Week 1 !

Well, this week I took the first step in really starting my goal of not buying any new clothes for 1 year. My last purchase of clothing was on December 15th, and it was a LOVELY red sweater from American Eagle...sigh. It's rather tight right now considering my expanding boobs and stomach, ( I often wonder where the baby really is, my chest or tummy), but anyhow, that was it. (Just a sidenote, I DID purchase two new bras last week BUT my 36 is no longer fitting in a 34 and I can breathe better now! Plus, it's an OKAY item!!)

Let me list my rules in more specific detail now and then I can show you what I did this week!

Rules

1.No buying any new clothes for myself from January 1st 2010 to January 1st 2011.

*Exception* Here is what I CAN buy new:

* nursing/regular bras

* underwear

* socks

(Seeing as how I will be having a baby in April, my boobs truly take on a life of their own, as well as my feet and backside SO unless I wanna scare people away, I need to have some of REALLY good support system in place for these things.)

2. If someone gives me clothes for a present, that's fine but that also means I cannot talk my husband into buying me those Express Jeans I want or he loses a limb. If I get a gift card or gift certificate, I cannot use it to buy new clothes unless it's on my okay list. I think that basically covers it.

Now, WHY am I doing this again? I have had a few people tell me I am insane, or I can't last, or it's a dumb idea, but here's why I am doing it. I belive in living within one's means, I believe that happiness CAN be found in simple things and not JUST material things, I believe I have believed in the past that I am a better person when I look nice and have the latest styles. Here's what I am trying to accomplish in this task:

*learning to like myself without having to put a new, pretty shirt on first

* saving money

* wearing what I have already and appreciating that I have had the means to buy clothes I am comfortable in

*living what I preach

When I sat down and looked through 2009 spending habits, I found I averaged $200 a month on new clothes for myself. That's $2400 in on year on clothes, and frankly I think that's insane considering what we bring in a year, financially. That's just for me. If I can go one year without spending any money on new clothes, that's $2400 saved to go for a house down payment, or retirement, but money I think can be spent better somewhere else.

Now, to get down and into the nitty gritty...

I sat down and did an inventory of all my clothes, yes ALL of them. (Please keep in mind I am currently wearing maternity clothes and did not count those.)

Here is what I found I had:

Jeans- 18 pairs

T shirts, tank tops and cami's- 74

Long sleeved shirts and blouses- 55

Skirts, shorts and nice slacks- 23

Is your jaw on the floor yet?

Now, for some pictures....

The jean pile. I was rather awestruck thinking that if I wore one pair everyday I wouldn't have to wash any jeans for over 2 weeks!!!

Just SOME of the t shirts, the rest are in this box already neatly packed.

One of the 4 rubbermaids I packed clothes away in.

Now, after I packed the rubbermaid under-the-bed boxes, I cleaned out my closet and here is what it now looks like.

My clothes are on the left, hubby's on right. We have a rather smal bedroom so we don't have a dresser, instead those awesome rubbermaid drawers.

Now, what I did was keep all my maternity clothes out, plus those that still fit me or will after baby is born. ( I guess after you have baby #4 you have quite the stockpile of *transition* clothes, so you see a lot of that in there. Had I not been pregnant, I still planned on putting some clothes away and basically halving my wardrobe and seeing how long I could go that way.

It was truly SHOCKING for me to put all my clothes on my bed and see what I had. There were shirts in there I haven't worn in 2 years, but still fit, I still really like and just got shoved back to the hiding part of the closet.

So, this week was mostly a cleansing stage and a place to start. I will be updating my blog ever Friday and thank you for reading so far.

Love and laughter,
Julie

And so it begins...

Whew! My first blog on my new blogspot! I feel so, well, new. If only I could smell like a new car now...

Anyhow, welcome! This blog came about because after much introspection I have decided to start a year long goal into NOT purchasing any new clothes. I am a stay-at-home Mom to three, soon to be four, kiddos and with that, I am trying to tweak my budgeting and saving money to an artform. My husband is in the Navy, and while I am thankful for current job security, it doesn't pay in gold and racing horses, although my oldest daughter would be thrilled with the horses part. Basically, I want to live within my means. After many years of spending money on credit cards, getting out of debt, getting back into debt, I have decided to say enough is enough. If it can be done with a credit card, I have done it. My first plastic disaster was a $100 limit to a Macy's-like department store that I got the DAY I turned 18. I maxed that puppy out in 2 minutes on a pair of khaki, cargo Guess pants. They were truly amazing, but 12 years later I see that total of over $200 I am sure I paid for them when all was said and done was nowhere near their worth. (Even though, in my defense, I would like to add they truly were a lasting piece in my wardrobe and fashion spectrum for 3 years until an unfortunate strawberry jam incident. )
From then I got a Victoria's Secret card, Express card, Limited card and finally a visa card through who knows now what bank. I could always justify using them. I had a bad day and deserved a *treat*. I was on my period and needing a pair of pants that didn't make me feel like an endangered whale. I had a hot date and needed that one new shirt that would tastefully show off my wife-worthy and child-rearing-potential cleavage without coming across as a short-haired slut. I was simply bored and pretty underwear makes a dull day fun instantly. Yes, I was the credit card Queen. But then something happened. I got married. No, not to one of my credit cards even though I REALLY did love that Victoria's Secret card, I married this amazing, hardoworking man who.... drum roll please... didn't own a credit card and didnt believe in the things. ( I didn't even need a new, fancy shirt to snag him either!) Without going into the past ten years of marriage, it did take me a while to finally see that paying for things with borrowed money is always dangerous.

Which, leads us here. My downfall has always been clothes. From the time I can remember, I was trying on different outfits all day long. My Barbies, thank to a Mom and Grandma who could sew, had THE best wardrobe in all of playland, and when I hit about 12 I spent HOURS in the mirror putting on my mother's wiped make-up, only to wipe it off shortly after. I love fashion. I love make-up. I love being a girl. Now don't get me wrong. I don't carry a small dog around, pretend the world is made of gumdrops and sequins, I can talk *car* with the best of em. ( I have older brothers.) But I was made to adore clothes. Shoes, earrings, scarves! I love the feeling of bracelets clanging together, or the sound of heels as you walk down the pavement. (My first *heels( were jelly shoes I wore as my feet bled JUST so I could hear the *click click* sound. Prom was all about the dress, and sadly, could have cared less about the date. (Sorry guy!) But as I got older, things became more expensive and then I became a Mom.

While becoming a Mom was obviously life changing for many reasons, one of the reasons that ended up sneaking up on me was that I no longer took time to enjoy the delicacies of fashion I once had. I started buying Parenting magazine instead of Marie Claire, I no longer wore earrings( they hurt when ripped out by 6 month olds). Even fitted shirts became hard to wear when one is breastfeeding. ( Unless of course you peel your entire shirt off.) Sneakers were so much more comfortable than any heels I owned, and my hair found itself thrown into mayhem on the top of my head in a scrunchie. Oh yeah, it was a life of people wondering if I was currently under with the flu or just out and about on laundry day. And it bummed me out. Now let me just say, I understand this is truly a tiny affliction in the scheme of things. There is cancer, disease, hunger and the works rampant in this world, and I do keep that in my head when bitching about itty bitty little nothings, but I also know you have to life the life you were given and I wasn't happy with myself. I adored my kids, especially when they sweetly slept, and I loved being a wife, but I felt like I was a walking around Miss Potato Head. ( I think she actually had better make-up then me.) So I started dressing the way I wanted to again. Problem being, I went a WEE bit overboard. To save you all the boredom of my incredible finds I couldn't live without, I started buying clothes I liked again, took time to put on make-up, wore jewelry again, yada yada yada. But I soon came to see how my obsession was what a lot of our money was going to a month, even paying cash, and with having a family of 5 and what our take home pay is, it just felt like something had to give. But I didn't want to give up what I loved... so.....

I looked through my closet one day and actually counted out how many blouses I had. 21. How many t shirts I had. 34. Jeans. 14 pairs. Shoes. 21 pairs. What the... I realized I had focused more on quantity than even caring WHAT I owned. So, a few months ago I decided to try something I had wanted to try before but never thought I could have the self discipline for... go one year without buing any new clothes. (There are a few exceptions I will list in a minute.) I sat down 2 weeks ago and literally tore my closet apart. I basically halved my wardrobe. Half of my clothes went into plastic under-the-bed storage bins, and the rest stayed in my closet.

And here we are at the question and journey I am now entering... can I go one full year without buying any new clothes?

Here are the rules I made for myself...
No new clothes, shoes, jewlery, etc

Exceptions
* Nursing bras are ok ( I am pregnant afterall and if you have breastfed you know you go through those things like edible panties at a bachelor party)
*Underwear ( Along the same lines that I am indeed pregnant, my ever expanding rear needs covering and I won't know exactly how much of a tent it will need until, well it gets bigger)
* Gift cards ( If I happen to get a gift card for a birthday that is for a specific store, that's ok)

So, here shall follow my posts and my ups and downs, there will be many downs, into NOT buying new clothes for a year. I will delve more into this as time goes on, but for now a little 7 year old is calling to make a gingerbread house with me. I must oblige.

Love and laughter,

Jules