I decided that I would keep track of my clothing purchases by month for the year. I'm not only tracking how much they cost, but the brand, the actual item, how it fit, the size, and how many times I wore it.
I thought I was doing good by not spending too much in January, but after I put it on paper, I realized I was wrong. In fact, I am appalled.
Teal pants -- $36
Sleeveless patterned top with black ruffle -- $25
White jeans -- $45
Gray pencil skirt -- $30
Black tights -- $13
The teal pants are what I wore in one of the pictures a few posts ago. I ordered them online and they were final sale. They are Kate Spade Saturday so the quality is good, but the fit is bad. Too baggy in the butt and thighs. I decided that since I love the color and quality, it will be worth it to have them altered.
The sleeveless top and the white jeans were also final sale and are Jockey. They quality is very good. The pants don't fit great, but I will see how I can style them. I won't have them altered because it think it will be tricky to alter jeans. I'll wash them first and see what happens. The top fits fine.
The gray pencil skirt and black tights are from H&M. They fit very well and the quality isn't bad. I am pleased with this purchase.
BUT, for someone who has more clothes than days to wear them, I SHOULD NOT BE BUYING CLOTHES. Period.
I have made mistakes with mail order items and final sales before and I have finally learned my lesson. No matter the reviews or the brand, I cannot risk it. The two items from Jockey I was able to try on (at least the top, and a different style of pants to see if the waist would fit), so that is fine. But never again will I order anything online that is final sale. I don't need a closet of ill fitting clothes, regardless of the quality.
Ugh.
I plan to buy nothing in February.
UPDATE: I bought shoes and a T-shirt this month so far.
Suede black sling backs -- $50
Grey suede boots -- $30
Black rain boots -- $70
Target gray T-shirt -- $9
I LOVE all three of the shoes. I was going to wait on the boots and get myself a pair of Hunter, but I saw these instead and decided that they'd work. They're Tommy Hilfiger and I got them at a discount store. I did need new boots as the ones I have are falling apart.
Did I need the shoes? No. I kind of feel like a hypocrite for buying things I don't need, but I'm not really THAT kind of minimalist.
Still, I do have an awful lot. Probably not as much as your typical shopaholic, but I feel as though I could really make do with a lot less.
Showing posts with label spending. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spending. Show all posts
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Some Answers
Two posts ago I wrote about my son's college situation. Well, we finally have some answers.
My son did not receive an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. He admitted that he didn't hold out much hope because it is REALLY hard to get in, so he wasn't terribly broken up about it. I think I held out more hope than he did, simply because I would love not to have to pay for college, and I wanted a valid reason to visit Annapolis, MD, because it's a beautiful town.
Anyway, he will be going to the junior college in the fall. He received a $13,000/year merit scholarship and also received a scholarship from our state senator for at least $12,000, with the maximum being $17,500. Now, if he joins the band and gets some money for that, then we could possibly be paying less than $10,000/year for a private college. We are still waiting to hear from some private scholarship opportunities, so I'll post the final numbers when they are, well, final.
One of the things that the band does is march in the New Year's Day parade in London every other year. They didn't go last year, so this year (meaning this December/next January) they may go. The band director said they open it up to whoever else in the family wants to attend (we have to pay for it of course) and I definitely want to go. This is when my battle with my husband begins. He has a hard time leaving anything to chance, much less the future, so trying to convince him that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that is not to be missed will be the challenge. He already said something to the effect, "I'm not sure we'll be going," to which I replied, "I'm going." To me, this is one of the reasons we have savings. Yes, we save for emergencies and possible job loss, but also to do things that add enjoyment to our lives. So I think I can convince him, but it will take some work.
For now, I am grateful that we have a decision and can move forward. My son has already embraced the idea of attending his new school, which fortunately for us, is only 1/2 hour from home. He must live on campus and we won't have any contact with him for six weeks in the beginning, and after that he'll only have certain weekends where he can come home, but we can visit with him on Saturday afternoons and maybe take him to lunch. My office is literally about 10 minutes from the campus, so I could even stalk him at lunchtime if I wanted to. Not that I would, but it's fun to tease him.
We are so proud of him and can't wait to see him all decked out in his uniform.
My son did not receive an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. He admitted that he didn't hold out much hope because it is REALLY hard to get in, so he wasn't terribly broken up about it. I think I held out more hope than he did, simply because I would love not to have to pay for college, and I wanted a valid reason to visit Annapolis, MD, because it's a beautiful town.
Anyway, he will be going to the junior college in the fall. He received a $13,000/year merit scholarship and also received a scholarship from our state senator for at least $12,000, with the maximum being $17,500. Now, if he joins the band and gets some money for that, then we could possibly be paying less than $10,000/year for a private college. We are still waiting to hear from some private scholarship opportunities, so I'll post the final numbers when they are, well, final.
One of the things that the band does is march in the New Year's Day parade in London every other year. They didn't go last year, so this year (meaning this December/next January) they may go. The band director said they open it up to whoever else in the family wants to attend (we have to pay for it of course) and I definitely want to go. This is when my battle with my husband begins. He has a hard time leaving anything to chance, much less the future, so trying to convince him that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that is not to be missed will be the challenge. He already said something to the effect, "I'm not sure we'll be going," to which I replied, "I'm going." To me, this is one of the reasons we have savings. Yes, we save for emergencies and possible job loss, but also to do things that add enjoyment to our lives. So I think I can convince him, but it will take some work.
For now, I am grateful that we have a decision and can move forward. My son has already embraced the idea of attending his new school, which fortunately for us, is only 1/2 hour from home. He must live on campus and we won't have any contact with him for six weeks in the beginning, and after that he'll only have certain weekends where he can come home, but we can visit with him on Saturday afternoons and maybe take him to lunch. My office is literally about 10 minutes from the campus, so I could even stalk him at lunchtime if I wanted to. Not that I would, but it's fun to tease him.
We are so proud of him and can't wait to see him all decked out in his uniform.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Why I Can't Spend Money
My son is 17 years old and a senior in high school. He graduates in June. I remember back when he was a toddler, and my husband started a few mutual fund accounts for college. It really seemed silly to start saving for college when my son was only 2, but boy am I glad we did. He has applied to several schools, none of which is a state school, which tends to be cheaper. He wants to be a U.S. Marine, preferably a pilot, so in order to do that, we needed to look at military type schools with strong engineering programs.
He has applied to the Naval Academy, which will be free if he gets accepted, but considering it's the third hardest school to get into in the country, we weren't very hopeful. However, he got much further than we thought, and now we're just waiting for the decision to be handed out at the end of March.
In the meantime, he has applied to a few military schools, one of which is a junior college that is 10 minutes from where I work. However, it is a private institution and the tuition is $43,000/ year. Seems like a lot to pay for a junior college, but the class size is about 10-14 students per teacher, and we feel that would be a good fit for him. He has already been accepted there and received a scholarship of $13,000 per year, but that wouldn't be enough for him to go there without taking out a lot of money in loans, and my husband refuses to do that. So my son is applying for a scholarship through our state representative, who can award him up to $18,000/year. Because it is a new program, my son is the only one who applied this way, so he stands a good chance of getting some money. However, if it's not the full $18K, then we're still looking at paying a substantial portion of his tuition.
Because we've been saving for 15 years, we have about $60,000 that we can put toward his college education without having to take any money from our immediate earnings. But as you can see, at $42,000/year ($35,000/year for his third choice school), that might only pay for a year or two without financial aid. After filing the forms for governmental financial aid, we're not going to get much, so I think we'll be on the hook for whatever we can't get directly from the school.
My husband has been worrying about college costs since my boys were babies, and while we seem to have prepared, the cost of college is still ridiculous. We do not want our boys to graduate owing $100,000 in student loans, so we will have to sacrifice for the next 8 years so that we can get them through college and keep them out of debt.
This is where minimalism has been really helpful, but also sometimes kind of frustrating. Helpful in that I really don't want to spend money on clothes or even household items as much as I used to. We are looking to have our bathroom upgraded this summer, but if it doesn't happen, I really don't care. As long as I have hot water, a shower stall, and a working toilet, I'm good.
And it's frustrating in that when you read minimalist blogs (not all, but many), these people are selling off everything they own and travelling the world. Well bully for them, but what about those of us with families? Maybe I got into minimalism too late, but I am where I am, and I can't change that. So I need to make it work for me, which means that I still NEED to work at my regular job, and so does my husband, who I desperately wish could retire in the next few years. We need to be able to feed our kids and to put them through college, although I suspect a mimimalist's argument might be that they don't really NEED to go to college. That may be true, but I'm not going to deprive them of that experience because I'm trying to be a minimalist. That's not fair to them. Granted, I am doing my best to teach them that things won't make them happy, and I think they are getting the message, but they still need to eat and have clothes and do activities and be prepared for a carreer, and all of this costs money.
Anyway, all of this to say that it's very difficult because I really want to be able to travel more and do things, but we just can't. Now, if my son does get accepted into the Naval Academy, we may give him some money when he graduates or maybe buy him a car if he needs it, but we'll save the rest for our younger son. Although the tempation would be to spend the $60K on something else, like a great vacation and maybe a new kitchen.
And so I look at my job and my life and try to be content with just today. We can't stop living, so we do allow ourselves the occasional weekend away, but money is always looming in the background.
So, this is why it's been easier than expected to let go of my spending ways. All I know is, my kids had better be prepared to change my diapers when I'm 80 years old...
He has applied to the Naval Academy, which will be free if he gets accepted, but considering it's the third hardest school to get into in the country, we weren't very hopeful. However, he got much further than we thought, and now we're just waiting for the decision to be handed out at the end of March.
In the meantime, he has applied to a few military schools, one of which is a junior college that is 10 minutes from where I work. However, it is a private institution and the tuition is $43,000/ year. Seems like a lot to pay for a junior college, but the class size is about 10-14 students per teacher, and we feel that would be a good fit for him. He has already been accepted there and received a scholarship of $13,000 per year, but that wouldn't be enough for him to go there without taking out a lot of money in loans, and my husband refuses to do that. So my son is applying for a scholarship through our state representative, who can award him up to $18,000/year. Because it is a new program, my son is the only one who applied this way, so he stands a good chance of getting some money. However, if it's not the full $18K, then we're still looking at paying a substantial portion of his tuition.
Because we've been saving for 15 years, we have about $60,000 that we can put toward his college education without having to take any money from our immediate earnings. But as you can see, at $42,000/year ($35,000/year for his third choice school), that might only pay for a year or two without financial aid. After filing the forms for governmental financial aid, we're not going to get much, so I think we'll be on the hook for whatever we can't get directly from the school.
My husband has been worrying about college costs since my boys were babies, and while we seem to have prepared, the cost of college is still ridiculous. We do not want our boys to graduate owing $100,000 in student loans, so we will have to sacrifice for the next 8 years so that we can get them through college and keep them out of debt.
This is where minimalism has been really helpful, but also sometimes kind of frustrating. Helpful in that I really don't want to spend money on clothes or even household items as much as I used to. We are looking to have our bathroom upgraded this summer, but if it doesn't happen, I really don't care. As long as I have hot water, a shower stall, and a working toilet, I'm good.
And it's frustrating in that when you read minimalist blogs (not all, but many), these people are selling off everything they own and travelling the world. Well bully for them, but what about those of us with families? Maybe I got into minimalism too late, but I am where I am, and I can't change that. So I need to make it work for me, which means that I still NEED to work at my regular job, and so does my husband, who I desperately wish could retire in the next few years. We need to be able to feed our kids and to put them through college, although I suspect a mimimalist's argument might be that they don't really NEED to go to college. That may be true, but I'm not going to deprive them of that experience because I'm trying to be a minimalist. That's not fair to them. Granted, I am doing my best to teach them that things won't make them happy, and I think they are getting the message, but they still need to eat and have clothes and do activities and be prepared for a carreer, and all of this costs money.
Anyway, all of this to say that it's very difficult because I really want to be able to travel more and do things, but we just can't. Now, if my son does get accepted into the Naval Academy, we may give him some money when he graduates or maybe buy him a car if he needs it, but we'll save the rest for our younger son. Although the tempation would be to spend the $60K on something else, like a great vacation and maybe a new kitchen.
And so I look at my job and my life and try to be content with just today. We can't stop living, so we do allow ourselves the occasional weekend away, but money is always looming in the background.
So, this is why it's been easier than expected to let go of my spending ways. All I know is, my kids had better be prepared to change my diapers when I'm 80 years old...
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Oh Those Clothes...
The clothing dilemma. It haunts me. I am not doing well in this department, despite the fact that it was the impetus for my minimalizing.
About four years ago I got heavily into fashion, and as a result, spent more money on clothes than I ever had before. I wanted to be stylish and up to date in what I wore. Call it a midlife crisis. Also, as my kids got older and cost less money (no more daycare, etc.), I had more disposable income. So I started buying from higher end retailers like Talbots and Macy's (yes, that is high end to me), and I would order with abandon when Talbots had one of its outlet clearance sales. I got many pieces of clothing for under $20. My argument was that you couldn't really be picky, but hey, you got quality and a name brand, right? Never mind the fact that they were final sale, and many of the items I got just never fit me properly or were too bulky or whatever. They were Talbots and they were cheap.
Even when I started my new job 1-1/2 years ago, I felt even more justified in my spending because I was now working in a "corporate" environment. I felt important. Women wore skirts and nice pants and even suits. The guys all wore ties. I HAD to keep up. Also, I work with a blithering idiot, so I rewarded myself to lunchtime trips to TJ Maxx (right across the street from the office) two or three times a week because "I deserved it."
Fast forward a year and we're looking at college costs for my son. He's applied to mostly private schools (or out-of-state state schools) which may cost $40,000-$50,000 per year. I'll write more about that in another post, but suffice to say that I could no longer spend like I was. In August, my husband and I had a serious conversation about reigning all of our spending, and by that time, I had given enough thought to minimalism that I was up for the challenge.
I won't say that I haven't spent money on clothes. I have. But I have been filling gaps in my closet and bought things that were only white, black, or gray to get me through the winter. Those are the colors that EVERYBODY wears at work and they are easy. I didn't have enough in my closet, so I limited myself to classic pieces that would go with everything.
This endeavor has been successful, but I kind of fell off the wagon this past weekend. I am a big fan of the Jockey Person to Person line because their clothes are crazy high quality and made for women. Their blouses and pants are cut for the regular woman's body and I love them. However, I won't buy them full price, because that's just a bit out of my price range. So I buy a few pieces during their semiannual sale, and on Sunday, I went to my rep's house to try something on for size and to place an order for three items that I very carefully selected, after much thought and consideration. Still, I ended up buying four additional pieces of her sample items too. Granted, they are deeply discounted because a bunch of women like myself have tried them on countless times, but I don't really need any of them.
And yet, and yet, I WANT them. They are basic pieces that will go with everything I have and they will last me for years. I treat all of my clothes with kid gloves now, and I can get three or four seasons out of an Old Navy t-shirt that cost me $2.99.
I need to give myself a little credit here though. The way I've purchased my clothes has changed -- I only pay in cash, try everyting on, make sure it all goes with everything else, and are higher in quality. I no longer buy clothes because they were a good deal. Because we all know that if you don't need them, then they're no deal at all.
Anyway, today I wore another three pieces from my selection for Project333, so even though they aren't catalogued yet as such, they are still part of the experiment. When I finally move things around in my closet, I'll post a picture.
What is your philosophy on clothing purchases? If you changed your spending habits, how long did it take before you stopped really wanting to buy, buy, buy?
About four years ago I got heavily into fashion, and as a result, spent more money on clothes than I ever had before. I wanted to be stylish and up to date in what I wore. Call it a midlife crisis. Also, as my kids got older and cost less money (no more daycare, etc.), I had more disposable income. So I started buying from higher end retailers like Talbots and Macy's (yes, that is high end to me), and I would order with abandon when Talbots had one of its outlet clearance sales. I got many pieces of clothing for under $20. My argument was that you couldn't really be picky, but hey, you got quality and a name brand, right? Never mind the fact that they were final sale, and many of the items I got just never fit me properly or were too bulky or whatever. They were Talbots and they were cheap.
Even when I started my new job 1-1/2 years ago, I felt even more justified in my spending because I was now working in a "corporate" environment. I felt important. Women wore skirts and nice pants and even suits. The guys all wore ties. I HAD to keep up. Also, I work with a blithering idiot, so I rewarded myself to lunchtime trips to TJ Maxx (right across the street from the office) two or three times a week because "I deserved it."
Fast forward a year and we're looking at college costs for my son. He's applied to mostly private schools (or out-of-state state schools) which may cost $40,000-$50,000 per year. I'll write more about that in another post, but suffice to say that I could no longer spend like I was. In August, my husband and I had a serious conversation about reigning all of our spending, and by that time, I had given enough thought to minimalism that I was up for the challenge.
I won't say that I haven't spent money on clothes. I have. But I have been filling gaps in my closet and bought things that were only white, black, or gray to get me through the winter. Those are the colors that EVERYBODY wears at work and they are easy. I didn't have enough in my closet, so I limited myself to classic pieces that would go with everything.
This endeavor has been successful, but I kind of fell off the wagon this past weekend. I am a big fan of the Jockey Person to Person line because their clothes are crazy high quality and made for women. Their blouses and pants are cut for the regular woman's body and I love them. However, I won't buy them full price, because that's just a bit out of my price range. So I buy a few pieces during their semiannual sale, and on Sunday, I went to my rep's house to try something on for size and to place an order for three items that I very carefully selected, after much thought and consideration. Still, I ended up buying four additional pieces of her sample items too. Granted, they are deeply discounted because a bunch of women like myself have tried them on countless times, but I don't really need any of them.
And yet, and yet, I WANT them. They are basic pieces that will go with everything I have and they will last me for years. I treat all of my clothes with kid gloves now, and I can get three or four seasons out of an Old Navy t-shirt that cost me $2.99.
I need to give myself a little credit here though. The way I've purchased my clothes has changed -- I only pay in cash, try everyting on, make sure it all goes with everything else, and are higher in quality. I no longer buy clothes because they were a good deal. Because we all know that if you don't need them, then they're no deal at all.
Anyway, today I wore another three pieces from my selection for Project333, so even though they aren't catalogued yet as such, they are still part of the experiment. When I finally move things around in my closet, I'll post a picture.
What is your philosophy on clothing purchases? If you changed your spending habits, how long did it take before you stopped really wanting to buy, buy, buy?
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