Spending Tally

Well, here I am at the end of the year and it's time to see how much I spent, and what I spent it on. I estimated that I spent $15,000 on clothes in 2009, and my goal was to spend half that this year, or less. Let's see how I did.

January: $693
February: $753
March: $647.09
April: $940
May: $373
June: $202.11
July: $35
August: $1260
September: $391
October:$825
November: $557
December: $1005

TOTAL FOR THE YEAR: $7681.

That's under the budget I set for myself ($750/month) and just about half of what I spent last year, but it still feels like waaaaay to much! And now let's see WHAT I spent all that money on....

1 pair of shorts
1 hat
1 swimsuit
1 jumpsuit/1 romper
1 pair of jeans
2 coats
2 bags
3 pairs of pants
4 sweaters
4 skirts
13 pairs of shoes
16 tops
and 19 dresses

WOW - that's pretty much an entire wardrobe. Maybe I can not shop at all in 2011 - because who needs more of this?

October Puchases....Off the Wagon

This is what happens when I stop using my iphone budgeting app...I lose track and go overboard. Here's what I got last month from left to right:






Grey Blanket Sweater: $195, Laurie B
Purple Cotton Romper: $10, Bali Street Vendor
White lace dress: $110 in Bali at Uluwatu
Striped sweater: $42, at Urban Outfitters
Thin white tunic: $54, at Urban Outfitters
Tweed Bow Skirt: $160, Anthropologie
Green Silk Shirt: $70, at Express
Sequin clutch: $25, at Express
Black Wedges: $79, Nine West
Black Beret: $24, at Urban Outfitters
Brown wrap sweater: $56, at Express

Total for the Month: $825 Over Budget by: $75.00

While I hate to be over budget, I'm really just more disappointed that I ended up with only basics. Maybe next year I'll only buy one designer item a month and leave it at that. I certainly have the basics covered.

Mixing up the patterns.

Since yesterday's outfit was a little streamlined, I decided to be bold today. i am not great at mixing patterns and prints, but I think I'm learning. I just got this sweater at Urban Outfitters yesterday, and I wanted to wear it today, but decided to make myself do something different. I think it looks good, but I'm not 100% confident. The cream stripes in the sweater seem a little too light? But maybe I'm over thinking it.

Pins and Needles Sweater, $42
Tucker for Target dress, $35
Bronx Boots, $150

What do you think?

Pants!!! I love them!

Someone commented that I should return these pants and I thought about it, but I'm soooooo glad I didn't! I love these. Not my best photo, but the pants are great. They are loose and well made and the taper at the end is perfect. I feel very chic in them.

The fact that i even bought them was pretty out of character. I pulled them off the rack at the last minute and figured I try them on at home. Normally I wouldn't even look at pants like these for fear they'd make my butt look too big. But they don't, so I'm chalking this experience up to Risk = Reward.

Since they are a new shape for me, I'm looking forward to creating different looks for them. Yay!

Blouse: Banana Republic, $60 a few years ago.
Trousers: Talla by Habitual, $198
Shoes: Sally Wedges by Tory Burch, $268

What do you think of the pants? Any Suggestions on how to style them?

Baby's First Fedora

I am generally not a trendy person. I'd describe my look as more classic with some edge (or at least trying to be) and I hate to buy stuff that will go out of style with the season. I'm sure you've seen fedoras EVERYWHERE because lord knows I have, and I've been trying to fight it.

However - while strolling through Nolita this weekend I stumbled upon this unique gem from a street vendor specializing in hats. The top is wool lace, it has a fabric band and a tweed brim. I've never seen another like it. I also thought the material would take it into fall and winter. I didn't want to get a straw one and put it away in 30 days. I really like it, but it definitely tested my confidence walking around with it this morning. I kept worrying that I looked stupid, but that's stupid. This is New York, I can get away with (fashion) murder.

Would love any and all opinions on this trend and this hat.

Right now I'm going to put it on and head to lunch. Eek!

Shopping My Closet

This morning I had a little time to get ready (it's amazing what getting up on time can do for your morning) so I decided to shop my closet a little. I'm not sure I LOVE what I came up with but I think it's kinda cute and at least I'm trying new things, and hopefully learning.

Green Tank...unknown source, probably $20?
White Stretch Tee (Banana Republic, $30)
Double Belt (Banana Republic, $40)
Skinny Jeans (Banana Republic, $80)
Leopard peep toes (Steve Madden, $125)

This is how much Banana I have - I shop my closet and THREE items are from there. That store will haunt me forever!

Any thoughts on my outfit? Feedback is critical when I experiment - need to know if I got it right or wrong.

Third Chino Attempt...maybe the last???

I have been trying to make these chinos work but I'm not sure I ever will. So far I think this is my best attempt, but don't know if it's a chic as I want to be. My first attempt was too layered and my second attempt was just sloppy and unflatterning.

Kim, who photographed me today, likes this look. What do you think?








Skinny chinos (Banana Republic, $60)
White Tee (Ann Taylor, $35)
Cashmere Cardigan ($175), gold sandals ($79), Gold necklace ($60) all Banana Republic.
Hermes belt ($585)
Kate Spade bag ($495)

So let me know if these chinos are working, or if they need to go to June's Donation pile.

If I had a nickel...

For every time I've seen the Black Halo "Jackie" dress on celebs in rags and on TV shows I would not need to do this blog. I just saw it on Jane Krakowski in last week's 30 Rock in turquoise and it was not doing her any favors.

Come on celebrity stylists...get back to work!

Fakey Fakerton.

You may recall a post a while back about a dreamy pair of Louboutin's that I could not afford at Barney's. (Read original post here.) Well, yesterday I was doing a search for them to see if they were, perchance, on sale. The short answer is NO.

The long answer is that I stumbled upon this site where they were $159. What? $585 at Barney's and only $159 here, plus free shipping and no sales tax?? Too good to be true? TOTALLY. Kim and I took a good look and feel fairly certain that this site sells nothing but fakes.

Now, here's my quandary: Do I buy the fakes or not??

There are some pretty solid arguments against it. It's totally unfair to the designer, it's stealing really and hurts the industry as a whole. On the other hand, maybe if Mr. Louboutin didn't charge $585 for shoes, people wouldn't be knocking them off.

Readers - What do you think??

Purging even more!

The weather was nice last week so I got motivated to go through my closet and purge when I swapped out my winter clothes for summer clothes. That big pile is everything I didn't wear this winter, no exceptions. Everything that was light, I sent to the Haiti donation and you can see that here. This is what was left and will go to a charity in New York.

6 pairs of pants
1 coat
7 sweaters
2 tops
2 pairs of shoes
1 vest
1 jacket
1 t-shirt
and 1 bag

My closet feels so much bigger! Now the challenge is not to fill it up with crap!

Hey, not bad!

After yesterday's ho-hum chino disaster I was determined to find a "new" outfit in my closet. It was cold and I hadn't worn my suede boots in a bit so I started there. So over jeans so I grabbed the denim skirt and navy tights. Then, rustled through my closet half-dressed for about 15 minutes. Finally I grabbed a fitted brown t-shirt and my lavender cozy and a belt I've never worn. I really did figure it out as I went. especially the cozy. Not as easy to maneuver as the DKNY site makes it look.

In the end though, I actually like this outfit. I think it looks casual but somewhat citified.

Would love to hear your thoughts as this was a true fashion experiment!

Fitted Tee (BR, $35)
Cozy (DKNY, $195)
Denim Mini (Old Navy, $30)
Suede boots (Nine West, $50 on sale)
Belt - no idea when or where I bought it, but I like it!!

Skinny chinos - Strike TWO!

What a blah way to start the week! I tried the chinos($60) again with a different top and still no go. Last time all the fabric on top felt too flowy with the loose fit of the chinos (where does the skinny come in, BR?) so this time I kept it simple. Paired with my Kimichi Blue embroidered blouse ($80) and Cole Haan ballets ($138). I think you can tell by the look on my face in the photo that I am unhappy. Blergh!

Any tips? How do you wear chinos?

February's Castoffs

First off - apologies! I was traveling last week for work, then got pretty sick so I didn't post faithfully. My Mom said I should post a picture of me in my hospital gown (yes it was that bad!) but I couldn't bear to since I looked so bad. Faithful postings from now on.

So here's the crap I rid myself of this month. Again it was waaaaaayyyy to hard. The plaid dress is Old Navy ($16) , flimsy and unflattering, but I was thinking "it would be so cute in the summer with flip flops". That black pair of cords (BR, $60?) is 2 years old and they still have the tags on, yet I wanted to see if they still fit and keep them. What? That's illogical. I am illogical. Into the Goodwill bag they went! The brown cardigan (J. Crew $58) was one I settled for in a pinch and I have always thought was kind of the color of poop. Then there's a "going out top" from Hype ($70) that has served me well but has seen better days. I have plenty in the closet that do the job better. And finally, a t-shirt with illustrations that fall right on the boobs and so turns me into someone who's trying to hard instantly. It was designed by a co-worker and I bought it under pressure a few years ago for $28. I'm not sad to see it go.

Still I wonder, why is it so hard for me to edit? My closet is so full it's frustrating, and I often feel like tossing the lot of it, but the end of the month comes and it's like pulling teeth. I may do a mid month edit just to push myself.

January's Junk

As promised January 1, the end of each month will see 5 items leave my overcrowded closet.

This month was kind of easy, since I've learned so much. I am moving away from the classic/preppy looks so those 2 sweater vests were a no brainer. The skirt is a brown silk, cut on the bias and looks terrible on me so out it went. The brown plaidish thing that defies identification? It's some sort of wrap top that I wore over a brown turtleneck. A shapeless thing that brings Sherlock Holmes to mind...gone. And the black tie neck halter was cheaply made and never fit quite right.

All gone, none of it will be missed! But it was too easy...maybe I needed to get rid of more???

Challenge #4: Edit, Edit, Edit

As we all discovered early on in this blog, I have way too much shit in my closet. Since the weather's been cold, I've noticed that I still rarely wear pullover sweaters. And yet, I have 20 of them. That means I could wear one every work day for a month and never repeat. Which would be cool, if I liked sweaters that much. But I don't and I honestly wear them about 2-3 times a month.

So the bottom line is, I don't need 20 sweaters. So I challenged my self to edit my collection down to 10. Cut it in half and donate 10 sweaters. It's cold outside; someone in New York could use those sweaters.

I thought it would be easy, but it wasn't. I kept pulling sweaters out of the donate file thinking..."what if I want to wear this with X outfit?" or "But this would be so cute with Y outfit!". Still some of these sweaters haven't been worn in a year. Why is it so hard to let go of clothes I'm not even using? It took me an hour to do this. Kinda ridiculous, no?

So I'm down to the 10 sweaters I think I'll wear the most (pile on the left) and put the rest in the donate pile (on the right). As soon as they went into the IKEA bag I'm schlepping to the Salvation Army this weekend I didn't miss them at all. It's like they were never there. To be honest, I'd be hard pressed to describe the 10 I gave away, and I just did this challenge last night.

So what is it about letting go to stuff I don't need, and sometimes don't even like? I know I'm not alone in this dilemma or The Container Store would not do such a robust business.

What would be hard for you to give up? Heaven knows I dread going through my shoe collection!

Challenge #2: Throwing money away.

What you are looking at here is about $1500 down the drain. This weekend I went through my closet and pulled out every item that I've NEVER worn. Some of that stuff has been in my closet for over a year too.

Here are the totals:
5 pairs of shoes
9 pairs of pants
3 shirts
2 sweaters
12 dresses
and 1 $350 hat

It's definitely between $1500 and $2000 worth of clothes just sitting there and taking up space.

Let's imagine what I could do for $2000. A week in Puerto Rico at an all inclusive resort. 6 months of on-on-one pilates and yoga instruction. 2.5 badass karoake parties with my friends at Sing Sing WITH an open bar. 3 trips to dallas to see my friends and their munchkins. Half a Cartier diamond pave trinity ring! Arrrrgggghhhhh! I want any of those things 10 times more than I want the unworn crap in my closet!!! I am angry at me. Are you??

So...why is this happening? You'd think the minute I bought something I'd be dying to wear it. But I'm one of those people who buys for "just in case" and "someday", and in the case of the 9 pairs "I'm planning on losing 5 pounds".

So, new rule. If I buy an item and don't wear it within 2 weeks - it gets returned.

I also plan to wear as much of this stuff as possible (as weather and the size of my ass permit) over the next month. If not they'll be prime candidates for my January closet purge.

Good God I hope I'm learning my lesson here!