I have my 'wear everything twice in the month you buy it' rule. I started this a few years ago to ensure I was only buying things I could get use from right away, to stop the discovery of unworn with tags items in my wardrobe. There have been a few exceptions to this rule, one when my pregnant belly outgrew something before I got to wear it and the rest have been weather related. As I mentioned in the video, the foil jumper hasn't been worn because of the weather.
The wear twice rule still works though. I did consider buying something else this month but decided against it. Purely because I had to order it online and it wouldn't have made it in time for me to wear it twice in February. It was a 'want' item, not a 'need', but my large wardrobe makes almost every purchase a 'want'! It was easier to refrain from purchasing know it wouldn't pass the wear twice rule. Maybe next month I'll buy it if I keep thinking about it.
The foil knit, bought a few days before the heatwave, didn't get worn at all this month. There's a little more detail in the video above, but basically I bought this thinking I might not get to wear it right away, and bought it anyway as I didn't want to miss out on the trend again.
The denim shorts, an impulse buy, have been worn right away as you can see above, as they were perfect for the heatwave. I know I bought a lot of new shorts for summer a couple of months ago, but when you stumble across $60+ denim in your size in the op-shop, you buy it! While I've worn them similarly here with printed tanks and kimonos, the video has more ways to wear them.
I'm pretty content with my wardrobe now. I might buy that piece I keep thinking about or I might wait until cooler weather to see where the gaps are in my wardrobe!
When people asked what to get me for Christmas, I suggested kimonos and necklaces, and was lucky to receive the beautiful ones I'm wearing here. Kimonos are the perfect layer with soft shorts for Brisbane's summer heat, especially when paired with the new necklaces that I got too!
When I unwrapped this Kindness Collective kimono, I thought of these olive shorts right away. A black tank, bag and Havaianas made sense with the black in the print too. I really loved this outfit! It gave me the chance to wear another new piece, this lovely red necklace I also got for Christmas.
My mother in law got me this kimono and was so excited to tell me about the good it does too. Every kindness kimono purchased donates a reusable sanitary kit to help keep girls at school and women at work, and the kimonos are made from remnant fabrics.
It was another day for hubby and I to get things done as we ran around fitting in some errands after a swim, while the boys spent some time with their grandparents. I managed to film some YouTube videos too, a very productive day. I have such a hard time trying to find a quiet time to film them when the boys are in the house, and it's so rare to be at home without the boys! I really want to try more videos this year, so recording a few was helpful.
This combination of printed shorts and kimono together I'm not too sure about though! I wanted to wear both with the new black tank I picked up in the Jeanswest sale with one of my Christmas gift cards. I'd debated them in front of the mirror as I was trying to pick which one to wear and thought that as they are such similar shades of blue, they might look okay in the same outfit. While hubby was unimpressed, I decided to give the combo a try anyway. I don't think I'll be rushing to repeat this print mix, but I'm pleased I tried something new.
Another day of trying to get things done, with another YouTube video filmed despite facing memory card and camera battery issues - it wasn't as productive a day as I'd hoped, ha! Included the video I filmed below. You'll recognise the outfit, although I took the kimono off at home.
Soft, relaxed fit shorts and loose voluminous kimonos are the perfect light layers for a hot summer day. You can keep things neutral with blacks and olives, or try something different and wear another print with your kimonos. Wondering how versatile a printed kimono could really be? 30 ways to wear a floral kimono!
I've always found green a little tricky to wear, but since embracing blue and green together I've had a lot more outfit options! Both of these summer dress outfits contain navy and green, but in differing amounts.
Just a heads up that this is the 21st wear of this dress, so I'm aiming to rewear it more often to get it to 30 wears this year! Fingers crossed! I tend not to wear it on days with boys as it feels a little short when bending down to pick up toddlers. It was perfect for our annual pre-Christmas shopping trip while the boys were in daycare though. In previous years we've even gone to Melbourne for it, but this year we just went down to Pacific Fair on the Gold Coast as I had a present to pick out at Louis Vuitton!
The #DAREcember style challenge for the day on Instagram was 'scarf', but it was much too humid for that! I knew we'd be going to Louis Vuitton so I dressed up my bag a little with the LV bandeau scarf tied in a bow. A nice neutral navy tote like this is perfect for accessorising with scarves.
The green necklace with the navy dress was another addition because of a style challenge, to meet the 'evergreen' prompt. I wasn't too sure about the green with the pinks and purples on the scarf though, but I think that they were far enough away that it worked. We had a really fun day shopping and then went out for dinner after picking up the boys from daycare.
This tee dress is a favourite, it was worn almost weekly when I first got it, so I'm surprised it's only on its 12th wear! I stopped wearing it so frequently when baby T became mobile, like the dress above I'm worried it's a little short when I bend down to a toddler. The one thing I forgot about this dress is how easily it creases too - especially when little toddler hands grab and pull your dress when you're distracted and they want a cuddle, right before you take an outfit photo, haha! Creases are a fact of life though!
This was another child free day, as I left the boys with their grandmother to enjoy a little time to myself, to pick up some last minute Christmas things and indulge in a pedi before Christmas. Even though it's January, I still have December outfits to share! I am so pleased I started my Christmas leave a little before the big day, it was nice to ease into the busy Christmas time with some quiet moments to myself. Doesn't happen often when you're the mum of two toddlers, so the occasion deserved a pretty dress and some of my favourite accessories.
With the green on the print of the dress and the navy Regan satchel bag, this outfit has the same colour scheme as the one above, only with the proportions of each colour switched.
Printed dresses are easy options to deal with the summer heat. You don't need to think about accessories as the print makes enough of a statement on it's own. It doesn't mean you can't accessorise though, and have fun with colour. Accessories are a nice way to try out a new colour combination you might be unsure of at first, like green and blue.
Not too many purchases to share with you for December! I hope 2017 has been a good year for you, and 2018 is even better!
I did end up purchasing something off my wishlist from Rebecca Minkoff in the Cyber Monday sale, but as it didn't arrive until December I've included it in this monthly wrap up instead of November's purchases. With an extra 35% off and the items I wanted already reduced before the discount, I got a bargain! Both items together and shipping were still much less than the bag at full price. I love the Rebecca Minkoff sales!
It's easy to achieve my goal of wearing things twice in the month I buy them with accessories, they are frequently reworn. While I technically bought the bag and guitar strap in November, as they didn't arrive until December I count that as the month they arrive. Since I bought the tank in the post-Christmas sales at Jeanswest I didn't get a chance to wear it twice, but a good basic black tank like this is sure to get a lot of wear over the coming months.
In January I set myself the goal of 6 months without shopping. And I exceed that, managing 7 months without shopping in the end. I was curious how much more I'd save this year as a result. This year I spent $1,696.53. Only $127.58 less than last year.
Not the massive savings I'd expected, but I did excitedly splurge on an expensive bag that to be honest made up most of the total spend! I'm still pleased I managed to spend less this year, even with the splurge on the drool-worthy bag!
What I'm doing in 2018
I'm not doing another 6 months without shopping. I did have a lot of fun with it in the end. It was amazing that I could change my shopaholic ways and not only achieve but exceed the goal I set myself.
While I'm not setting myself another no-shop challenge, I am continuing with my #30wears goal. This means continuing to blog my daily outfits so I can look back and tally up how many times I've worn things, with the goal of sharing monthly something I've hit 30 wears on. The only way I can continue to do this with my clothes (I've hit it with so many of my shoes and bags already!) is to buy less.
So 2018 will be a buy less and rewear more year. You're likely to keep seeing the same few pieces on frequent rotation as I get closer to 30 wears of them. Also going to try to spend less in 2018 than I did in 2017, and continue the reduction in my spending.
Blogaversary
2018 also marks 6 years of blogging for me and 1165 posts, wow! Hope you're having as much fun reading as I am writing. I don't see myself stopping blogging any time soon, it's nice to have a little relaxing time to myself each day to browse blogs and write posts while the boys sleep.
Thank you all for your clicks, comments, shares and follows over the past few years. Have a happy new year!
While I'm not a massive opshopper (thrift shopper for my American readers!) I do like browsing when I can and occasionally getting a bargain. Back in October, my local store had a 'fill a bag for $2' sale. I took the rare opportunity to leave the boys home with hubby and have some time to myself to browse. I didn't try anything on, just filling my bag with things that looked good and I guesstimated would work.
I've shared before that I sometimes wonder if it's worth buying less than perfect pieces at the opshop with the idea of spending more to get them tailored to fit. But with two of the thrifted pieces I'm wearing below I decided to go ahead and spend more on getting them tailored. They worked out at 67 cents each so even with the average $14 tailoring price for both they were still bargains.
This beautiful tribal print skirt used to be a strapless dress. It looked nicely made, but you could see where the fabric had been pulled from someone constantly adjusting it. I couldn't get past the gorgeous print and colours, it looked lovingly handmade too so I added it to my bag, reasoning I could wear it as a maxi skirt. When I got it home and tested this theory out, I realised it was going to need a bit of elastic sewn in to keep it in place as a skirt. Luckily my tailor was happy to do that for me. While it's not quite maxi skirt length, and is more an ankle grazing length on me, I adore it. I've never seen anything like this in the stores and being cotton it's sure to get a lot of wear over summer.
It's made me think about getting my red maxi skirt fixed up - it's a bit too long (#petiteprobs!) but I usually just get around that by wearing it higher on my waist.
Wore this out for an errand filled day with the boys, trying to cram everything in before a predicted storm was due to arrive. Thankfully it passed right by us. I did a little detour in the morning and stopped by the Jeanswest sale again, and picked up another little something which you'll have already seen in my November purchase post.
Both the tee and the shorts I picked up at the same $2 sale! The super soft tee was perfect as it was, so no alterations were needed there. I got it to replace my black tee which I accidentally destroyed by sticking it in the wrong wash cycle one too many times!
When I saw these shorts I was drawn to the colour and felt positive when I saw the size label was my normal size. I threw them in the bag. After having my colours 'done' pastels were one of the things suggested to keep away from my face, so I thought these shorts would be a nice way to add some pastels to my summer outfits.
I was disappointed to get them home and realise that they were either labeled incorrectly or a different sizing standard, as they were much too big. After debating if I could belt them, I decided to go ask my tailor if she could do anything. And she could! I felt pretty good about giving these shorts a new life, slightly tapered off by then seeing very similar shorts on sale for less than half the cost of the alterations.
The way I see it though, I supported a charity buying them in the first place (even though it was just $2...), and supported a local business with the alterations. So I don't feel too bad that there are similar styles available cheaper. $14.67 is a pretty good price for a cute pair of shorts!
Wore these out to playgroup, where the boys had chocolate chip cookies and of course my shorts were smeared in chocolate. Hopefully these light shorts will fare better next time I wear them!
It can be tricky to find your size when op shopping. While there are ways around things being slightly too big like belting or wearing skirts higher on your waist, you can always alter something to make it fit. If you're not crafty or are a bad sewer like I am, finding a local tailor is a good idea. They can give you ideas and advice on ways to change garments and make them work for you. Something to try when you love something so much you don't want to leave the store without it. (Tia is my local tailor who I recommend if you're in the Brisbane bayside and this post was not sponsored, she doesn't even know I'm writing it).
Do you buy things knowing they will need alterations, or do you leave them on the opshop rack and hunt for other treasures that fit?
There are a couple reasons for buying so much this month:
Doing Christmas shopping meant more exposure to stores and more temptation to shop
I love spring/summer clothing and it makes up the bulk of my wardrobe as I find ways to wear it year-round. And there have been some really nice new season pieces.
I've been decluttering and downsizing my wardrobe So I'm starting to feel there are 'gaps'.
Jeanswest had a 40% off sale and I still had unspent gift cards that I had been setting aside for after my 6 months without shopping challenge at the start of the year.
I have a rule that whenever I buy something I have to wear it twice in the month I bought it. I couldn't do that with all of my October purchases, as one arrived over a month after I ordered it, and some had to be taken to the tailor first. I had better luck this month though, as you can see below. The only thing I haven't worn twice are the earrings as I'm saving them for Christmas.
The idea behind wearing things twice in the month I buy them is that I have to come up with two ways to wear it immediately before I buy so I know it will be useful in my wardrobe. I no longer have things new with tags sitting unworn for years and I have to really love it to want to wear it so frequently right away. I've slowed my shopping and gotten more use from the pieces I've bought since I've implemented this rule so I'm keeping on with it.
I'm wearing it for different seasons in the two outfits below. It shows how versatile the dress is, but also how crazy our weather was near the end of winter. Within a few weeks it went from winter, to summer to winter again. Now it's spring it's thankfully continuing to warm up again.
When I first saw this dress I instantly thought of wearing it with tights, ankle boots and a mustard cardigan. I was lucky to find this one at the start of August as I'd missed out on my dream mustard cardigan in an opshop as I was doing my no-buy challenge! It was so good to be able to wear the outfit I'd dreamt up when I first saw this dress. I thought the green necklace was another nice touch of colour with the mustard yellow.
It was a bit of an eventful day for Toddler T. His first trip to the dentist (he did really well!) and then his first play. There was a local production of 'Going on a bear hunt', one of the books he loves reading.
We finished the day with dinner at the in-laws. I liked how well this outfit worked for everything in the day, and at night. It was really cold in the evening so I was glad I wore the tights!
In complete contrast to the outfit above, this was a much warmer day. I added the cardigan because it was a little windy in the morning, but with 30 degree weather when we went for a walk in the park the cardigan quickly came off. It was nice to get a little taste of summer near the end of winter. I'm looking forward to wearing this dress again with Converse now it's spring in Brisbane.
While it's very similar to the outfit above, I think the beauty of a little black dress is that you can make it look a little different each time just by changing the accessories.
Since I like to review everything I buy after wearing it twice to see how it's working for my wardrobe, my review of this little black dress:
I love this dress. It swishes beautifully when I wear it, although as you can see I haven't been able to capture a pic of that yet! I stumbled across it in Kmart while looking for shoes for baby Boy, and I hoped it would be there once my no-shop challenge is over. When it was still there I figured I'd wait until it went on sale. After checking the stock levels each time I went in and constantly thinking about it I decided to go ahead and buy it at full price. It was only $15. I don't like buying things full price no matter the cost, but it was only $15 and it has now sold out in my size without being reduced so I'm pleased I got it. I have so many outfit ideas in mind for it!
A classic little black dress in any style is widely regarded as a wardrobe staple. You can make it look different each time by changing the accessories you wear with it. Both these outfits followed a very simple formula, picking a colourful cardigan and similar accessories. Just like kimonos in summer and scarves in winter, cardigans are good for adding a little colour in those in-between seasons. To keep things simple, you can wear a colorful cardigan with neutral layers, like a little black dress.
I'd had one big splurge planned but other than that I wasn't really sure what I wanted, as I tended to overthink most things I went to buy. I ended up making a few impulse buys. I've actually had quite a lot enter my wardrobe too, mainly from my sister's wardrobe clear out.
What was added to my wardrobe during my no-shop challenge:
A knitted dress from my Grandma's wardrobe (worn here)
As you can see, only one of the things I bought was with one of my end-of-challenge gift cards. I'd asked for gift cards for Christmas and set them aside to spend at the end of my no-shop challenge. I just haven't seen anything I had to have that looked as good as I imagined when I tried it on (with the exception of the impulse buy polka dot tee, which is SO soft). With more spring and summer stock coming into the stores as winter ends I'm sure I'll have spent them before they expire in December. Being in Brisbane, winter clothing isn't a priority for me to buy as I tend to wear my summer pieces year-round, just with a few extra layers.
I still have my 'wear it twice in the month I bought it' rule to ensure that everything I buy and add to my wardrobe will work with what I already own. While there might have been a few impulse buys, I'd mostly been thinking about adding similar pieces for a while, and I've hit two wears on everything this month.
The Kmart dress is the only thing I bought full price. I probably could have waited for a sale, but seeing it while I was on my no-shop challenge and then starting to notice the stock levels falling in my local store made me go snap it up before I missed out quite quickly in August! It was only $15 so I'm not too upset I paid full price - still a bargain! And out of stock in my size now in my local Kmart so a good purchase.
The Starfish Project necklaces were an impulse buy too, I was a few days into August and hadn't bought anything yet when I stumbled across the brand on Instagram. From their website, 'the Starfish Project restores hope to women escaping human trafficking and exploitation in Asia.' They provide shelter for women and their children, counselling and employment and education. For every piece on their website that you can buy, it tells you exactly what that money can do. The yellow Veronica necklace is equal to the cost of 5 days of room and board at the Starfish Project shelter. The turquoise Hannah necklace is is equal to the cost of 1 week of counseling for an exploited woman.
This isn't a sponsored post, I bought the necklaces with my own money - but I wanted to share as with Christmas coming up it's a lovely gift idea - especially as you get a little note with each purchase. A nice way to help someone look and feel good when they unwrap your gift on Christmas day! I may have added a gift for someone special to my order too...
I'm going to try Beth's #noSpenderSeptember now! With some hand-me-downs coming into my wardrobe during my no-shop challenge, and having bought a few pieces in August, I'm pretty wardrobe content at the moment. I still have a lot of gift cards to spend though so we will see what happens...
