Author: Debbie Roes

by

On Sales, Marketing Messages, FOMO, and Shopping

The Nordstrom Anniversary Sale (NAS) just ended this past Sunday.   This is not only Nordstrom’s biggest sale of the year, it’s also my favorite sale and I’ve been eagerly awaiting its arrival every summer for as long as I can remember.   Longtime readers of this blog may remember that I opted to sit out the sale back in 2013 and that I spent too much time, attention, and money on it last year.   This year, I set the intention of finding a happy medium between avoiding the sale altogether and overdoing it.

Nordstrom Anniversary Sale

Did you shop the NAS this year? (images: Nordstrom.com)

I ended up shopping the sale in person twice this year and also ordered some things online.   I will debrief how I fared toward the end of today’s post, but there are other topics I would like to cover first that are far more relevant to all of us.  Specifically, I would like to address how sales like NAS are marketed to customers and how the messages that consumers receive affect our buying habits.  I will share my reactions to the messages I saw in the pre-NAS marketing materials this year, as well as to the signage within my local Nordstrom.  I would also love to get your input on how retail sales are marketed and how you respond to the barrage of messages pressuring you to buy.

Continue reading →

by

July 2015 “Grab Bag” of Useful Links

I love all of the wonderful comments I received on my last two posts about closet downsizing and wardrobe minimalism (here and here).  Clearly, many of you have thoughts on these topics and I’m glad you decided to share your words of wisdom.   Since the post consolidating readers’ comments seemed to be popular, I will feature comment round-ups again in the future when it seems appropriate to do so.   As one reader mentioned, even though she regularly reads comments, she often doesn’t remember which post a comment was on, so she appreciated having many of the best ones aggregated in a follow-on post.   I’m glad I thought to do that…

It’s coming up on the end of July, so it’s time for me to share my latest “grab bag” of useful links (see previous editions here).   Included below are links to articles I think you’ll enjoy on the subjects of shopping and shopping psychology, wardrobe management, style, and personal development.  I’m also sharing a few previous “Recovering Shopaholic” posts that you may have missed the first time around (or may choose to revisit now).

Ocean Beach Pier

A warm summer’s evening near the famous Ocean Beach Pier.

Continue reading →

by

Closet Downsizing and Wardrobe Minimalism Tips from Readers

When I shared my tips for a reader looking to downsize her closet and asked for additional suggestions, I never imagined I would get so many wonderful comments from all of you.  I was so impressed with the quality of the recommendations given that I decided to share many of them in this follow up post. I know that many subscribers don’t read the comments on my posts, but they are often equally as helpful as what I write.   In this case, I would venture to say that the suggestions in the comments may be more beneficial than the tips I offered.

closet downsizing tips

Do you struggle with deciding what to cull and what to keep?

I didn’t include all of the comments and I edited some of the ones herein for the sake of clarity or brevity. I didn’t want this to be too much of a marathon post.  I have given credit to the person who made each comment.  I hope that those of you who are looking to downsize your wardrobe will find these additional tips as useful as I did.  If you have anything to add, please feel free to do so.

Continue reading →

by

Closet Culling Advice for Aspiring Minimalists

About a month ago, I received an email from a reader who wanted some advice for her struggles in paring down her wardrobe.   She told me she hadn’t seen advice anywhere that fit her specific situation.  I could have just responded to her questions via email like I usually do, but since I’ve been blogging for a few years now and have read many comments from readers, I knew many of you could likely relate to this reader’s challenges.   I also believe that those who have overcome similar struggles in the past could offer her additional advice beyond that which I am able to give.  So I decided to answer the questions in a post rather than through email.

Summarizing the Questions

I will do my best to summarize the reader’s questions here, as her email was quite a few paragraphs long and I want to preserve her anonymity.   This reader is an aspiring minimalist who wants to own less but finds herself with a closet full of items that she either likes or loves.  However, she feels she owns too much overall, especially for someone who really wants to adopt a minimalist lifestyle.   She is hesitant to store some of her items in boxes because that doesn’t feel “clean” or minimalist to her, yet she also doesn’t want to get rid of anything that is still in good shape and which may be hard to replace in the future.  Compounding the issue is the fact that she plans to get pregnant soon and worries that if she stops working for a while, she won’t be able to afford good quality business clothes if she gives up the ones she has now.

Continue reading →

by

June “Love It, Wear It” Challenge Update – Part Two

I decided to split my June LIWI update into two parts because it was just getting too long.   I think I will change the structure of my future updates to streamline them a bit.   As longtime readers are aware of, I’m a big fan of numbers, statistics, and analysis, but I know that not everyone has the time or the inclination to read such a deep level of detail.   But I will definitely share information galore at the end of the year when I was wrapping up the challenge, so fellow detail fans will be sure to appreciate that post.

In part one of my June LIWI update, which went live on Friday, I shared what I wore during June and gave you a glimpse into my “working closet” halfway through the challenge, complete with lots of photos.  As a reminder, here’s what my working closet looked like as of the end of June:

June 2015 working closet

In today’s post, I do some analysis into what has yet to be worn and why.  There will also be quite a few numbers and photos in this post to help illustrate my points.  Since my previous LIWI update was also very detail-oriented, I will highlight what has changed between the unworn areas of my wardrobe in May versus June as well.  

Continue reading →