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Clothes are a big part of budgeting and one of the easiest area's in which to overspend, so I have come up with some ideas and solutions to make it easier to get a wardrobe of clothes that work and that cover pretty much all of life's eventualities.
First of all take it slow, before you throw anything out keep things as they are and change just one thing.
Put all the clothes hangers facing the same way.
When you RETURN any item to the closet TURN THE HANGER THE OPPOSITE WAY.
Do this for one ( or two months).
When you get to the end of the month LOOK at what clothes you wore.............these are the KEEPERS
( We wear just 20% of our clothing 80% of the time)
Look at your lifestyle:
If you had to go to a Wedding, Funeral, Christening, would you have something to wear to that occasion?
These are not everyday events and there are ways to cover most of them with the same outfit & different accessories,( with a bit of tweaking).
For example: A Navy blue skirt/pant suit ( we call them Trouser suits) with different accessories would take you to all of the above.
Navy can be successfully teamed with emerald green or baby pink for a wedding or christening and both look equally expensive when pulled together with these colours.
A Navy hat will cover all the same functions and you just need to change the hat band/ribbon to tie in with the blouse/shirt/top you wear under the jacket.
Old clip on earings can add a bit of glitz if you clip one on each of the front of your pumps (UK = Court shoes).
You might not like/favour navy blue, but you could achieve much the same multi-use outfit wearing brown and adding ( again) pink, cream, gold, rust and for a
funeral maybe black top underneath.
Match the accessories to blouse/shirt/top you wear and you will look classy.
Black is not actually a colour it is the absence of colour
Also black does not suit a lot of people.
Black with a splash of colour is not as rich or expensive looking as a "tone on tone" look ( ie turquoise and teal, or periwinkle and purple)
The more expensive the clothes the more the "tone on tone" idea is used *wink*
If you live in one of the warmer states, you can still use these colours but make sure that for the happier occasions you add more in the way of paler accessories and jewelry.
Colour matching ( color in US *wink*) How do you know what colour combinations look good/work together?
This is easy! I have many scarves bought from many places and in many colour ways, these are what inspires me to put colours together that I would not otherwise have thought of.
Go to a high end store and look at the way THEY display the expensive clothes, how they put the colours together.
Check out their silk scarves for colour combining ideas.
(Take a small camera and take pictures if you are brave!, if challenged tell them you are wanting to buy the item for a ( long distance) relative and that you wanted to e mail them a photo of the item before you purchased it to see if it was to their taste!)
Or ask if they have a brochure then go home and copy their colour ideas!
Then look at how you can put together your existing wardrobe in a multitude of different colourways.
It makes sense to spend the most money on the things you wear the most, for example, you shouldn't be spending $500 on a cocktail dress if you only wear it two or three times a year.
If you work in an office it pays to look the part and a good business suit can be dressed up or down to get you through a lot of different occasions.
If you have a lot of clothes you could do the 2 suitcase test:
Imagine you are going on a trip and everyone you would ever want to see you "looking your best" will be there. (Think favourite celebrities, guys who dumped you, girls at school or college whose style you admired. (You get the idea).
Now imagine that for this extended trip you only have these two large suitcases in which to fit ALL the clothes that SUIT YOU THE BEST.
WHY?
This is a way of culling the stuff that is " in good condition but not my favourite item(s)", looks "ok" but I don't feel special in it.
The net result should be a wardrobe of clothes that FIT you like a dream,& mix and match with most of the other clothes in your wardrobe.
If you have studied the new ( to you) colour combinations, you might find that you need fewer items than you thought to give you a better wardrobe.
( I have a small wish list of and keep it in my purse so that if I happen accross a good deal I know just what to get and what it will match up with).
You will need to do the above exercise with Winter/Summer wardrobes so that you end up with a fully functional year round wardrobe.
Once you have got your wardrobe sorted, make sure you look after your clothes by doing what a lot of Brits and Europeans do and CHANGE YOUR CLOTHES when you
get home.
A lot of Brits and Europeans have ratty house clothes that they put on when slobbing out on the couch or cleaning the house, I have had my share of
clothing ruined, even thought I don't wear the good stuff when cleaning.
It pays to get the best you can and look after it.
If you are lucky enough to have/get given cashmere items here is a great tip that will save you money and damage to these fragile items.
They need handwashing, yes, but it is neither practical nor is it cost effective to clean the item after only light wear of a few hours/when it is not dirty
or smelly.
But the moths that "eat" cashmere ARE attracted to sweat/perfume etc in the clothes so.................
Put the cardigan/sweater etc. in a bag ( after wearing) and PUT IT IN THE FREEZER FOR 24 HOURS!!!!!!! MY mother does this, then she airs off the cardigan and
then packs it away in an airtight zip lock bag and Bingo! no NEED to wash after every wearing, she has no problems with moths because the freezing process
kills off any potential grubs and they don't live to eat their way through your luxury knits!!
(This can be applied to any natural fabric item like silk and cotton too).
When shopping in Thrift/Charity shops,don't get a case of the "IT'LL DO's" ( it is only $1.00 or £1.00 so It will do for wearing to work etc).
Treat these shops like you would a regular store: shop with a list of items/colours needed and STICK TO IT............too many people have too many random
non matched items JUST BECAUSE THE WERE CHEAP!.
You are a precious gift to the world and you wouldn't wrap a beautiful gift in old newspaper, so be nice to yourself, organize your closet and you will feel soooooo much better!
It takes a long time to end up with a wardrobe of mis-matched clothes and just like weight loss, it isn't going to be sorted out overnight, so go slowly and get it right and you will feel like a million dollars
Still need help and inspiration? a book that has very good colour combination charts is "What you wear can change your life" ( by Trinny and Susannah) probably available on Amazon.
First of all take it slow, before you throw anything out keep things as they are and change just one thing.
Put all the clothes hangers facing the same way.
When you RETURN any item to the closet TURN THE HANGER THE OPPOSITE WAY.
Do this for one ( or two months).
When you get to the end of the month LOOK at what clothes you wore.............these are the KEEPERS
( We wear just 20% of our clothing 80% of the time)
Look at your lifestyle:
If you had to go to a Wedding, Funeral, Christening, would you have something to wear to that occasion?
These are not everyday events and there are ways to cover most of them with the same outfit & different accessories,( with a bit of tweaking).
For example: A Navy blue skirt/pant suit ( we call them Trouser suits) with different accessories would take you to all of the above.
Navy can be successfully teamed with emerald green or baby pink for a wedding or christening and both look equally expensive when pulled together with these colours.
A Navy hat will cover all the same functions and you just need to change the hat band/ribbon to tie in with the blouse/shirt/top you wear under the jacket.
Old clip on earings can add a bit of glitz if you clip one on each of the front of your pumps (UK = Court shoes).
You might not like/favour navy blue, but you could achieve much the same multi-use outfit wearing brown and adding ( again) pink, cream, gold, rust and for a
funeral maybe black top underneath.
Match the accessories to blouse/shirt/top you wear and you will look classy.
Black is not actually a colour it is the absence of colour
Also black does not suit a lot of people.
Black with a splash of colour is not as rich or expensive looking as a "tone on tone" look ( ie turquoise and teal, or periwinkle and purple)
The more expensive the clothes the more the "tone on tone" idea is used *wink*
If you live in one of the warmer states, you can still use these colours but make sure that for the happier occasions you add more in the way of paler accessories and jewelry.
Colour matching ( color in US *wink*) How do you know what colour combinations look good/work together?
This is easy! I have many scarves bought from many places and in many colour ways, these are what inspires me to put colours together that I would not otherwise have thought of.
Go to a high end store and look at the way THEY display the expensive clothes, how they put the colours together.
Check out their silk scarves for colour combining ideas.
(Take a small camera and take pictures if you are brave!, if challenged tell them you are wanting to buy the item for a ( long distance) relative and that you wanted to e mail them a photo of the item before you purchased it to see if it was to their taste!)
Or ask if they have a brochure then go home and copy their colour ideas!
Then look at how you can put together your existing wardrobe in a multitude of different colourways.
It makes sense to spend the most money on the things you wear the most, for example, you shouldn't be spending $500 on a cocktail dress if you only wear it two or three times a year.
If you work in an office it pays to look the part and a good business suit can be dressed up or down to get you through a lot of different occasions.
If you have a lot of clothes you could do the 2 suitcase test:
Imagine you are going on a trip and everyone you would ever want to see you "looking your best" will be there. (Think favourite celebrities, guys who dumped you, girls at school or college whose style you admired. (You get the idea).
Now imagine that for this extended trip you only have these two large suitcases in which to fit ALL the clothes that SUIT YOU THE BEST.
WHY?
This is a way of culling the stuff that is " in good condition but not my favourite item(s)", looks "ok" but I don't feel special in it.
The net result should be a wardrobe of clothes that FIT you like a dream,& mix and match with most of the other clothes in your wardrobe.
If you have studied the new ( to you) colour combinations, you might find that you need fewer items than you thought to give you a better wardrobe.
( I have a small wish list of and keep it in my purse so that if I happen accross a good deal I know just what to get and what it will match up with).
You will need to do the above exercise with Winter/Summer wardrobes so that you end up with a fully functional year round wardrobe.
Once you have got your wardrobe sorted, make sure you look after your clothes by doing what a lot of Brits and Europeans do and CHANGE YOUR CLOTHES when you
get home.
A lot of Brits and Europeans have ratty house clothes that they put on when slobbing out on the couch or cleaning the house, I have had my share of
clothing ruined, even thought I don't wear the good stuff when cleaning.
It pays to get the best you can and look after it.
If you are lucky enough to have/get given cashmere items here is a great tip that will save you money and damage to these fragile items.
They need handwashing, yes, but it is neither practical nor is it cost effective to clean the item after only light wear of a few hours/when it is not dirty
or smelly.
But the moths that "eat" cashmere ARE attracted to sweat/perfume etc in the clothes so.................
Put the cardigan/sweater etc. in a bag ( after wearing) and PUT IT IN THE FREEZER FOR 24 HOURS!!!!!!! MY mother does this, then she airs off the cardigan and
then packs it away in an airtight zip lock bag and Bingo! no NEED to wash after every wearing, she has no problems with moths because the freezing process
kills off any potential grubs and they don't live to eat their way through your luxury knits!!
(This can be applied to any natural fabric item like silk and cotton too).
When shopping in Thrift/Charity shops,don't get a case of the "IT'LL DO's" ( it is only $1.00 or £1.00 so It will do for wearing to work etc).
Treat these shops like you would a regular store: shop with a list of items/colours needed and STICK TO IT............too many people have too many random
non matched items JUST BECAUSE THE WERE CHEAP!.
You are a precious gift to the world and you wouldn't wrap a beautiful gift in old newspaper, so be nice to yourself, organize your closet and you will feel soooooo much better!
It takes a long time to end up with a wardrobe of mis-matched clothes and just like weight loss, it isn't going to be sorted out overnight, so go slowly and get it right and you will feel like a million dollars
Still need help and inspiration? a book that has very good colour combination charts is "What you wear can change your life" ( by Trinny and Susannah) probably available on Amazon.
