Author: Debbie Roes

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The Clothes We Wear at Home

The following is a guest post from Terra Trevor, author, essayist, memoirist and nonfiction writer of a widely published diverse body of work, who believes good humor is more attractive than good clothes that hang in the closet and are seldom worn.

Terra has cultivated a small workable wardrobe, with a spotlight on her full life and the clothes she wears at home. Visit her at terratrevor.blogspot.com.

Terra Trevor

Terra Trevor, enjoying her life and her workable wardrobe

It was one of those days. I couldn’t wait to get home from work and change my clothes. A heavy July fog rolled in and I was so tired I decided to put on my bathrobe. After dinner my husband sliced watermelon. It was my turn to wash the dishes. What could it possibly hurt, I thought, if I left the dirty dishes sitting on the table for a while? We generally kept our house clean, yet on this day the rest of the house was a mess, with sandy beach towels, the picnic basket and cooler from a pleasure-filled weekend strewn in the hall, so I decided to let the kitchen go, too. What I really wanted to do was read my book.

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February “Love It, Wear It” Challenge Update

I just completed the second month of my “Love It, Wear It” Wardrobe Challenge (LIWI), so it’s time for another update.  Here’s a quick reminder of how the challenge works (read more here)…  The idea is to create a “working closet” by moving everything I actually wear into a specific area of my closet.   I will only wear what I really want to wear and anything that is uncomfortable, fussy, or no longer my style will be passed on for donation or consignment.

Love It, Wear It Challenge

The objectives for the challenge are to wear what I love and to have the right types of clothing, shoes, and accessories for my life.   By “my life,” I mean the life that I am actually living in the here and now, not an imagined, wished for, or previous lifestyle.

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February 2015 Accountability Update

March is now underway, so it’s time for my second accountability update for 2015.  As long-time readers know, these monthly reports are where I share what came into and left my closet during the previous month and how I did with my shopping budget.   It’s my way of keeping myself honest and on track with my wardrobe and shopping.

Full Honesty and Accountability

Although I don’t have the type of formal goals this year that I had during 2013 and 2014 (see this post for what I’m doing instead this year), sharing what I bought, what I culled, and how much I spent will help me to stay deliberate with both my shopping and wardrobe management.

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Lessons from My Outfit Journal – Pants and Coats

Last week, I started a new series in which I share some of the entries from my outfit journal.   The first installment elicited quite a few comments and seemed to be popular with readers, so I’m going to dive in to another post in the series today.   This time, I will be focusing on a theme, pants/jeans outfits with coats.   I was basically happy with three out of the four looks I feature below, but there were still things I would change about each outfit.

Outfit Journal

Do you keep an outfit journal and/or photograph what you wear? 

Keeping my outfit journal is helping me to fine-tune all of my ensembles and I’m happier with more of what I’m wearing as a result.   It’s very rare that I rate anything I wear below an “8” on a scale of one to ten these days, but my standards are also increasing.  I am no longer willing to settle for ill-fitting or uncomfortable clothing, especially since I now know that I can get by with much less.  If I don’t love – or at least strongly like – what I’m wearing, I’m perfectly happy to pass it on to someone else.

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February 2015 “Grab Bag” of Useful Links

It’s not quite the end of the month, but I decided to share my February installment of useful links a bit early this time.   My mom has been visiting and I only see her a few times per year, so I’ve wanted to minimize my time on blogging and other activities so I can spend more time with her.   I’m constantly compiling interesting and useful articles to share with you (as I’ve said, I read a lot).  In fact, I could probably share useful links far more often and still not run out of excellent content for you to enjoy.   But monthly is just often enough to offer information without information overload!

Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe, the area where my mom is visiting from. 

Included below are links to articles I think you’ll enjoy on the topics of shopping and shopping psychology, wardrobe management, style, and personal development.  I’m also sharing a few early “Recovering Shopaholic” posts that you may have missed the first time around (or may choose to revisit now).

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