About Me

Julia Thomson

Confession

I have a confession to make. I've worked in the financial services industry since 2000, and as a financial advisor meeting with clients either in person or by video conference, since 2014. I took pride in presenting an appropriately well-dressed and conservative image as befitted a financial professional earning six figures.

I could have easily afforded to purchase all of my professional clothing at upscale boutiques. But over the last couple of decades I had built up a habit of purchasing quality used clothing and never saw the need. I remember meeting with a couple who's net worth was north of $30 million wearing beautiful Banana Republic wrap dress--which I had purchased used, in flawless condition, for $12.99.

It's no coincidence that this approach to buying clothing (my husband uses it as well) has saved us hundreds of dollars and allowed us to retire at relatively young ages - I was 60; my husband was 57.

Used Clothing to STEP UP Your Wardrobe

I want to counter the stereotype that thrift stores are for finding those "funky, one-of-a-kind" pieces suitable only for fashion-forward teenagers. Instead, I'm hoping to convince you that you can ditch any guilt over spending too much on clothes, or supporting sweatshop labor, by purchasing your best clothing from Goodwill, and other thrift stores.

I'll share with you the lessons I learned and the tricks I picked up along the way to help you spend less money on clothes and still look terrific.

Gift-Giving and The Problem with Stuff

Most of us, let's be honest, are drowning in stuff. While minimalist Joshua Becker's post was written several years ago, I suspect that the statistics he cites, described below, have only gotten worse. TOO MUCH STUFF 1. The average household owns 300,000 items. Wow. 2. 32% of households only have room to park one car in a two-car garage (one in four can't park any car in their garage). 3. One out of ten of us rents offsite storage to deal with our excess stuff. As of March of 2020, there was 5.4 square feet of offsite storage space for every man, woman and child living in the U.S. 4. Even with all the stuff we have, we don't have enough money . I created this blog to encourage us all to be more conscious consumers of clothing - to consider buying quality clothing second-hand and to be more thoughtful about how much of it we really need. The goal is to keep our clothing from becoming just more stuff that's out of control. Naturally, these concepts go beyond cloth

Having Enough (Thanksgiving Edition)

I culled my closet a couple of weeks ago, inspired again by Courtney Carver's Project 333 to limit my clothes only to what I intend to wear over the next (in my case) four months. Everything else got put into drawers or taken to an unused closet upstairs. While I'm sure I've gotten some things wrong (I just haven't figured out what they are yet), it feels like a revelation to walk into my closet: Not too much, and not too little, it's exactly enough. The "Fulfillment Curve" from Your Money or Your Life (Dominguez & Robin) What does having "enough" clothing look like? When I left my job as a financial advisor, I no longer had "enough" clothes. I had plenty of clothing for meeting with clients in person; I also had workout clothing and a couple of more formal dresses. But I didn't have anywhere near enough clothing to meet my new daily circumstances of hanging around the house, meeting with a friend or running errands. I'v

Casualization of Clothing

I'm taking a break from talking about used clothing this week to focus a bit on history. I recently saw a photograph of women from the 1920s, and it occurred to me what an amazing transformation had happened for women's clothing in just 30 years. Here's an image of what women wore in the 1890s. Note the long sleeves, high necklines and rear bustles. These outfits would also have required a corset underneath and petticoats. I found this image at ThisVictorianLife.com . The couple who runs the site wears Victorian-era clothing in their everyday lives. Here is an image of what women wore in the 1920s. Note the (relatively) high hemlines, short sleeves and more contemporary necklines. Also note the low heel on the shoes. I found this image on a Pinterest page. While I personally prefer clothing that's a bit more figure-flattering, imagine the freedom these women from the 20s experienced compared to their 1890's sisters! Have things changed as much 100 years later? Ma

Goodwill (Wardrobe) Hunting

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