Goodwill (Wardrobe) Hunting

I felt like I learned a lot of impractical things at school. Even though I had a career in finance, I never did need to understand quadratic equations. Meanwhile, the things that are so important to daily life, such as how to construct a good wardrobe, control expenses, invest in a retirement plan and adjust your behavior for greater success, are not typically taught at school. I wish I'd known these principles before I launched into living on my own; they would have saved me a lot of anxiety and money. 1. I wish I'd known how to build a quality core wardrobe with separates. All items except white jeans purchased used In my 20s, as in my teens, I focused on purchasing expensive one-of-a-kind outfits (usually dresses) rather than on learning how to identify and select quality separates to build what's now known as a "capsule wardrobe."  2. I wish I'd known about the 50-20-30 budget. It wasn't until I went through a financial crisis in my mid-thirties that I...

Here in my home state of Arizona, the temperatures have dropped (sometimes even below 100!), and giant pumpkins have started showing up at the grocery store, signs that fall is nearly upon us. Take some time this weekend to plan out your fall wardrobe in three steps: 1. Edit last season's clothing, including shoes, accessories and outerwear. If you don't know what you already have, you can't shop thoughtfully. Gather everything you might wear this fall in one spot and do a careful review. What do you have that never got worn? Is it time for it to find a new home? What doesn't fit right now? It's okay to set clothes aside for a time, but don't include them in your fall wardrobe if they don't fit today. Below are some of the work clothes I no longer need:   I've already given away the two dresses shown here, but I'll be setting aside my work trousers and blazers for now, in case I have occasion to wear them. 2. Create a compact, intentional wardrobe fr...

At the age of six my husband had saved enough money to purchase something he'd wanted for a long time - a kid's football helmet he'd seen at a local store. His mother drove him to the store, he triumphantly counted out his money to make the purchase, and then he carried his prize back to the car. Cost in today's dollars, according to US Bureau of Labor Statistics  inflation calculator, would be $140.00 As soon as he got into the car, he realized he'd made a huge mistake. He'd just spent a large chunk of his saved money on something that didn't make him happy after all. It didn't turn him magically into a football player - it just made him feel empty.  How often do we do the same thing when we shop for clothing? Ah, we say, I'm finally going to get the outfit that will prove to everyone that I've "made it", that I'm someone to be reckoned with, that I'm beautiful. This outfit will let me catch that cute guy's eye, it will let...

 Alison Freer's book, How To Get Dressed: A Costume Designer's Secrets for Making Your Clothes Look, Fit, and Feel Amazing , published in 2015, offers a treasure trove of money-saving tricks and DIY hacks for getting the best out of the clothing you own or purchase. Check it out of the library first; but you may find, as I did, that you want to own it as a reference, there are so many useful tips. Here is a list of the top five money-saving lessons I learned in this book: 1. Learn effective stain treatments you can make with household products I've found in my Goodwill shopping that there is generally a "reason" that a particular item of clothing was given away, and a common one is a minor stain. You can now be the beneficiary of someone else's lack of stain-treating skills! I recently purchased some white shorts (shown in  this post ) that were perfect in every way - except for a tiny stain on one side. With one of the stain treatment options I learned in Fre...

 This was a busy month as I moved from a wardrobe focused on attire appropriate for the workplace (even during the pandemic when I was working from home, I dressed in my normal work attire) to a more casual summer wardrobe. Here are the items I purchased at my local Goodwill along with their prices: I found this beautiful Ann Taylor 100% cotton black blouse. I'm able to pair it with my white shorts and blue jeans: $5.29. (Plastic "turquoise" necklace previously purchased used) I was also excited to finally have a top with which I could wear the turquoise necklace. I'd purchased it years ago, holding on to the hope that I'd eventually have something I could wear it with! I needed a belt to go with the utility skirt I'd purchased in July: Stretchy woven belt with leather trim: $3.49 Here's a photo of the belt with the skirt: I also purchased this top in August (pictured previously in this blog post ): $8.29. (Replacing another top that cost $4.29, so true c...

Journey to Financial Independence Financial independence doesn't have to mean you'll quit your job and never work again. It could mean that you have the means to changes jobs or relationships. It might also mean that you have enough of a financial cushion to get your own business off the ground, or take time off from paid work altogether. My husband and I saved enough money to not have to work for several years back in 2008. Average Amount Spent On Clothing Per Month According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS), the average amount spent on clothing in 2018 was $1866 per person (male or female), or $155.50 per month. While this information was not broken down by gender, other less formal surveys indicate that women on average are spending more; up to $400 per month on clothing, with men spending proportionately less. My husband and I track all of our expenses, and from January to June of 2020, we spent $111.76 on clothing. Not per month - that was the total  spent on c...

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 ...