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

Re-cap of 2015!

My goals for 2015 were to:

• continue to downsize the number of shoes I have - I purged a lot this year but there are still some that I can let go of. Also, I won't be replacing a number of them when they wear through - I ended up purchasing 9 pairs of shoes and was given 2 pairs of pre-loved shoes, for a total of 11 pairs of shoes in. I sold 2 pairs of shoes and donated several pairs (unfortunately, I did not keep tabs on how many I left go). My total count for shoes is 46 pairs =S
• continue to work on using the things I love and not worry about them getting ruined - Still continuing to do this, which is great. I can definitely see that I'm not as panicky when it comes to wearing my Burberry coats.
• build a capsule wardrobe for each month - unlike some capsule wardrobe challenges, I'm not limiting the number of items I will use but I will make sure the amount is reasonable - This was a bust. For most of the year I did not have my Stylebook App, but  think the major reason was that I still have too many items. I ended up switching to a color capsule which yielded better results but it tells me I still need to downsize my wardrobe
• continue to shop out of my bag and wallet collection and implement a one-in, one-out rule. - My biggest success for my goals, and personal best when it comes to not buying any bags or wallets. I bought 1 MbMj backpack which is something I don't have and therefore not counted as a bag, and my husband gifted me a wallet. I sold a cardholder earlier in the year. All in all, I did amazing!  There are still 10 bags I didn't use this year so I will be trying to see if I use them in 2016.
• rotate through all my wallets throughout the year. - My husband was away for most of the year so while he was gone, I missed him and mostly used the 2 wallets he gave me so I didn't make a complete rotation of my wallets. I still had 6 wallet I didn't use, in addition to my travel wallet.
• use jewelry more to accessorize my daily outfits. - still making progress with it and was gifted a few items.The Swarovski bracelet I purchased was used quite often.
• continue to purge, re-fine, and down-size my wardrobe. - still working on this and despite removing a number of items, I did bring in 62 items, including items gifted to me. 
• budget $1,000 for wardrobe purchases (not including investment pieces that may replace current wardrobe staples). - I exceeded my budget by approximately $240. Not bad considering I never implemented a budget before.
• downsize the number of jackets and coats - this started out great, and I managed to let go of 3 jackets/coats, but then I purchased 1 investment coat, 1 casual jacket, and was given 2 other coats.
• use the bags I weren't able to use in 2014 - if I don't use them again in 2015, consider letting them go. - I managed to get through a great rotation of my bags and of the 8 I didn't use in 2014, I used 5 in 2015. There are still 3 bags I haven't used in the last 2 years and so far I am thinking of selling 1 of them.
• have some purchase-free months - I had 3 purchase-free months.

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!

One quarter left of the year - how are my budget and goals looking?

This year, I set aside $1,000 for my wardrobe budget, not including investment pieces. We're down to the last 3 months - how's it going? It's going pretty great!

With $1,000 it gives me $250 per quarter to spend on seasonal or staple items and so far I've purchased 31 items, with $168.44 left to spend.

Most of my purchases have been for work, 8 of them being shoes. Despite purchasing 8 pairs of shoes, I've also let go of about 10 pairs and my count is currently at 47, compared to the 50+ I started with at the beginning of the year (I wish I had written down my start numbers). Even though I purchased more shoes than I had wanted to, they are all staple pairs for work and some were to replace those that were on their way out.

Aside from shoes, I've been quite successful with almost all of my wardrobe goals that I set out to meet this year - briefly, I downsized the number of coats and jackets I have, have not purchased a single bag or wallet and have been regularly rotating throughout my collection, and continued to purge my wardrobe.

How are you doing with your wardrobe goals?

First quarter re-cap!

I like to re-visit my goals on a regular basis to see my progress, and reflect on how I've been tackling them. As we start the second quarter of the year, below is a re-cap of my wardrobe goals that I posted earlier this year to see how I've been doing.  

My goals for 2015 are to:

• continue to downsize the number of shoes I have - I purged a lot this year but there are still some that I can let go of. Also, I won't be replacing a number of them when they wear through. I purchased 4 pairs of shoes and my mom gave me 3 pairs of near-new shoes that she can no longer wear due to spurs. I removed a pair of sneakers and runners from my wardrobe. I'm struggling to minimize or maintain the size of my shoe collection - this year, shoes seem to be my weakness  and I'm working on reeling my self-control back in, and continuing to pare down.
  
• continue to work on using the things I love and not worry about them getting ruined. This is going well! 
• build a capsule wardrobe for each month - unlike some capsule wardrobe challenges, I'm not limiting the number of items I will use but I will make sure the amount is reasonable. Decided that with the number of items I currently have in my wardrobe, this isn't practical - I found myself missing certain items. I will need to pare down more before I can attempt capsules again so that I can get more wear out of all my clothes.
• continue to shop out of my bag and wallet collection and implement a one-in, one-out rule.  Haven't bought a single bag or wallet so far - in fact, I let 2 SLGs go, didn't bring in anything new, and re-purposed a tech case into a mini-wallet.
• rotate through all my wallets throughout the year. So far, I have used 2 different wallets, and 10 different bags.
• use jewelry more to accessorize my daily outfits. I got a bit lazy, but working on this more and also let a few costume jewelry rings go.
• continue to purge, re-fine, and down-size my wardrobe. Continuing!
• budget $1,000 for wardrobe purchases (not including investment pieces that may replace current wardrobe staples). Aside from my Burberry coat (investment piece), I am $26 over my quarterly limit. 
• downsize the number of jackets and coats. Donated one jacket, bought one investment coat, and was given 2 coats. At this point in time, I don't know what I will be doing since I now have a pretty good variety of jackets and coats. I think this category will need some major re-evaluation at the end of the year.
• use the bags I weren't able to use in 2014 - if I don't use them again in 2015, consider letting them go. So far I've used 3 and they turned out to be keepers.
• have some purchase-free months. March was purchase-free!