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Sunk Cost Fallacy and Getting Rid of Clothes

I'm as subject to the "Sunk Cost fallacy" as anyone--witness the red sweater shown in my earlier blog that I have yet to give away. This is the idea that once you've made an initial investment, say in an article of clothing, you feel you have to stay committed to that investment in order to get your money's worth - even if said article of clothing looks terrible on you and you never wear it.

Keeping Clothes We Don't Wear

Our common response, according to both my personal experience and the experience of friends, is that we keep the piece in our closets for a year or two, and then give it away at our next Goodwill run. This is rather ridiculous, if you think about it - you don't wear it, it's taking up space in your closet, and every time you see it, you feel that little jolt of "ugh - what a mistake!"

What's the remedy? In my role as a financial advisor, I would ask my clients who had invested in a losing stock if they would buy that same stock again, but at the current lower price. When they said no, that gave me the opportunity to suggest that we redirect their remaining investment into something that might give them better returns (like a broadly diversified stock index).

That's a little harder with clothing - it tends not to be as fungible as stocks. But ask yourself if you would buy the same article used, at maybe one quarter the cost. 

Buy Used In the First Place

Buying your clothing used in the first place makes this logical fallacy a lot easier to overcome. If you only spent seven dollars on an item, you might not think twice about giving up on something that doesn't work for you.

I have realized that the floral print top I'd previously purchased (and altered) was not working for me: 

(The pink necklace pictured was also purchased used)

It would work much better for my 30-year-old self, frankly, than my older self. I'm replacing it with this top:

($8.29 at Goodwill. Black necklace pictured was also purchased used)

Total cost for both tops was $12.58, so that's the true cost of the new top. The floral top will hopefully find it's way to someone more appropriate.


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