I can get a good 3 or 4 years out of a pair of pants and then use them to make something esle later, I feel like I’ve done my part to reduce consumption and balance comfort with consumerism.  Moving forward however, I suspect I see more skirts with stretch waist bands in my future closet.

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In an effort to stay on track and avert the pangs that I feel every time I receive an email notification of some crazy sale, clearance or closeout I have made an effort to unsubscribe to each an every email fitting that bill this week.  I hadn’t reailized how many times a day I was bombarded with these messages to “Buy Now!”, but I know that as I receive fewer of these emails I am beginning to feel better already.  Instead, I’ve subscribed to some refashion blogs and newsletters as well as some fashion/couture websites. This helps me to feel like I’m still in the loop, but forces me to think about how I can rework what I already have in my closet instead of rushing to buy something online. My favorite is the daily dose of fashion voyeurism that I get from “The Cut: New York Magazine’s Fashion Blog”. I still get my fill of fashion goodness and its almost as good as dark chocolate.

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Loved the par-tay at Sally’s the other night, and someone (Stephanie? Jeanine?) mentioned recently visiting Victoria and not being tempted by shopping at all. I am slowly warming to this feeling, too–and also like observing myself feeling it.
Allow me to explain.
This lovely Sunday I had to run up to the West Seattle Junction to run a few errands. I happened to have to pass some of my favorite shops in the ‘hood, including Clementine (crazy-cute shoes), Craze (adorable trendy clothes), Sweetie (ditto) and Carmelia’s (double-ditto). In the past, even if I didn’t feel like shopping, or have spare $, I’d still make a point of stopping in at each and every one to browse, try things on, file away ideas for later, or possibly find something I just “couldn’t live without” after all.
Today, I found myself strolling right by, honestly not even really taking in what was hanging in the windows (which I’m sure was adorable). I thought–Wow, what if skirts go way up, or top lengths go way down–I’ll miss the whole thing. And found it kind of fascinating. While I totally want all those stores to succeed, knowing I won’t be buying anything anywhere for a year is very liberating. I have plenty of loungey clothes that look cazh; cool and styley clothes that look dressy; comfy shoes that look a little dowdy; and drop dead gorgeous shoes that turn heads and hurt my feet. Surely from among all that stuff I can make creative combos that will at the very least entertain me and my coworkers.
And Sweetie et al, if you see me walk by, no worries; we’ll have a nice long visit next September.

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The ultimate test of one’s non-shopping resolve looks and sounds a bit like this:
“Hey Cin. Me, Liz. I need (need?) you to go shopping with me this weekend.”

It’s almost like going to Pizza Port while on Weight Watchers. Almost. I’m afraid I’d have to say no to Pizza Port. Did I say as much to Liz? In a word, no.

The gods were on my side I’ll have you know. First of all, we went to some mall in San Diego that I had never heard of and therefore was blissfully unaware of the location of every shop that could possibly get me into trouble. (Read: Anthropologie with its siren song of scented candles and beautifully creative displays. Not today my friend.)

Second, the Nordstrom was more like a micro Nordstrom. I mean teenie, tiny. Even the sales girls were a little embarrassed. I happened to mention that I had worked in the flagship store and I could see the crimson rising in one of the gal’s cheeks. I’ll admit it, it was mean but apparently not shopping does that to you sometimes. Or perhaps it was the third reason that the gods were on my side….

I was so hungry that I was actually unable to concentrate therefore preventing me from doing a little visual judo on the mannequins and imagining all of the ways that their clothes (three sizes bigger of course–WHO is REALLY a size 0….seriously) would fit into my wardrobe. Also, since it’s still hot here in San Clemente (85 yesterday, 92 today) I must say that all of those yummy sweaters and textured tights were doing nothing for me and the gentle glow that I have been sporting since May. PItting out a sweater is just not my idea of fun in the afternoon. It’s hard enough to keep makeup on your face in this climate. I am constantly sweating and then blow drying my face on the cool setting so forget about contemplating a winter wardrobe. Yes, Seattle people….I AM trying to make you feel bad. I was once one of you and it makes me miss my friends a little less to bust on the place,

The moral of the story is that somehow I managed to not even be interested in looking at what was available lest it draw me and Ms. Visa in. I looked at all of the cute things my friend was trying on. I even helped her unload $600+ on dresses for the events she has coming up. (Is it really redundant that all three were black?? No, I didn’t think so.) Bottom line is, it was that difficult–this time.

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