Wardrobe Management

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January through June 2015 Purchase Analysis

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I’m big on tracking, numbers, and statistics related to my wardrobe and shopping (see how I do my tracking here).  I think that tracking can be highly beneficial for recovering shopaholics, as well as anyone who wants to shop smarter and better utilize the wardrobe pieces they own.   I’ve been tracking how much I spend, what I wear, and how often I wear it since the beginning of 2011, and last year I added photos and an outfit journal to the mix.  Using these types of analysis can help us make fewer buying mistakes over time.

Shopping and wardrobe statistics

It can be helpful to periodically review and analyze our purchases.

Another thing that I find helpful is to review my purchases and see how they have worked out for me. In today’s post, I’m going to look at the items I brought into my closet from January through June of this year and see whether my new items have become wardrobe workhorses or closet benchwarmers.

It’s a bit too early to look at the pieces I purchased during July through October, as I don’t yet know whether those buys were smart or ill-advised. For one reason, many of those items are for fall (looking at you, Nordstrom Anniversary Sale purchases), and the cooler weather hasn’t even started yet where I live.   I will address what I’ve bought during the second half of the year in one of my end of the year wrap-up posts (check out what I called my best and worst purchases for 2014 – I don’t agree with all of those assessments now!).

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Cool Weather Wardrobe Planning – Part Two

In my last post, I outlined a six step process for planning and putting together a seasonal wardrobe.   The first four steps of this process should be done before you ever set foot in any brick-and-mortar shop or enter an e-commerce store.  If you take the time to do some planning before buying anything new, you’ll have a much better chance of making the right choices and being happy with what you purchase.   In addition, your wardrobe will be more workable for your actual lifestyle rather than for a past, fantasy, or hypothetical one.

Since the seasons are transitioning from warm to cool where I live (we really only get two seasons here – summer and “not summer”), I thought this would be the perfect time for me to put my method to the test with my own wardrobe.  So over the course of the past few days, I went through steps one through four.  In today’s post, I will recap my process and share what I learned and my plans for moving forward with my cool weather wardrobe.

My New Jeans "Uniform"

These outfits are typical of what I wear during the “cool” weather season…

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Cool Weather Wardrobe Planning 2015 – Part One

Within the next couple of weeks, the cool weather season is going to start for me.   I know that many of you have been pulling out your warmer clothes for weeks now, but the seasons are a bit “off” where I live.  Our summers don’t typically start until sometime in July and they generally last until late October or early November.   As such, I don’t even think much about my cool weather wardrobe until right about now.  I say “cool” instead of cold because anyone who has ever been to San Diego knows that the temperatures never really drop that low here…

In today’s post, I’m going to share the process I’ve outlined for reviewing my cool weather wardrobe and planning for any updates I need (this process can be used for any season).  In between today’s post and my next post, I will follow this process and report back on my findings.  I’m going to “walk my talk” and put my method to the test.   I hope that perhaps a few of you will do so as well so we’ll have more input on how well this works.  I’m definitely open to changes to make things easier and more successful, so your suggestions are welcomed as well.

Cool weather wardrobe planning

What process do you use for seasonal wardrobe planning?

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

It’s been a long time since my last LIWI update, but I have continued to do the challenge in the interim.  As the months have gone on, I keep learning more and more about my wardrobe, my personal style, and myself.  Today’s update is going to be less picture heavy than previous installments, but there will still be quite a few statistics for those who like that sort of thing.

Love It, Wear It Challenge

An Overview of LIWI

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.

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Travel Packing Debrief – September 2015 Tahoe Trip

I recently returned from a ten day trip to Lake Tahoe (see my photos here).  It was originally supposed to be a week-long vacation, but I extended my stay for three additional days.   I don’t travel very often and always struggle with what to pack.   Since I have been doing so much refinement of my wardrobe and style over the past year, I wondered how that might affect my packing prowess.   In today’s post, I look at what I brought to Tahoe with me, whether or not my packing served me well, and what I wore during my stay.

Debbie Roes - Lake Tahoe

One night on my recent Tahoe trip – a warm summer evening by the lake. 

What I Packed

Tahoe during September can be a bit “iffy” weather-wise. While it is often still quite warm during the day, the temperature can definitely plummet in the evenings.  It’s also not uncommon to have a cold snap in early fall. All of these factors can make packing challenging.  In the days leading up to my trip, I kept checking the forecast and refining my list of what to take with me on my trip.

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