Accountability

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2016 By the Numbers: Budget, Purchases, and Purges

I hope you all liked Esther’s “story of recovery” that I published last week. I felt it was well worth interrupting my 2016 recap posts (see the first two HERE and HERE) to share such an inspiring story with you.  If you enjoyed reading about Esther’s journey and want to learn how others have been able to overcome their shopping and wardrobe management challenges, click here. What I love most about the recovery stories is how varied they are, as it illustrates that there’s no one right way to reach peace and freedom around shopping and our closets.

2016 clothing purchase and purge update

It’s time for my final “by the numbers” accountability update for 2016.   I already covered my wardrobe “all-stars” and “benchwarmers” earlier this month.  In today’s post, I’m going to look at the remaining numbers surrounding my wardrobe and shopping for last year:

  • My budget
  • My purchases
  • What I purged from my closet

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2016 By the Numbers: Wardrobe “Benchwarmers”

Last week, I shared the good news portion of my 2016 wardrobe review, my closet “all-stars.”  In compiling the information for that post, I was pleased to see that my frequency of wear numbers had significantly improved over my 2015 statistics.  Now it’s time for the flip side of the equation, my wardrobe “benchwarmers.”  As with my last post, I will share numbers and photos, as well as my thoughts about the lesser worn – or not worn at all – items in my closet.

2016 Wardrobe Review - Benchwarmers Continue reading →

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2016 By the Numbers: Wardrobe “All-Stars”

Happy New Year, everyone!  I hope that 2017 is off to a good start for you.  In the next few posts, I’m going to review my goals and numbers from 2016 and give you some updates and thoughts on my progress.  We’re going to start on a high note today with my wardrobe “all-stars.”  In upcoming articles, I’ll share an update on my wardrobe “benchwarmers,” a review of my purchases, and a recent closet inventory.  I will also report on how I did with my 2016 balance goal and reveal my theme for this year.

2016 wardrobe all-stars Continue reading →

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Do You Wear Your Clothes 30 or More Times?

Most people don’t understand the damage the garment industry is doing to the environment and to the people in developing countries who make our clothes.  The world now consumes 80 billion pieces of clothing each year, which is up 400% from two decades ago, and the average American throws away more than 65 pounds of clothes each year!   Over 60 million people are employed in the global clothing and footwear sector and most of them make less than half of what’s considered a “living wage” in their countries.  These are just a few of the staggering – and sobering – statistics I recently read about in an article that was posted on Facebook.

clothing sustainability

The current fashion industry model is not sustainable and urgent changes are needed, as explained in the 2015 documentary film, “The True Cost.”  I recently learned of a sustainable fashion initiative called #30wears that was started by sustainable fashion advocate, Livia Firth (wife of Oscar-winning actor, Colin Firth).  This movement strives to counter the wastefulness of “fast fashion” by focusing on buying quality pieces that we will wear at least thirty times before we discard them.  Simply asking ourselves, “Will I wear this a minimum of thirty times?” while we’re shopping can help us to make choices that are better for the world at large as well as our closets.

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A Year Later: August – October 2015 Purchase Review

Earlier this year, I started a new feature in which I review my purchases a year later to see how well (or not) they have worked out for me.  Most of the time, these purchase updates will encompass two or three months, and today I’m going to look back at the items I bought from August through October of last year. I definitely bought far too many items last August through October, so there will be a lot to cover in this update!

Good or bad purchase

How do you feel about the purchases you made a year ago?

I will share some basic numbers, let you know what I still own, and reflect on which purchases were good and bad and why. I’ll close this update by encapsulating the lessons I learned from reviewing the items I purchased a year ago.  I hope that reading this post will inspire you to take a look at your past purchases to see how well they’re serving you – or not.   Taking the time to do such a review can be quite eye-opening and is well worth doing.

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