September 26, 2013 by Debbie Roes

Useful Links on Wardrobe Minimalism & Capsule Dressing

In my last post, I shared some lessons I learned from examining my favorite clothes and shoes from this past summer. In the comments section, some of you pointed out that my favorites constituted a workable summer capsule wardrobe. While I hadn’t really tried to create a wardrobe capsule, I have to agree that my favorites work quite well together. Perhaps that’s why I wore them so much!

Since we started discussing capsules, I thought it would be fun to focus this week’s links post on the topics of wardrobe minimalism and capsule dressing. As many of us are looking to shop less and streamline our closets, learning how to create an easily “remixable” wardrobe can help us in these pursuits.

Wardrobe capsules can help you dress better using fewer pieces!

Continue reading →

September 24, 2013 by Debbie Roes

Success Leaves Clues – Lessons from Our Favorites

Last week, I explored the concept of shopping mistakes and what we can learn from them. Today I’d like to look at another valuable way of learning about our wardrobes and ourselves.

We all have favorite clothes and shoes that we wear over and over again, but how many of us take the time to understand why these closet pieces receive so much play? I believe that if we make the effort to determine common threads among our favorites, we’ll learn important lessons for how to shop smarter and create wardrobes that better meet our needs.

What can we learn from our wardrobe favorites?

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September 20, 2013 by Debbie Roes

Useful Links: Articles on Shopping Addiction

I am always on the lookout for good articles on the topic of shopping addiction. In fact, I probably have at least 100 of them bookmarked at this point! In today’s useful links post, I share some of the best of these articles with you.

You’ll see some of the “usual suspects” in the mix, including an interview with Dr. April Benson and an excellent recent blog post by Jill Chivers. I also feature a recent article about online shopping that includes quotes from both Dr. Benson and “yours truly.” Enjoy!

Compulsive Shopping - Useful Links Continue reading →

September 18, 2013 by Debbie Roes

Learning from Our Shopping Mistakes

Since the beginning of 2013, I have purged 150 items from my wardrobe! These pieces – garments and shoes – have either been sold on consignment or donated to a local charity. Hopefully, other people are now enjoying the wardrobe castoffs that were gathering dust in my closet.

Do you ever wonder, “What was I thinking when I bought this?”

While some of my purged items were previously worn and loved but no longer fit my body, lifestyle, and personality, many others were “wardrobe benchwarmers” that should never have been purchased in the first place. Since I’m making good progress with paring down my wardrobe and cultivating a wardrobe that better suits my needs, I want to make sure not to repeat my past mistakes. Continue reading →

September 16, 2013 by Debbie Roes

Retail Therapy is a Ruse

A few weeks ago, the following quote was posted by one of my Facebook “friends”:

Retail therapy works every time.”

I had to resist the strong temptation to fire back with, “No, it doesn’t!” Although I didn’t want to get into a lengthy debate on Facebook, I do want to write about the concept of “retail therapy” here on the blog. I have some strong feelings about this term and its implications. In today’s post, I share my thoughts on “retail therapy,” how I don’t believe it’s really helpful at all, and what I believe might work every time.