Wardrobe Management

by

From Compulsive eBay Buyer to Self-Trusting, Balanced Shopper

The following is a guest post from Tonya, a longtime reader of this blog who has agreed to share her “story of recovery” with all of you.  Tonya is an active member of my private Facebook group, where she recently shared her story about downsizing her wardrobe, shopping smarter, and honing her style.  I thought what she had to say would be inspiring for all readers of “Recovering Shopaholic.” I asked if she would be willing to expand upon her story and share some before and after closet photos.

If you would like to be profiled in the “Stories of Recovery” series (you can be anonymous if desired), or if you have an idea for another type of guest post on “Recovering Shopaholic,” please connect with me to share your thoughts.

Getting My “Fix” Without Going Back into Debt

I first found Debbie’s blog in May of 2013.  Up to that point, the only resources that I had found were a couple of bloggers doing shopping bans, debt blogs, and questions to ask yourself to find out if you were a shopaholic.  I had gotten myself out of debt, cut my spending by about a third, had a closet stuffed with 500-600 items, and discovered eBay.  You can buy an awful lot for a small amount of money there.  I was able to get my “fix” without going back into debt.

Closet overload

Is your closet stuffed yet you keep buying more and more? 

Continue reading →

by

Successful Alterations – Skirts and Dresses

Last week, I kicked off a new blog series that will include a number of posts on the topic of alterations.   The first installment included thoughts from my private Facebook group on the pros and cons of having our clothes tailored. The group also shared their experiences with altering their own clothes, as well as some tailoring success and failure stories.

Skirt and Dress Alterations

In the upcoming posts in this series, I will highlight some of my own alteration successes and failures.  Since I like to start things out on a high note, today’s installment will feature some of my successful tailoring efforts.  Please note that I don’t do any of my tailoring myself.  About seven or eight years ago, I found a lovely alterations lady not far from when I live who does a great job and charges reasonable prices.  I’ve been taking all of my tailoring projects to her ever since.  She’s very good at what she does, but occasionally I proceed with alterations against her best advice. But that is a topic for the next post in this series…  We’re sticking with the positive today!

Continue reading →

by

Alterations – Pros, Cons, Successes, and Failures

With today’s post, I’m kicking off a new series for the blog.  I have often written about alterations in my various posts, but only once have I dedicated an entire article to that topic.  While that post was fairly comprehensive, it was also published almost two years ago, so it’s high time for me to revisit the subject. In addition, I have received a few questions from readers that I would like to address more fully than I can in the comments section of the blog.

Alterations Tips and Resources

Do you tailor your clothes? Why or why not?

In the coming weeks, I will share some of my personal alterations successes and failures with you (including before and after pictures wherever possible) and I will respond to the reader questions I mentioned above.   But before I delve into those matters, I decided to ask my private Facebook group how they feel about tailoring their clothes and how they approach alterations – or even if they do!

Continue reading →

by

November “Love It, Wear It” Challenge (LIWI) Update

We are getting near the end of the year and this is my second to last (penultimate, if you will – great word) “Love It, Wear It” Challenge (LIWI) update.  At the end of the year or early next year, I will do a full wrap-up of the challenge and what I have learned from it.   But today, I am going to do my usual numbers updates, as well as share some thoughts about my summer wardrobe since that season pretty much just wrapped up for me.   I will also highlight a few other things I have learned from the challenge and what I plan to do to finish out the year.

Love It, Wear It Challenge

An Overview of LIWI

But before I dive into my update, here’s a quick reminder of what LIWI is about (read more here).  The objectives for the “Love It, Wear It” challenge are to wear what we love and to have the right types of clothing, shoes, and accessories for our lives… our real lives.  By this, I mean the lives that we are actually living in the here and now – not imagined, wished for, or previous lifestyles.

Continue reading →

by

How to Determine If a Purchase Was a Good One

Last week, I posted an analysis of all of the purchases I made during the first half of this year.   I discovered that over half of these items could be considered smart buys in that I still love them and have worn them regularly.   Another 18% of my purchases were basically mistakes and have already been purged from my wardrobe, as well as five pieces (13%) that I was able to return for refunds. Rounding out my analysis were an additional five items (13%) for which the proverbial jury is still out.

Good purchase or not

How do you decide if a purchase was good or not? 

I learned through my analysis that many of my mistakes stem from settling for just okay when I should have held out for stellar, especially in terms of online purchases.  It’s definitely better to make returns, even if they can be a hassle, than to keep e-commerce buys that didn’t live up to our expectations.  Returns are often a necessary evil for those of us who like to shop online, as colors and fits can be distorted by monitor variations and strategic clothing placement on models or in displays.

Continue reading →