New rules

Today marks the end of my no-buy year. At times it was tough and frustrating, mostly though it was rewarding and thought provoking. Even though I am allowed to spend again I have decided to impose some regulations on myself to prevent a spiral back into major consumerism. I want to be able to buy pretty new things if I want them but also want to better understand the difference between impulse buying and well thought out purchases.

To this end I’ve set myself some limits. I’ve been reflecting on them a bit recently as the next year might be a period of some change (more on that later) so I’ve been a bit more lax about the rules then I suppose I could have been.

Here they are:

1.       When I establish a need or want I will first ask around in my circle of friends to establish if anyone has what I need and could loan me or possible swap me something for it.

2.       If I cannot find it this route I will put said item on a 30 day wait wish list, if after 30 days I still want said item I will go out and get it

3.       Limited to 3 new items per month

4.       Total cost of new items not to exceed R1500 per month

5.       Total cost of new items not to exceed R10000 a year (so about R830 a month on average)

6.       Above rules to apply to personal items ie things that I spend my own money on. Not items bought from our communal account for use by hubby and me. For instance my cloths, electronics, accessories etc.

7.       Keep track of all purchases. Blog each months summary

So far I haven’t actually thought much about what I want this August. Most of the items on my current wish list are spring/summer orientated and it’s a bit too early to start buying those items just yet. Most stores are still having winter sales.

The only item I might try and snatch-up in the winter sales is a warm grey hoodie. I want one with a zipper down the front and a soft fleecy lining. It has to be extra warm (as that was my number one issue with my jumpers this winter!). I am a bit on the fence with this one though. I keep wondering whether it’s wise to buy a jumper now when I’m hopeful that the weather will be improving soon. Will think on this a bit more.

My No-Buy year

31^st July marks the end of my no-buy year! Before embarking on a new year I thought it was time to assess the progress I’ve made over the past year and take stock of my current situation.

When I started last year I owned 236 items. This included all clothing (except pyjamas and underwear) and shoes. I now own 80 pieces. So that’s almost 2/3 less in 1 year! It took some serious purging. A couple of months ago I actually had to stop purging as I found I still needed enough items to get me through the no-buy period. I have found now that the only way I can further my purge is by replacing current pieces with more versatile options in colours that mix and match well. Or, for example by focusing on tops that work for at work and home so that I can consolidate my work and home wardrobes (right now these are two distinct very different groups of cloths).

My current amounts:

Dresses: 4
Skirts: 2
Pants: 6
Shorts: 4
Work shirts: 10
Tops: 20
Jerseys: 12
Jackets (summer): 3
Jackets (winter): 5
Shoes: 14 (includes my hiking boots and gym shoes)

Observations I’ve had in my no-buy period:

1.       Fewer items mean every piece has to work overtime. Wear and tear is greater and I could see a drastic difference in my quality pieces and cheaper items. Where possibly invest in better quality. The only exception being when you want to try out a new trend you’re not completely sure of yet.

2.       Bright colours are great to liven-up a wardrobe but do require more thought when mixing or matching pieces. To stick to a truly minimalist wardrobe it’s better to limit your coloured options

3.       Buy warmer jerseys! I tend to run very cold. At the start of this winter I tossed two thicker, knitted jumpers as they were itchy when worn directly on my skin. With nothing to replace them I’ve been forced to layer up on my thinner jerseys. On cold days that has sometimes meant I’m wearing 3 light-weight jumpers over each other and I am still cold! So in jerseys it’s good to have a warmth variety (not just style and colour variance). A thick, warm jumper is definitely on my to buy list.

4.       Even with such a limited wardrobe there are still certain pieces that get pulled out a lot more than others. I am trying to learn from my go-to pieces. So far I know that I prefer pants to skirts

5.       Re-evaluate lifestyle. I own plenty of pretty, delicate items for going out. Dainty dresses and strappy high heels. However I’ve found that I don’t go out that much anymore. Me and hubby don’t go clubbing or to many fancy events. We still go out but it’s turned into more like the local pub to watch a game or dinner at friends. So I don’t have the occasion so much to wear my pretties. Do I really need three pairs of going-out heels? Having said that though it’s tough to purge here as items are usually very pretty and were expensive to purchase.

All in all I am glad that the experiment is winding down and that I’ve managed very well so far. I will continue to think about any new purchases I make and want to pen out some restrictions before I allow myself to the shops again (ie a budget or max quantity kind of thing). I will post these later on but before August! :)

Summer looks

Exams are done! This has given me some time to day-dream about my look. I’ve been focused mainly on next summer though. Cape Town has a longer summer then winter period so cloths for warmer weather tend to be worn more often. Also my no-buy year ends in the middle of winter and I want to resist a flat-out splurge for a while still so am focussed on spring/summer 2014 which should start around mid October.

Now that I’ve done a colour analysis and found out I am a cool summer I’ve also decided to focus more on my appropriate colours. Shades of blues and rosy pinks suit me. I settled on grey and navy as my neutral tones, since as mentioned before black is not my friend, and will incorporate white, light blue and rosy pink as my main tones.

Then I decided on general style. For summer I wanted a fairly loose float-y look, with materials fitted but not tight on the body. To balance very loose tops I also included a pair of skinny jeans and fitted pants. I worked out the following board, using 18 items of clothing and shoes and a hand full of accessories. I wanted to use pieces that would transition well between work and casual environments. My work environment is mostly air-conditioned and cool so longer sleeves on a few tops is fine. I sometimes also prefer loose longer sleeves when out and about as the sleeves provide some protection from our strong sun. I did make sure that all sleeves can be scrunched up though.

 

I feel like everything on the board works together and in all environments. A possible exemption being the grey T-shirt which might be too casual for work and the navy blazer which I feel is a bit polished for casual.

I also mixed up 6 possible outfits, going from a very formal suit look to casual T and jeans plus some looks that are more playful and in between. I gave one example for each top on the board. Given 5 pants and 6 tops I can create 30 looks without even playing around with the toppers yet!

 

The pink linen pants on my board are from ZARA. The jeans, loose pink and blue tops are from Woolworths. The tailored Navy pants and Jacket from J Crew which we don’t have yet in SA. The rest are a smattering from around the web.

Nearing the end

6 weeks of no buy to go! I am quite surprised I actually made it this far. It’s fantastic, the fact that I’m nearly there is also motivating to keep moving ...so close to the end.

I have had time to hone my style and am feeling quietly confident about where I am heading. My style is not quite hammered down but it’s close. My wardrobe has also reached a point where continued purging without buying in new items is not really possible, mostly because items are ill-conceived and vary too much across the colour spectrum at the moment. I can still cut-down but not without losing functionality. If I buy new items that are multi-functional I could continue to pare the numbers down (ie tops that work for home and an office environment, or a tank top that can play as a layering piece instead of a camisole and be worn on its own as well – I could never wear a cami without a cover).

Since it is winter now and I am always cold these are the few items I would like to purchase in August:

·         A pair of skinny jeans that fit snuggly into my knee-high boots (I don’t own a pair of skinnies and just fold-up my straight leg jeans to fit into boots at the moment)

·         2 Thermal tank tops to replace my camis and hopefully be a bit warmer. I want them in extra length so they don’t pull out when tucked into pants (and leave a dreaded cold strip of exposed lower back! Brrrr!). I am thinking marled grey and white.

I have also considered a long sleeved thermal top. I own two at the moment but neither is ideal (1 is transparent so need to layer over it, the other has gotten too short and leaves my lower back exposed which is less than ideal). I will hold off on this until next winter though as I think I can make it through the current season with what I have. After all I don’t want to splurge all of a sudden now that I am free to shop again as that would kind of defeat the purpose!

My look

I am now into month 10 of my no buy year! There are quite a few items on my ‘to buy’ list now but I’ve also started re-evaluating my list and crossing some items off again. Quite a few have notes now – good to have, buy when such and such worn out, so I will only buy these pieces to replace others I own when they are damaged beyond repair.

The extended no-buy period has also given me lots of time to reflect on my look. I have had time to consider my style both in clothing and in makeup and hair. I have spent ages reading about signature looks, see the INTO-MIND website.

So far these are my conclusions:

Clothing:

·         Avoid black! Navy blue and Grey are my best neutrals, throw in more white as well

·         Best colours are shades of pinks and blues, I had a colour consultant tell me I am a cool medium summer

·         Style is fairly natural classic with a hint of bohemian. I like classic simplicity, comfortable and soft fabrics, low heels, jeans and am veering away from all my graphic Ts to more blouses. Winter I prefer tighter pants that I can tuck into my boots and in summer I prefer a much looser fit.

·         I like front button tops and cardigans

·         I dislike most patterns and am not into floral or ethnic/graphic prints. I prefer muted animal prints and stripes worked into the fabric (ie ribbed tops). Best of all I like solids though.

·         I love scarves and am considering making these my signature items

·         I have yet to settle on a style icon I love though, these are some looks I like and could wear as is:

 

Make-up and Hair

·         I have found my icon! Alexa Chung. I love how she does her eyes with a dramatic sweep of eyeliner. For a couple of years now eyeliner has been my only must have makeup product and I’ve always loved a cat-eye look. With my pretty blue eyes I’ve always felt the need to accentuate them.

·         For my daytime look I will copy her, only avoiding the eye shadow and having a slightly less dramatic wing at the ends of my eyes. Everything else will be keep nude/muted to balance the bold eye (and so I don’t have to spend more than 3min on make up each day!)

·         For my hair I am considering a similar look to her as well, although it will probably not be as bold as her. She has frosted tips and a mussed bedhead look that I’ve looked into and is apparently a little time consuming to emulate. Standing in front of a mirror getting my hair right with a curling iron is going to happen once a month tops I just can’t be bothered normally. 

 

Since my last exam is next week Wednesday I am considering booking myself a hair appointment for that weekend. I haven’t been to a hair dresser since I had a trim right before our wedding. Think I'll have to talk to the hair dresser a bit beforehand to hammer down exactly the style I want. Looking forward and dreading it a bit!

Home buying - no no

So round about the start of last year me and my then fiancé had seriously considered buying a house, we’d done a few rounds and having found nothing within our budget that was better than the flat we were already living in (which we own) we decided to postpone a couple of years.

I was still on the mailing lists of a few agents though and would intermittently; mostly out of curiosity still look at the incoming mails. This Sunday I received a mail showcasing a lovely home. It was in our budget, in a neighbourhood we had considered and it was on show! We dropped everything and went for a look. And it was lovely. We could see ourselves staying there and the price was totally doable and lower then we might have expected so ... I guess we got a bit carried away.

 

Sunday we spent doing sums, Monday I went to talk to the owners, Tuesday we met the agent who pushed us to put in an offer. At that stage I was already having doubts about whether we were rushing into things and nervous about how pushy the sales lady was that we sign right now! We held off, took the contract home and over a relaxed dinner decided that no, now was not the time to buy.

It was a relief. We decided to stick to the original plan and hold off at least another year. By then we might have our permanent residency sorted and a few other ducks in a row.

So what did I learn? Surprisingly the tips for not buying unnecessary clothing counts for housing too! If you are not seriously looking for a house then don’t window shop, don’t read the sales notices or emails you get. Take a few days to consider acquisitions before laying down the money. This is a big investment and deserves quite a bit of research (when it dawned on me that I have clocked more time looking which exact shade of navy would suit me best rather than the house I realised that I had my priorities messed-up).

Just the day after we turned down the house I heard from a friend that his friend who lived down the road from the house we looked at got broken into on the same Sunday we went to view. Apparently the area is experiencing a bit of a crime wave so that might explain the low price. So maybe it was just not meant to be.

As a result of all this I took the time yesterday to remove myself from all mailing lists (not just the property ones). Instead we can refocus on the flat and maybe finally get around to fixing a couple of things. Can’t believe how impulsive we almost were though!

Musical interlude - Lorde

Middle of my exams..Gah!

But there is time for a small musical interlude :)

I love the Lorde song – Royals. It’s pretty catchy and I liked to try and sing along. It’s not so easy to hear all the lyrics properly though so I googgled them and guess what? Lorde is saying what any basic minimalist would: Its ok not to be able to afford all the luxuries so blatantly punted in the media. We don’t need the fancy cars, the diamond rings and the champagne. She can be a queen without all of that and that’s a pretty strong message from a singer so young!

I’m very impressed. Every now and then it’s great that there’s someone out there who can put things into perspective like this. She’s a lone voice to combat all the media hype that more is always better. That we should all aspire to such levels and can consider ourselves akin to failures when we can’t afford to live these kinds of lifestyles. Oh and that love affair? That would be materialism.

Here are those lyrics:

[Verse 1] I’ve never seen a diamond in the flesh
I cut my teeth on wedding rings in the movies
And I’m not proud of my address
In a torn-up town, no postcode envy

But every song’s like gold teeth, Grey Goose, trippin’ in the bathroom
Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin’ the hotel room
We don’t care, we’re driving Cadillacs in our dreams.
But everybody’s like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece
Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash
We don’t care, we aren’t caught up in your love affair

And we’ll never be royals (royals)
It don’t run in our blood
That kind of luxe just ain’t for us
We crave a different kind of buzz
Let me be your ruler (ruler)
You can call me queen Bee
And baby I’ll rule, I’ll rule, I’ll rule, I’ll rule
Let me live that fantasy.

[Verse 2] My friends and I—we’ve cracked the code.
We count our dollars on the train to the party.
And everyone who knows us knows
that we’re fine with this,
We didn’t come from money

But every song’s like gold teeth, Grey Goose, trippin’ in the bathroom
Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin’ the hotel room
We don’t care, we’re driving Cadillacs in our dreams.
But everybody’s like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece
Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash
We don’t care, we aren’t caught up in your love affair

And we’ll never be royals (royals)
It don’t run in our blood
That kind of luxe just ain’t for us
We crave a different kind of buzz.
Let me be your ruler (ruler)
You can call me queen Bee
And baby I’ll rule, I’ll rule, I’ll rule, I’ll rule
Let me live that fantasy

Ooh ooh oh
We’re bigger than we ever dreamed
And I’m in love with being queen.
Ooh ooh oh
Life is great without a care
We aren’t caught up in your love affair

And we’ll never be royals (royals)
It don’t run in our blood
That kind of luxe just ain’t for us
We crave a different kind of buzz
Let me be your ruler (ruler)
You can call me queen Bee
And baby I’ll rule, I’ll rule, I’ll rule, I’ll rule
Let me live that fantasy.