~ smart shopping ~

Last year I started to notice that getting dressed in the morning (or, let's be honest, the afternoon) took way longer than it should.  This, I determined, was not due to a lack of clothing but rather an overwhelming number of options and various styles, none of which matched.  Thus began a personal mission to cut down on the number of garments coming through my door and stop testing the limits of how much my closet walls could hold.

For a new years resolution, I have to say I did pretty damn well!  Usually these types of things fizzle out within the first month or two, but this one has stuck.  (there was a dark period where I bought random things that didn't go together just because they were on sale while I was working in retail, but we won't talk about that.)

After a lot of thinking, I've come to the conclusion that my shopping problems come from just one issue:

• I don't really have a style.  I've always just bought random things that I like at the time, only to find that I have nothing to wear them with.  So my first goal is to establish a concrete style - somewhere between Mrs. Robinson, Ulyana Sergeenko, and a suave spy from 1964 (with some Annie Hall thrown in for fun).

It feels damn good to go through my closet and take out clothes that I've only been hoarding because I a) there's a 2% possibility I'll wear them again, b) I got them MAJORLY on sale at JCrew (even though they're too small), or c) I got them as a hand-me-down or present and worry that the person who gave it to me will ask me if I've worn them and I don't want to lie.

However, since there isn't an Anthropologie or SUPER amazing vintage clothing store in town, shopping trips are mostly online, from either etsy or modcloth - and occasionally I'll hit the local thrift stores and vintage shops.  Even though it's more expensive (and often more difficult and time consuming), I figure I end up saving money because instead of buying poorly made crop tops (seriously, why do I own so many crop tops?) that'll fall apart by next week, I save up until I can buy that one spectacular item that'll last me until my 37th birthday, like these shoes I just got on mega sale from Modcloth...

The last few times I've gone shopping, things like looking at the hems of dresses (to see how well made they are) and checking that zippers are sewn on straight have crept into my routine - I like to think my meticulous grandfather would be very proud!

So the moral of this story?  Now that I've limited my wardrobe, thrown out crap from Forever21 that I've had since I was 14, and stopped blowing my budget on multiple pairs of $9.99 leggings from Target, I don't only feel lighter, but more confident that if the house begins to sag it won't be entirely my fault.

xoxo,
Eliza