Goal achieved - 5 pairs of shoes out!

Woohoo! I achieved one of my 2016 purging goals - to let go of 5 pairs of shoes this year. 

I passed on a pair of Guess wedge strappy sandals to my coworker - I had purchased them so long ago and hardly got the opportunity to wear them. With her style and outfits, I thought they would be a great fit for her. 

Now that I'm housing more in my closet, space is a very big deal - it might seem like a drag, but it's actually really great for me to be more conscious of what works with my lifestyle, and if it can physically fit in my closet. 

Spring cleaning!!!

Over the weekend, my husband and I, delved right into the spirit of Spring Cleaning!

We let go of a lot of books and DVDs; consolidated a number of items into one organized cube shelving unit; removed furniture, and re-organized some furniture for better uses; managed to create more open space in our condo; and removed the remaining gross carpet in our bedroom in preparation for new floors. Talk about being productive!

Turning to my closet - we removed the inefficient cube shelving unit (it's now in the living room and looks so awesome) and replaced it with 4 shelves meant for shoes, but we turned two upside down to stack, making it the perfect height for my bags; they're also shorter than the original shelving unit so my clothes hang better. I am now storing the remainder of my shoes in my closet as opposed to an ottoman that was in the bedroom (which we are now using in the living room, where it should go). 

Honestly, the consolidation makes me closet look less than ideal now  but I do have more wardrobe related items in it, which is what I eventually want (to consolidate every wardrobe related item into one area), and it definitely strengthens my goal of wanting to have less. The sheer number of my bags and shoes, along with everything else, is overwhelming and I just want as much out as possible. Once we are done with the rest of our condo, I will be refocusing my attention back to my wardrobe and closet. 

March comings and goings - first purchase-free month of 2016!

Comings - 1

• Swarovski necklace - a gift from my Godmother

Goings - 4 (+1 from February)

• Adidas Superstars - I actually forgot to include this in my February count, but I let these go as they were a lot more worn looking than I remembered.
• 2 Eddie Bauer sundresses - I bought these not because I loved them, but I needed something light for a trip I was taking a few years ago. I only wore them a couple of times each but never was too impressed with them. I held on to them because it seemed like a waste, but it's just as much a waste if I'm not wearing them and they're taking up closet space. 
• Vintage wedges - I love them and they're super cute but the other day I tried wearing them to work and had to change out of them immediately by the time I got there. I think I wore them before, I wasn't doing too much walking. The walking distance I have for my commute to work isn't even that long. 
• Navy Zara kitten heels - SO sad about these as they just became a wardrobe staple but unfortunately they make an incredible amount of noise on the concrete. Constantly squeaking and in trying to walk a certain way to avoid the squeaking, have been causing me pain. So choked to let these go as they went so well with a lot of my outfits, but there's just no way around it =(

On a plus side, to-date, I'm already 4 pairs of shoes in (or gone, depending on how you look at it haha) towards my goal of letting go 5 pairs of shoes this year.

9 more days of March - will it be this year's first purchase-free month?

With the exception of an almost moment of weakness at Danier Leather, so far, so good.

This is a big year for non-material expenses - circumstances have resulted in two trips lined up for my husband and I: New York in May, and Korea in August. Both will be expensive trips so I don't plan to buy anything (except in Korea where I will go crazy over skin care products since it's much cheaper there than in Canada) but have decided to spend my money on experiences since I don't know when I will be going there again, any time soon.

I'm also trying hard to let go of more stuff. One of my wardrobe goals is to be able to consolidate 2 exterior drawer units in my room, into my closet so that we can have more space and options when we finally decorate our room. So far, I've managed to remove one drawer and still reuse the fabric containers in my existing closet unit.We live in a condo so space is precious and I just want clean lines and very little clutter. 

All in all, the more months I'm able to have, purchase-free, the better successes I'll have in most of my 2016 goals. I'm hoping that March will be a no purchase month to motivate me through the rest of the year. 

And I repeat, gifts don't count. 

Sell threshold

I talked before about a 'buy', or 'cost per wear threshold' as a criteria I use to decide whether or not I should buy something - my buy threshold is a cost per wear of $1.

So, how do I decide whether or not sell something? 

Sometimes it's very easy to let something go, especially when I'm getting the price I want for it, but what about the times when I know the price I can get for it, may not be worth letting go? Of course it's easy to reason that I should sell it because I'm not using it anyway, it will free up space for something that I love now, and something is better than nothing, but when you love bags as much as I do, it's hard. 

I went through this again on Sunday when sold my Coach Poppy Madras for $30. I originally listed it for $45 on Friday night, and decided that I wanted a quick sale instead of waiting it out. What made me decide to let it go for so low? I decided that for the period of time that it was in my possession, and how many times I used it, less the amount I will recoup from it, I was worth it.  

I purchased it in 2012 on sale for $79 (original price is $158) and during that time, I used it for a recorded 17 times since 2014 when I started to keep track. If I sell it for $30, then I 'bought' it for $49. The breakdown cost per wear of that is $2.88. For me to hit $1 cost per wear, I would have had to have used it 49 times; I know I haven't used it that much but definitely more than 17 times, so I calculated that my total cost per wear for this item is probably closer to under $2. Seeing it calculated like that helped me realize that I got good use out of the bag, and get over the emotional connection to the bag and I happily let it go. Now I'm one item less towards reaching one of my 2016 goals =)

 

How I track my purchases

I posted about this before when I first started my blog, but I just wanted to share again since I've been doing it for 2 full years now - this exercise really helps me be more aware of what I buy and now that I have a few years under my belt, can also look at the categories that require a bit more data, such as the condition of an item.

In 2013 I started to track my purchases and it was very simple, just handwritten in a notebook with the item description, price, and date. Then in 2014 I made an excel spreadsheet that I uploaded to Google drive so I can track anywhere (in case I go on vacation and make purchases), anytime. These are my categories: 

• Cost per wear - I've set up the excel to automatically calculate this for me; remember, my own threshold is $1 so before I buy something, I ask myself whether I think this item will meet that by the time I'm done using it (either worn out, or loss of interest)
• # used in year X - now that I'm on my third year, it's interesting to see what items I bought before, that I am still using and how often; helps to let me know what pieces are a staple that I may not have realized before, and  might keep in mind to replace again. 
• Description
• Designer - tells me what designer/brand fits me best for certain items
• Color
• Type - type of article, i.e. shoes, blouse, t-shirt, etc.
• Cost
• Condition (1 poor - 10 - excellent) - this one is more for future purposes so I can get an idea of the quality of the item over a course of time, and see if it's something worth buying again, or perhaps I should go with another brand
• Date of purchase - tells me how often I shop
• Place of purchase - tells me where I shop
• Regular price - tells me how much I'm saving, and just makes me question whether I would have purchased this same item at regular price

When the new year comes around, I just add a new sheet, and copy and paste these categories into it, and I add an additional column to the previous years and track how often I use them in the current year, and adjust the cost per wear formula.

This might seem excessive and probably, slightly, obsessive compulsive haha, but I find it helps remind me of my budget when I look at my quarterly spending to get a gage of how my yearly budget may be looking; tells me what items I may be buying too many of and should take note of before I buy another one (by tracking the type of item, I realize I go on small binges where I buy a lot of certain items - in 2014 it was khakis and button-up shirts, and in 2015 it was shoes); and each time I update how many times I've used an item, it makes me feel good to know I made a good purchasing decision and reminds me that I've come a long way from making random purchases.

My wardrobe count going into 2016

It's been well over a year since I started using the Stylebook App and it has definitely helped me to keep focused on my purchases and how often I'm using each item in my wardrobe. 

When I first started using the Stylebook App towards the end of 2014, my wardrobe consisted of:

124 tops (includes sleeveless, blouses, t-shirts, sweaters, sweatshirt/hoodies, blazers)

48 bottoms (includes jeans, shorts, trousers)

25 dresses

53 shoes

17 scarves 

68 bags (including clutches)

17 coats and jackets

32 pieces off active wear (tops, headbands, bottoms, runners)

After more than a year of purging and refining, these are my current numbers:

106 tops (includes sleeveless, blouses, t-shirts, sweaters, sweatshirt/hoodies, blazers)

54 bottoms (includes jeans, shorts, trousers)

31 dresses

51 shoes (I previously reported 46 pairs of shoes because I didn't count my one pair of sneakers for running, or a few pairs of shoes that were made specially for my Chinese wedding ceremony when I got married)

16 scarves 

65 bags (including clutches)

18 coats and jackets

22 pieces off active wear (tops, headbands, bottoms, runners)

Overall, I think I did pretty well - doing this for almost 2 years now I've definitely seen a shift from purging, to learning what works for me, to narrowing things that work really well for me and finally coming to a plateau where I feel comfortable with the items I have. 

The drop in numbers in my tops came from letting go of graphic-Ts, tops I had been holding on to in hopes to fit into them again in the future, and items that didn't fit as well anymore. Bottoms saw an increase as I slowly replaced wider legged trousers with slim fitted ones and also got some incredible deals on shorts and jeans; I also stocked up a bit on pencil skirts, my work staple. Dresses saw an increase mostly because I brought some that were at my parents home, into my current closet. 

Wardrobe goals for 2016

Last year I worked hard on making more focused purchases and tried to make sure that each item I brought in would make at least 3 outfits. I also continued to purge and focused on letting go of items that could be substituted with other items, and didn't rush into making any purchases until I found the perfect pieces.

My goals for 2016 are to:

• Not purchase any shoes, and continue to let go of more, with the ultimate goal to own 25 pairs of shoes
• Continue to work on using the things I love and not worry about them getting ruined
• Continue to shop within my collection of bags and wallets, and let go of 10 items
• Stay within my budget of $1,000, and again, not include any major investment pieces or bags
• Have 4 purchase-free months
• Continue to purge so I can consolidate all my items into 1 closet
• Build a 'rainy day' fund by selling any items that may have some value to use towards a pre-loved Louis Vuitton Speedy 35/40.

2016 Wishlist and "needs" (these items are exceptions to any 'do not' buy lists):

• Black wedge ankle boots 
• Gray leather bag 
• Gray wool winter coat
• Navy sheath dress
• Pre-loved Speedy 35/40
• Black sheath dress

'Do not buy' list: 

• Trousers and Khakis
• Shoes
• Bags, wallets and small pouches
• Jeans

Merry Christmas!!! - Preparing for 2016

Merry Christmas!!! I hope everyone is having a wonderful day with their loved ones. I'm spending the day with my husband and enjoying the time we have together before he heads back up north to finish school.

I'll make this post short and sweet =)

After what I consider to be a pretty successful 2015 year of purging and refining my wardrobe, and being mindful about my purchases, I'm very much looking forward to setting new goals and furthering my progress of perfecting my closet. 

How am I preparing?

• I'm taking another sweep of my wardrobe to see if there are any other items I can remove;
• I've set aside some items that may have re-sale value and listed them for sale to build a 'rainy day' reserve fund outside of my budget for some pre-loved bags I have had my eye on should they become suddenly available;
• I'm checking my Stylebook App to remind myself of the number of items I have in each category and revise my 'no buy' lists;
• I'm revisiting my 2015 resolutions to remind me of my goals and decide which goals to keep, revise, and what new goals to add; and
• Reorganizing my closet

I'm looking forward to sharing my new goals with you and seeing how I can make 2016 an even more successful year!

The start to my pre-loved Speedy 35/40 fund!

After confirming how much I want a pre-loved Speedy, I went through some more of my things and actually started to list things for sale. I started with shoes since I have way too many and it seems to be the most difficult area for me to make a dent in.

The first item to contribute to the fund are my Doc Marten combat boots. I had come up with a number of cute outfits for them, but still hadn't worn them, so I decided to let them go and help them find a home where they could be loved and fully used.

Second on the list is another pair of Docs - my 'second chances' shoes! I did make awesome outfits with them and wore them a few times this year, but over all, I didn't wear them as much as I thought I would. Off to a new home they went!

I hope I'm able to keep this momentum up and continue with the selling. I sort of regret not trying to list my previous items I let go, for sale, but onward and upward!