October Edits and Purchases

For a couple of years now, I have greatly enjoyed Lorena's Edits posts. She diligently removes a few items from her closet every month, and documents why she got rid of them. She also shops, as we are all wont to  do, and she documents those too. Now that I have done the Great Closet Purge, I want to keep a closer eye on what I am adding in, and I want to edit out with more frequency, so I decided I would pay homage to my friend Lorena and start my own monthly Edits and Purchases post.

#1



A pair of Old Navy yoga pants. I have 4-5 of these since they are my at-home lounging pants. This one got a hole on the thigh, so time for them to go!

#2



Old Navy button-down neckless blouse in grey dot pattern. Got it sometime summer/fall 2011 but I rarely wear it. I am too lazy to iron it, and there is just something about the neckline that is very unflattering on me. I have a similar one in deep purple that I am also on the fence about, but it lives another day. For now.

The polka-dot blouse in better days.



Its purple twin that is still around, for now.





#3



Target banded-hem short-sleeve blouse in hot-pink floral pattern, from summer 2012. This is a classic example of my failure in picking tops: I fall in love with a pretty pattern or color, then ignore all the flaws that don't flatter my body. In this case, the banded hem kept riding up my backside every time I sat down, and that horrible wide neck yet again looked terrible on me. (Why do they only make that neckline for plus-size blouses? Do they think our necks are too fat otherwise to get it on?

Phillip took this one. I ripped a hole in it before the day was though, which I did patch and wear one more time before I gave up. Stupif ugly neckline.



#4



I got this necklace from my sister for a jewelry party thing she was doing in 2011. I wish they had shown the whole necklace in the picture instead of just the pendant; those side elements are ugly as sin and make the whole thing look like it came from the 1970s. I tried to make it work but it just irritates me every time I see it hanging with my other necklaces. Time to go!

#5




Extra-long grey pullover sweater from LOFT. I think I might have bought it because it was an XXL but it still fit me, so I kept it to pretend that I was still small enough in size to wear LOFT sizes. But it's too clingy in form -- because it's so long -- so it showed every bump of my waistband in pants or skirts. I give up.

Onto the purchases!

I went on a big shopping trip with a work girlfriend at the very end of September, so even though I started tracking in October, I included everything I bought then too.




I am tracking by store, item, and color. September was setting myself up for fall/winter, adding a bunch of nicer pieces from Nordstrom, and a few needed shoes. October was a lot of neutral basics; outside of the pink fleece lounging top ($6 at Old Navy, and so cozy I am wearing it as we speak), everything is black, white or brown. That is because seeing my closet laid out as it is, it is much harder to kid myself that I need another cheap patterned top that I won't wear enough.

But I needed more pants because Hubby is stretching out how often he does laundry, a couple of white tops because the ones I have are getting ragged, a couple of black and brown cardigans that actually fit over my boobs, a bra replinishment, and a couple of coats (one casual, one work-appropriate) for the chilly in-between weather that we have in November.

I am really trying to curb my shopping, teaching myself to get smarter about it. The last 5 or so years -- since Shopping Friend taught me how to dress myself better,  then I discovered YouLookFab and then fashion blogging -- I have bought a TON of clothes. And donated a ton too. Now, I also lost and gained 70+ pounds during that time, which necessitated a lot of those purchases, but still, it's been a whole lot more than what I needed. As you can see above, most of my clothes come from Target, Old Navy and Gap (Nordstrom only when I am buying the better stuff) -- I buy a lot of cheap fashion.

This summer I asked for book recs, and Roberta recommended Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, which has been a huge eye-opener for me. I want to do a lengthier entry about it soon, but it's really prompted me to look closely at my closet and my shopping habits, which makes this whole transformation for me so timely. I didn't really love the suggestions for improvement the author made (slow fashion with organic material is a very long ways away for most of the public, which means plus-sized will be almost impossible to find), but the concept of moving away from buying pretty-patterned, cheaply-made Target tops is one that I want to embrace now.

So we shall see how my spreadsheet looks as time goes on! And Gwynnie Bee helps with that; instead of buying a top I will only wear once or twice, I am now using the Gwynnie Bee service to rent them. I pay a flat monthly fee, and Gwynnie Bee sends me something from my online "closet" (aka my Netflix queue). I wear it and slip it back into the bag for a fast, free return. Gwynnie Bee now has an option on their website to let them know you are shipping something back, and they will send out your next item immediately instead of waiting until they recieve the package.

In October I was on a 3-items-out package (the 3rd item was an upgrade, thanks to Allie at Wardrobe Oxygen), and I rotated through 11 items. Four were returned unworn because they were too big, but six got worn at least once (and a few had 2-3 wears), and one is still hanging in my closet for this week. Two are in a bag on their way back tomorrow, and I expect to get the next in the queue within the week.

My 2-item plan is $59/month (the basic 1-item is $35/month, and the 3-item is $79). That ended up being $5.36 for each of the 11 items, or $8.42 for each of the 7 items I did wear. If I had bought all 7 items I would have easily spent $150, and I probably would have worn them the same number of times.

Gwynnie Bee is a great way to put the lessons I learned from Overdressed in action, while still giving me the variety and the "whee, new clothes" excitement of cheap-fashion shopping. Plus, the items are better-made than your basic Old Navy top so they're elevating the look of the rest of my wardrobe. Win-win-win all around!

If you are interested in joining Gwynnie Bee, give me your email and I will send you an invite. You don't have to commit to a monthly subscription until you log in and look around the site; if it appeals, give it a try. I am glad so far that I have!

Pink snakeskin draped top from DKNY (Gwynnie Bee) with my black LOFT Outlet cardigan, gray Gap straight legs, and new black studded Vince Camuto flats.

(P.S. I do get a referral rate if I send you an invite. Just so you know.)

Thursday: Book review

Don't tell anyone, but I wore the grey Gap pants again. They're so perfect! I am getting a pair in black for sure.

This time I paired it with gold. Grey and gold, I liked it! A new purple Gap draped top (which looked horrible in every other color but this one, what is up with that?), my Babeau gold cascading cardigan, grey pants, gold BR necklace, and my Me Too platform high-heeled sandals in caramel leather. Not 100% if it all worked, but it was fun to try!



+++++

Even though I haven't been dieting, I've been reading about dieting. (Same thing, right? No? Hmm, that explains a lot about the fit of my pants!)

First up was Jennette Fulda's Half-Assed, a long-ago recommendation of my blogger pal Splurgie. Jennette has a very popular weight-loss blog PastaQueen, and about five years ago lost over 200 pounds. The book is her journey through her weight loss, and as such, is funny, irreverent, poignant, and inspiring, but not in a cheesy Rocky way. She doesn't name the diet she is on, because it's not really the point. The point is, she decided it was time to lose weight and for the first time in her life she educated herself on proper nutrition and ate whole, healthy foods. She learned how to cook and to eat veggies, and got herself exercising one step at a time.

Of course, I recognized many moments of her journey; I went through a similar thing when I did the Core plan several years ago. Up until then -- which means my mid-30s, if you can believe it -- I had no idea how to cook anything besides Kraft macaroni and cheese, and I loathed almost all vegetables. Core forced me to change my outlook, and I am grateful for that forever. It opened up my palate and food options immeasurably, and it got me to appreciate well-seasoned fresh food instead of just convenient junk. (The downside is now I like to eat good food AND junk food. So I eat more anyway!)

I want to say Half-Assed inspired me to start dieting, but not quite. Jennette herself put it best in one of her most recent blog posts; she too is at the point of needing to lose a bit more weight and she isn't able to dig down and capture that same rush of enthusiasm and motivation that she had during the Big Loss.

She wrote, "I am much more resentful about healthy living than I was five years ago. The first time was a happy, fun adventure of self-discovery and change. This time, it’s been a drag-me-by-my-pony-tail-down the trail, begrudging return to healthy habits. I’ve haven’t been doing it because I particularly want to, but because I know I NEED to."

Yeah. I can say unequivocally I see myself in that. Except I am not dragging myself by my ponytail to do it. Yet.

Anyway, Half-Assed was well worth the read, and PastaQueen is an excellent blog to follow, particularly if you are in a hair-pulling frame of mind like I am.

++++++

I've also read a couple more books but I will cover those next week. Thinky thoughts abound!

Have a lovely weekend, everyone! My parents are in town for Saturday, and Sunday is a trip to the farmer's market with a girlfriend, and a visit to the local no-kill cat shelter. George is not adapting well to bachelorhood; it seems almost too soon for us, but he needs a playmate.