I've really been assessing my wardrobe lately. Not shopping--assessing. As in, looking at all of the clothes I have, getting rid of the things I don't like anymore, and determining if the majority of my cheap chic purchases were actually worth it. Here's what I've found out:
- Most of my trendier cheap chic pieces were not worth buying. I think that's a pretty logical assumption, considering some of the items I bought last year for $25 just don't make the cut into this year's must-haves.
- Even some of my basic or "classic" cheap chic pieces got thrown away. However, in my defense, a good number of these pieces were worn on several ocassions. Additionally, I had owned some of those pieces for more than two years. So they actually have gotten their cost-per-wear.
- A lot of the cheap jewelry I own, I don't wear. Plus, most of it tarnishes if it sits in the jewelry box too long. I threw most of it out. Granted, a lot of those pieces I had owned for at least a year or more. Nonetheless, I can think of a lot of pieces in there that I had only worn a few times. Jewelry is very easy to forget about, especially if you have a mountain of it stashed in three different jewelry boxes.
- I have way too many shoes. And the most expensive "trendy" shoes I have bought, I've never worn. In fact, three of the most expensive shoes in my closet, I have never worn! Never. Gold glitter booties and guitar-heeled shoes apparently don't go with anything I own. They were also impulse purchases.
I began to wonder, if I have 100 $20 tops, that's $2,000. If I throw away half of those every year, (that's $1,000 worth of merchandise) it really seems like I'm not getting my money's worth. So I started thinking, what if I had bought like 10 really great tops for $100 each, instead of the ones I threw away. Would I have taken better care of them since they cost more money? Would I keep them longer since they would probably have a name brand attached? (Superficial, maybe, but so true.) Or, am I just not making smart purchases? Am I buying too many items because they seem cute and wearable for the moment? I think I'm guilty of both.
After making these assessments, I really needed to figure out what to do about my wardrobe. I haven't gone shopping in a while because I'm trying to save my money, but since making these assessments about my fashion spending habits, I've started looking at places like TheOutnet. I'm starting to be a bit more conscious of how I spend my money, and I feel like I need to make smarter purchases when it comes to clothing. Now, I'm not saying that I'm about to stop being Beauty and the Budget, so don't get too teary eyed! I'm not going anywhere! I'm just trying to figure out if I actually spend more money on affordable clothes, as opposed to spending less money on expensive clothing over time.
I do have a lot of great affordable pieces (all under $40) that I wear all of the time, namely my button up blouses and bright colored trousers. I still think you can buy affordable clothing and save money, if you're smart about it. I'm definitely going to look into making smarter purchases, and perhaps I might buy a few designer pieces (on sale of course) to see how that works out for me and my budget.
What about your wardrobe: Is cheap chic really saving you money?
I try to be careful with buying cheap chic because if I only wear it 4 or 5 times and it ends up with those little fuzzballs all over it, it wasn't worth it. Even if you are careful you can still spend money on something that won't last. The scary thing about buying more expensive pieces is that you never know if you're going to love it next year, and if you aren't, it's better to have paid 25$ rather than 100$. It's a balancing act.