AWARENESS IS THE FIRST STEP TO RECOVERY: Hello, I'm Lilly...a 33 year old, married, comfortably paid human resources consultant. I have never felt the need to blog, as my life has not seemed interesting enough to warrant a daily update. However, I have come to realize that I have a shopping problem--one that compels me to share publicly (albeit embarrasingly) in order to start on the road to recovery. This problem has become evident to me in the past couple of weeks and began with me making a pledge to my husband that I would try to stay within a $100 monthly clothing budget. Since then, I have already grossly exceeded this amount in new clothes purchases--purchases that I felt I "needed" though I have run out of hangers to hold my new blouse, have a stack of denim that has toppled over as I have slung yet another pair of dark wash skinny jeans on top. In addition to that, upon return from my shopping trip, I began obsessing over a pair of camel colored boots that I resisted the urge to buy earlier that day (so as to stay within my "budget" - which had already increased from $100 to $200) in order to match a camel colored belt that I purchased a couple weeks ago. Signs of my obsession were further confirmed through the purchase of not one, but two pairs of black tights (you know, in case one fits differently from the other...but let's be honest...black tights? There's only one way for them to fit - TIGHT!) as I was surfing the net looking for the camel colored boots. Naturally, I felt the usual remorse and guilt for going over my "budget" but clearly not guilty enough to prevent me from buying two more articles of clothing yesterday during a day trip to Ann Arbor...items I rationalized as different enough to take up additional real-estate in my already overcrowded closet (my poor husband's entire wardrobe has been confined to barely one side of our decently sized walk-in)!
So, finally, yesterday, I decided a drastic measure must be taken. Though I am not hurting financially and can afford these occassional (okay, frequent) splurges, I realize that I spend way too much time and money on something that only brings a temporary high...you know, that high that we all get when we wear a new article of clothing, one that we have envisioned everyone gasping about when we walk into a room because the mirror of the stores we bought it in make us look 10 lbs. lighter and 5 inches taller. So, then we wear the new article of clothing, only to realize that it's not as magnificent as we think it will be, and it quickly becomes a member of the other clothes that have been tucked away in the back of the closet and forgotten. This brings me to another important aspect of my challenge. Not only have I decided to *try* to give up buying new clothes for a year, but also to go through every article of clothing that I own and wear it at least once during this yearlong "fast."
THE CHALLENGE: So, here's the challenge as simply put as possible:
1. No new clothing purchases for 1 year - beginning today (I mean, really, you don't expect me to return the stuff I bought just this past weekend, do you?)
2. Aside from the basic items listed below, avoid wearing the same article of clothing twice over the course of this challenge (we'll see how long this will last, as I'm sure I'll run into some challenges with creatively creating new outfits with a dwindling choice of tops)
3. Blog as often as possible (daily if I can) and provide descriptions of my daily "outfits" (this should get really interesting in a couple of months). Because I travel quite a bit for work, a few days may pass before I can do this...and daily pictures may prove to be hard...but I will try! I'll also try to upload photos of these outfits.
4. On days when I work from home, PJ's are perfectly acceptable.
Staple Items:
- Jeans & Bottoms (pants, skirts)
- Underwear
- Socks
- Workout clothes
- Work suits
- Accessories & Jewelry
- Outerwear
Okay, so on this Superbowl Sunday, let the game begin!
Day 1 Outfit Details: Stripped Banana Republic Jeans, White Banana Republic Puffer Vest, Black Puffed Long Sleeve Tee, Tory Burch Black Flats
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