Happy 2017 - Year End Round Up

Hi there. I hope you had a lovely holiday season and have enjoyed the first few days of the new year. I know I have. I don't make New Year's resolutions but I do think that this time of year is a good one to think about goals. One of my major goals is pay down debt and one of the ways that I can achieve this goal is to be more conscious of how I spend money. On that note here is how I spent the first three days of the New Year.

I spent a cold and rainy New Year's day in the most perfect way possible. I read a phenomenal book, which I borrowed from the library, drank lots of hot tea, hung out with the GH and puttered around the house, all in my warm and cozy pajamas. I have no idea what is in store for 2017 but at least I know that I started it off right, crying and laughing and crying some more over a fictional character. If you are interested in a book that makes you feel most of the feels I highly recommend A Man Called Ove. It is beautiful, poignant and funny.

On the second day of the new year I did what I usually do on Mondays and went to Target and Trader Joe's.  I mostly stuck to my lists, the exceptions being giant beans in tomato sauce and flowers at TJ's. At Target I remembered to use the two $12 gift cards that I received as a rebate from buying heartworm medicine for the dogs.  After finding years old gift cards in an old wallet I consolidated all of the gift cards and frequent buyer cards in the house. I made two online purchases with cards that were for stores that are no longer physically present in town. I spent $10 of my money on these purchases but consider it worthwhile as the gift cards were fully used, no 27 cent balance left like the Starbucks card I found.  The rest of the day was bonus hang out time with the GH since he had the day off too.

On the third day of the new year I went shopping. One of my favorite thrift stores, 1st Rate 2nd Hand, is having a 50% off sale on all clothing this week. In the spirit of thriftiness and to declutter some of my laundry room, I took three boxes of books, magazines and DVDs to Bookmans before I went to the thrift store. Two hours later and $30.75 poorer, I went back to Bookmans and retrieved $80 in credit. For my $30.75 I bought two dresses, three skirts, five pairs of pants, a cardigan and six tops. I will take pictures of the haul this weekend. And yes I know that buying clothing is not necessarily a frugal endeavor, especially with a closet as full as mine, but I enjoyed it immensely and won't do it again for a couple of months.And after all this is supposed to be a blog about clothes. On that note, onto three weeks of outfits.

December 13

Top: Elle - Thrift 2015  Skirt: No Label (I think it's handmade) - Thrift 2016

The Stuff

Earrings: Retail - 20??  Bracelets: Chicos - Retail  Watch: Mom

December 14

Top: Three Dots - Thrift 2016  Skirt: J Jill - Thrift 2015

The Stuff

Earrings: Etsy  Necklace: Maya Palace  Bracelet: Hand me down from J

December 16

Sweater: Talbots - Thrift 2015  Skirt: Isaac Mizrahi for Target - Gift 2015

The Stuff

Necklace, Earrings and Bracelets: Chicos

December 17

Sweater: Croft & Barrow - Thrift 2016  Jeans: Levis - Last seen here (5th outfit)

The Stuff

Earrings: Etsy  Necklace and Bracelet: Chicos

December 20 - Different lighting = different colors
  
Sweater: Old Navy - Thrift 2015  Jeans: Levis - Last seen above

The Stuff

Earrings and Necklace: Gift from the GH

December 21

This is my "How do you ask?" face

Cardigan: Ann Taylor - Thrift 2014  Jeans: Levis - Last seen here (3rd outfit)

The Stuff

Earrings: Chicos  Bracelet: Cost Plus   Necklace: Etsy

December 22

Sweater: NY & Co - Thrift 2016  Jeans: DKNY - Last seen here (2nd outfit)

The Stuff

Earrings: Retail - Online  Bracelet and Necklace: Mom

December 23
    
Top: Banana Republic - Retail 201?  Pants: Gloria Vanderbilt - Last seen here (6th outfit)

The Stuff

Earrings: Chicos  Necklace: Online  Bracelet: Gift

December 24 - A different location, as both BB and Mr DC were off, the GH kindly took the pictures

Cardigan: Forever 21 - Thrift 2014  Jeans: DKNY - Last seen above

The Stuff

Earrings and Necklace: Aunt Rosetta Bracelet: Mom

December 28

Sweater: Ann Taylor- Thrift 2015  Jeans: Levis - Last seen above

The Stuff

Earrings: Retail (?)  Necklace: From Susie  Bracelet: From Mom for Christmas

December 29 - With photobombing Leo
     
Sweater: Banana Republic - Retail 201?  Jeans: Levis - Last seen above

The Stuff

Earrings and Bracelet: Mom Necklace: Grandma Pin: Mom via Many Goats

December 30

Sweater: Planet Gold - Retail 201?  Jeans: Levis: Last seen above

The Stuff

Earrings: Mom Bracelets: Retail and Morocco

December 31

Sweater: Banana Republic - Gift from T  Skirt: Ann Taylor Loft - Thrift 2015

The Stuff

Earrings: Gift from GH  Necklace: Gift from Janet

Bonus New Year's Eve pic with fabulous hostess and blog photographer BB

Dress: Banana Republic - last seen here (2nd outfit)   Cardigan: Rampage - Retail 20??  Scarf: Mossimo - Thrift 2015

The Stuff- The pin was hidden under the scarf in this picture

Earrings: Retail 20??  Bracelets: Chicos  Pin: From Susie

As always thank you to blog photographers BB, Mr DC and the GH.

See you soon.

Three Weeks Later - Proof of Life

Hi there. It's been a while. There were the holidays, and all of the work that goes into decorating, cooking and hosting but honestly it's probably mostly due to laziness. So with that lack of an excuse for a three week absence and a hope to do better in the new year onto the clothes.

November 29

Sweater: Talbots - Hand me down from MIL  Jeans: Levis- Last seen here (8th outfit)

The Stuff

Earrings: Gift from Carol  Bracelets: Gifts from another Carol!  Necklace: Mom

November 30

Sweater: Ann Taylor Loft - Thrift 2015 Jeans: DKNY - Last seen here (6th outfit)

The Stuff

Earrings: Retail - Northern California 200?  Necklace: Etsy  Bracelet: Mom

December 1

Sweater: Croft & Barrow - Thrift 2014  Jeans: Levis - Last seen here (4th outfit)

The Stuff

Earrings: Retail - Mervyns 200?  Necklace: Etsy  Bracelet: Mom

December 2

Sweater: INC - Thrift here in April  Jeans: Levis- Last seen here (5th outfit)

The Stuff

Earrings and Bracelet: Aunt Rosetta

December 3

Sweater: St Johns Bay - Thrift 2014  Jeans: Levis - Last seen above  Hat: Hand me down from SIL

The Stuff

Necklace: Grandma   Earrings: Aunt Rosetta  Bracelet: UNICEF

December 6

Sweater: Chicos - Retail 2012  Jeans: DKNY - Last seen above

The Stuff

Necklace, Bracelet and Earrings: Chicos - Retail 2012

December 7 - With bonus sleepy action shot!
   
Top: Banana Republic - Retail 201?  Jeans: Levis - Last seen above

The Stuff

Necklace: Gift  Bracelets and Earrings: Chicos - Retail 2013

December 8

Sweater: Talbots - Thrift 2014  Jeans: Levis- Last seen above

The Stuff

Necklace and Bracelet: From Susie  Earrings: Old - 1990's maybe?

December 9

Sweater: Old Navy - Thrift 2015  Jeans: DKNY - Last seen above

The Stuff

Necklace: Gift  Earrings and Bracelet: Mom

December 10

Cardigan: Merona - Thrift 2014  TShirt: Merona: Retail - Target 20??  Jeans: Levis - Last seen above

The Stuff

Necklace: From Susie  Earrings and Bracelet: Mom

 This a two week catch-up from the beginning of the month, the next two or three weeks will be coming soon.

As always thank you to blog photographers BB Mr DC and the GH.

See you soon!

Seasonal Closet Swap

Hi there. Southern Arizona has most definitely entered the not-hot season, there were a couple of nights last week that had lows near freezing in central Tucson.  In preparation for the cold, and with a desperate need to bring some sense of order into my life,  I swapped out my seasonal wardrobe the day after the election. With the amount of clothing I own, this project tends to take a few hours.  This year I think I was more mindful about the process I use, probably because I kept pausing to take pictures for this post.

I start by pulling out all the bins of stored clothing from my office closet and under the bed.  One of these belongs to the GH, the rest are mine.

                                          I did dust these off before I put them away again

Then I pull everything out of my closet, one group at a time. I may have mentioned this before, but I do not have a large closet. That is part of the reason I don't keep clothing that I don't love, my closet space is limited and therefore valuable.


          This what my summer closet looks like from left to right. Sorry about the blurry picture.

Dresses came out first. I put the items with hangers that are still backwards in a separate pile. The backwards hanger means that I haven't worn the item since the last time I did a closet swap and I try to figure out why. In this case both of the dresses that are unworn are items I usually wear in Las Vegas and I didn't make it there this year. I tried them on and decided I still loved them both so I kept them.  The pile of items that were worn comes next and the goal is to figure out what can stay around for the not-hot season, what I don't love enough to keep around and if anything requires washing or mending before being packed away.

  
                   Dresses I wore                                                    Dresses I didn't wear

The items to be put away for the season are taken off of their hangers and folded on the bed. The keepers are hung on a microphone stand, with hangers turned backwards again to be put back in the closet.


      Dresses to pack away for the season                               Dresses that stay in the closet        

Next up are the sleeveless shirts, only one of which was unworn. I kept it because it was part of a hand me down stash I had only been given two weeks before.  Then came the short sleeved tops, again the unworn ones were kept because they were part of the same stash.


                    Sleeveless tops                                                           Short sleeved tops


     Sleeveless tops going back in the closet                   Short sleeved tops going back in the closet

Next up, 3/4 and long sleeved tops and then cardigans. There were 4 unworn long sleeved tops and 2 unworn cardigans.  One of each was put in the donate pile, the rest were kept for various reasons.

  
     3/4 and long sleeved tops                                      Cardigans


3/4 and long sleeved tops going back to the closet                 Cardigans going back to the closet

The last group of clothes to come out are the skirts. Because of the hangers I use skirts are the only item of clothing that I can't track using the backward hanger trick, instead I have had to rely on my memory.  But that was before I had a blog that was intended to track what I wear, now if I'm not sure whether or not I've worn something I can look it up!


                        All the skirts                                                    Skirts to go back to the closet

By now the piles of clothes to pack away are taking over most of the surface of the bed.

And there are piles of empty hangers everywhere.



Now that I have mostly run out of room on the bed it's time to start pulling clothing out of bins and putting it on hangers. There are a few skirts and dresses, and many long sleeved tops and sweaters. After all the bins are emptied of cold weather clothes it's time to fill them right back up with hot weather clothes.


               


And here is the finished product, grouped by type, then color and of course with backwards hangers.



I thought I took pictures of the donation and mending piles but I can't find them. I think I ended up with a full Trader Joe's bag for donation and a few items to be mended before being packed away. (Full disclosure, those items have not yet been mended and are currently buried in my ironing basket in the laundry room.)

A very special thank you to the GH who ended up taking most of these pictures.

See you soon!