When I made my first clothing budget in 2007, I had a $150 a month clothing budget, it felt good. Over the years as I studied retail and fashion my eyes got bigger. I wanted more and more. I starting busting that $150 a month / $1,800 a year budget, often pushing it to over $2,000 a year. I never got into consumer debt. I made more than the median household income. The average single person in the U.S. spent 2.5% of their gross income on apparel, and since I had no car, did not drink alcohol, and was quite healthy, I felt that what I did was just fine.
Personal finance is all relative. Clothing is one of the most painful categories for me to cut back. I believed when I wore the right outfit, I could be anyone. It took a lot of applying my own “Find Joy Framework” (something I teach in my Save My Cents club) to let go. Marketing science would have you believe a lot about clothing.
This is my 2017 spending on clothing. In 2016, I spent about $750 or so
To me, this felt like a very minimalist budget. I applaud those of you who spend even less than I do on clothing, that is amazing. To get to this amount, living in the heart of New York City, the mecca of fashion, I did a lot of work and research. I make a comfy 6 figures at the moment from my main job. I struggle a lot between trying to look professional, but also radically saving. As my #30pieces30days experiment last year showed, it does not take a lot of clothing to build a month’s worth of unique outfits. And luckily at my work place, no one ever remarks to me if I repeat an outfit.
On top of what I learned last year, I will share with you some additional mindsets I had with you guys this year
This is not forever
Our financial goal this past year was simply, surviving. The next financial goal we have is to help our family in the greater Los Angeles area buy a 1,000 square foot home (estimated down payment required: $150K). I acknowledge that 2017 was one of those years where we had to be a bit more conservative, but it might not be forever. As our investment assets increase, sometime in the future, I would be able to spend a little more when we felt that our asset growth would justify it. Who knows? i do hope to get a promotion in 2018, and it is significant enough that it would cause me to upgrade a few work staples in my closet so that I don’t wear the same things as entry level associates at my company do, but I am willing to wait until that really happens.
For those of you who are Christians, there is the additional comfort that, that which we do not get to experience here on earth, we will get to experience in heaven. I believe that places I do not get to travel to in my current life, I will see in plenty and abundance and in absolute perfection, after I die. So there is a religious aspect to this that has brought me so much more peace this year than before.
Repeat outfit alert! I wear this dress to at least one wedding each year
Other people live on a lot less / You don’t know until you know
I know that elsewhere in the world, plenty of people live on a lot less. And, you never know the circumstances of those who appear to have it more financially together than you. You see, consumerism is an oxymoron. The more someone spends – usually it means their net worth is decreasing with each purchase. The truly wealthy people, don’t spend money. They save and invest it. You wouldn’t necessarily see it on their bodies or even in their houses or cars unless they start spending their wealth. My favorite book, “The Millionaire Next Door“, goes into more detail about this.
Be confident in yourself
Most people would roll their eyes because I am naturally skinny so of course it’s not that hard for me to shop for clothing… Whatever! So first, you got to love yourself. Loving yourself has nothing to do with who you look like. In fact, I was bullied most of my childhood life for having a cleft palate which affected the way my face looked growing up, so you don’t know what I had to go through either. I truly believe that with self confidence, other things fall into place. When you love yourself, you will take those steps to take care of your mental and physical well being.
Buying used is amazing
Almost all the best deals I had this year came from shopping via Poshmark or buying used from other people. There are so many people who literally wear things once or twice and never use them again. I often tried to identify fashion bloggers on Poshmark, because I knew that they often fell into that category because of how their businesses worked. I got over the smell of used clothing (it’s called Tide laundry detergent and my own scents) and also made sure to try on the same brand as much as I could in a full price store. In fact, I would often buy something I really liked from a retail store, immediately try to find its used cousin online, and then if I still couldn’t find it, consider returning the item (which I often did), or keep it if it really met a need.
Designer bag and designer shoes: Used!
I am going to learn how to tailor
Tailoring can fix a lot of things. First, it puts me earlier in the retail value chain that I blogged about earlier this week, meaning that I alone can add value to an item that I normally pay others to do. Tailoring allows everything to fit my very small frame just right (some of the items I got used this year are a size or so too large), and look even more professional than ever before.
The Slate & Willow dress that inspired me to learn how to tailor. I bought it for just as much as it cost to rent it on Rent The Runway. My mother taught me how to tailor it, and I’ve worn it twice this year to fancy events
Take photographs of yourself in good light and when you are happy
Taking a page from fashion bloggers’ playbook, I asked my darling Instagram husband to help take photographs of me at random times this year to capture me when I felt amazing. There is a lot to be said about the power of photography and the ability of photography to help change how you see yourself.
I try to wear a complete outfit from a single store such as Express or Banana Republic to maximize the look of “togetherness” which is valued in my line of work
Read more about my approach to having a capsule wardrobe by checking out all these blog post
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