I Am Recessionista Thoughts

In our shopping endeavors, we make fashion choices carefully, some hastily; some are thrust upon us; some we make without knowing it or knowing that we even have a choice. Nevertheless, they still all add up to make us what we are today. I once read a book titled "The Girl's Guide to Wealth" and I think some of the chapters do make a lot of sense; at least they were relevant to me.

So, how do we ensure that we get the best bang for our buck and not fall into a spending trap? From my personal experience as a Fashionista as well as a Recessionista, I can certainly say that I am no longer going to be a victim of sales. After my recent move from a house with lots of closet space that spans across 3 bedrooms to a city apartment with one walk in closet, I have certainly been much more careful in spending these days. I claim that I am a Recessionista when I started blogging in April this year, but now I can say that I am even more Recessionista-like than I ever was. Don't believe it? My apartment is just steps away from Forever 21, Urban Outfitters, H&M and BCBG - my favorite. And it has been almost a month since I moved here, and I haven't bought a single item yet.

I am going to summarize what I learned in a nutshell from this very painful lesson. First lesson I learned was, before I went out shopping again, I needed to purge my closet well to see what I really really needed. In my case, I wasn't lacking of anything. And more importantly, I had to understand what styles suit me best and what didn't look good on me. Balloon skirts and dresses are cute, but do they suit everyone's figure? Next lesson, I don't have to buy something just because it is on sale. I made this mistakes too many times before. Most importantly, I learned that buying cheap stuff that don't last is a bad bad decision. Instead of buying 3 dresses, 2 skirts and 3 shirts for $200, it would be a much wiser decision to buy 1 dress, 1 skirt and 1 shirt for $200. Designer quality always counts, you really pay for what you get most of the times, and they last a long long time. Remember my blog entry about cost per wear? (See links at the side of my blog for cost per wear)

Having been a victim of spending traps in the past, can I say that I am much smarter now? Very positively yes.