I am a bean counter, what can I say. This entry is NOT easy to type. Let me start by saying, those lovely earrings that Mickey sent me a few weeks ago were FAR FROM FREE. I spent an hour going through my order history with JCrew over the past year. WOW- not pretty. My online purchases alone from 10/31/08 through 10/22/09, drum roll please. $8,044.34. That total represents 99 online orders, breaking down to approximately 2 visits per week from the UPS man for a solid year. That is only Jcrew online. Not Gap, not Anthropologie, Nordstrom, Target etc, not my B&M visits......So this exercise in self-awareness has me feeling sick to my stomach (and for Hubby's sake, I hope that he doesn't read this one). I will estimate my shopping habit to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $15,000. That is a couple of trips to Italy to see our good friends. That is tuition for one of my kids at their private school. That is easily a Chanel bag, some Louboutains....many ways to look at that. How does the saying go? The cobbler always wears the worst shoes. This CPA does not have a shopping budget and clearly needs one. I guess you might ask if you can afford it who cares- we're not debt free but we're not on the brink of bankruptcy either. I am just making a judgement here- is this really where I want to allocate that much of our family resources, does looking at that number feel good? And for me, the answer is no. SIGH. Let me finish with the numbers here. Current J Crew balance $2402.37. My current J Crew sizes: pants sz8, skirts size 6, tees Medium, blouse 12 (large chested, what can I say....) I am revealing these personal details and I will revisit all the numbers again at the end of this year with the expectation/hope that all of the above will have shrunk substantially.
What am I wearing on this first day shopping out of my closet? Sorry gang- but my sweet 5yo was up all night with a fever and my day is shaping up to be one at home with a sick child. Nothing glamorous today just one worried Mama Bear.
How did I get to this point? I have a whole bunch of amazing people in my life- family and friends. I do not think that I am shopping to fill a void. I have always come from the perspective that I am a Libra and I love pretty things. I love to shop. Hmmm, I have a whole year to dive into this so that's enough time on the analyst couch for now.
But I am curious- what is everyone doing out there? Do you have a budget? If so, is it visited on a monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis? Do you shop once a season? Or do you surf daily to see if anything tickles your fancy? How do you make your purchase decisions? Talk to me.
I am not once to give fashion advice, so I will refrain from sharing how I made my purchase decisions in the realm of clothing. I know it would only illicit 'that look' from you with a follow up statement of 'I do not understand that'. But from the perspective of my TRAVEL addiction- I do not tend to budget & I should. I shop daily for the travel sales. I dream, I price.... And I spend far too much. My purchase decisions in this category are always impulsive and never 'need based'. And I don't have the strength to cut it out! :) So kudos to you to making a step!
ReplyDeleteAfter reading you post, I don't even want to think about this stuff because it just may be WORSE than your situation. I have truly shopped too much this year. I have neglected my finances and myself and have become far to absorbed in the blog world, shopping and the the hunt for an elusive item of clothing. I do not have a clothing budget, but certainly should.
ReplyDeleteI do have a yearly shopping budget, and I was through it by September. This in a year when I gave myself an extra $3000 because I paid off my student loan in December 08. Have I stopped shopping JCrew since September? Uh, no. I also went down a size after finding a new, daily exercise program, so that's been a further excuse. Most of my closet really didn't fit me, but it is full again now!
ReplyDeleteI am really going to try to curb it going forward, I am hoping your blog will be helpful for this! I don't have debt outside of my mortgage, but I would like to pay that off within five years.
Guess what? I am totally ADDICTED to JCrew. I actually don't shop anywhere else. I go to malls with my friends and nothing even tempts me (there are no JC stores up here in Canada). If I could stop shopping there altogether I would have gobs of cash!
I am just blown away and impressed by your honesty. Way to lay it all out there. Sometimes looking at the cold hard numbers really shakes us into sense. (not a CPA, but I was a math major, and all 3 of my kiddies' aunts are CPAs)
ReplyDeleteI try to stick to something reasonable, but admit to paying some of my JC bill in cash so the check to pay off the CC looks a little smaller. The good news is that my rewards card was less this time than last time, so I must be doing better...I hope. I don't have a set schedule. Sometimes I shop with friends, often by myself. I just enjoy it. I enjoy clothes, accessories, etc.
What I am trying to focus on now is buying fewer pieces, but ones that really work for me and make me feel great. I need to do another closet clean out to get rid of the not-quite-what-I-want-them-to-be's. And I really *don't* need another sweater - except a black turtleneck. :)
Kathy- I totally get the sucked into the blog world. There are so many out there with great posts featuring pretty new things.
ReplyDeleteDaniBP- Good for you on the exercise program and weight loss. I am hoping to focus some energy on that front myself. SO J Crew has a hold on you too! Maybe Alexis could change the "A" in Aficionada to Addict for us. I can't believe there are no stores in Canada- based on my number crunching exercise, it appears that the internet is a problem for me. When I go back to a shopping life, I might try to implement a policy of only buying when in a store. A daily part of my old routine was checking the website first thing in the morning for popbacks and deals. And when you do that 365 times a year- just one item here and one item there clearly adds up. But that strategy doesn't help you until Mickey gets some stores open.
HeidiG- thanks for your comments. I really think your point of looking for fewer great pieces is what I am striving for when this year is all said and done. My closet purge is on the horizon too. When I went through all of my old order confirmation emails to put together my spreadsheet for money spent, there were several things I saw that I forgot I had purchased and have no idea where they might be- Yikes.....
Thank you! You are so honest (!) and a lot of what you said resonates with me. Just know you are not alone. I was paying for everything with debit card and spent a lot of money, but I didn't feel bad because it was cash. Opening the J Crew card last year has resulted in spending thousands more than I ever would have. I am a Libra rising and do believe that is a factor in wanting nice things. ;-)
ReplyDeleteEarlier this year a JC SA told me that if I haven't worn something within the 60 days, I'm not going to. And that's been mostly true. As a result I'm more conscious of return limitations and that has helped. I try to return things if I haven't worn them. I think one thing that would be a huge help for my clothing storage is to remove one thing for every new thing I bring into the house.
I totally agree on the checking for popbacks lure. I have stopped doing that. I also agree w/others that the blog world has contributed to my spending, but I think I was a habitual spender prior to discovering JCA. I have always amassed a ton of clothes. I just spent way less in the past because I was a BR shopper and good deals can be had. The price points are higher at JC and whooo, that means more going out the financial door. No, I don't have a clothing budget. I tried to do that thru mint.com but I don't log enough to pay attention to all the numbers. I guess I've been able to justify it in *my* mind because I prefer to cook than eat out. And we just don't spend money on other things. However, we *do* need some things done around here and the money I spend on looking good could go towards a good looking backyard. KWIM?
Thanks again for sharing. We'll be supporting you on your journey! Quite frankly, I think some of the behavior here (not nesc yours) is monkey-see-monkey do, keeping up w/the Joneses, etc...so perhaps we will get competitive with reducing our clothing expenses! :-)
Love all of Gigi's comments. I am trying to be really smart about the 60-day thing, but for me, I think 30 days is enough. I am currently debating whether or not to keep the cupcake/tango ruffled top. I've had it for over 3 weeks and I love how it looks on me but I have yet to wear it. I know it will layer well, but I'm just not inspired to do so, or at least not with what's currently in my closet. Most of the outfits that I envision with it involve warm weather. Maybe that's a sign?
ReplyDeleteAlso, as you go through your closet, I'ms ure you know this, but I highly recommend the JCA weekly exchange if you want to unload some items.
OMG. I feel like I have found something I have been searching for for forever! I often wonder WHY I shop like I do...why I am constantly purchasing, repurchasing at a lower price, returning...the cycle is endless! I too have SO many clothes..and I am starting to expand my collection into Anthro too.
ReplyDeletePreviously I did the books in our family,(which, let's be honest, let me be very creative with our finances!!) and I took the first step last week by handing them over to hubby. This way my spending can be tracked and curtailed.
Thanks for your honesty, maybe you will inspire me further!
Great job on the blog! Congrats to you for taking this step.......I can certainly identify with you! I also ♥♥♥ JCrew but my "poison of choice" is Lilly Pulitzer. I have more than I could ever wear in a lifetime, can barely cram more into the closet, yet continue to buy!!! I do not have a clothing budget either (clearly I need one), but estimate in the last 12 months I've probably spent at least $10K on Lilly, Crew and occasionally BR. Over half my closet is NWT and never worn. As they say "the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem".
ReplyDeleteI have been trying to lose weight and that is helping me not buy quite as much, as I hope to be several sizes down when I "need" something again!
Good luck to you and the other readers! I also just started a blog to document my weight loss journey. The blog is therapy! :-)