Link: How to become better at detecting clothing quality

One of the best ways to save on clothing costs is to become better at noticing how a garment is constructed. These little details are what will tell you how well a piece of clothing will fit (or NOT fit as is so often the case) and how well it will hold up over time.

The cost savings are easy: the better made your clothing is, the longer it'll stay nice looking, the more flattering it's likely to be on your body, and the happier you'll be with it over time.

For those of us with some sewing experience, being able to spot the signs of a well made garment are relatively easy. But what if you don't have this experience? Often people will try the shortcut of just assuming that the more something costs, the better it's made. You know what sucks? This isn't always the case.

For today's link I've got a blog posting from Couture Allure Vintage Fashion that gives you some hints about what to look at when evaluating how well a shirt is made. It's a useful bit of insight for sewers and non-sewers alike.

Kate Spade sale!

I'm a negligent blog owner, but I'm getting back in the game today by sharing the coupon code for Kate Spade's Friends and Family sale this weekend (fall11ff).

Enjoy!

Not a Kate Spade fan? Well, you're likely still in luck. We're hitting the Fall sale season, so now's a great time to pop in to your favourite stores (AND get on their mailing lists if you aren't already) and look for large discounts. For example, Banana Republic is doing a 30% off your entire purchase weekend up here in Canada this weekend.

Shopping Rules: "It doesn't come home unless you love it"

I've decided to start a new feature here: Shopping Rules. It's where I talk about some of the rules that I use to try and get the most satisfaction from my limited funds.

The first rule I wanted to talk about is my cardinal rule: it doesn't come home unless you love it. Basically speaking, you should never EVER buy something unless you're head over heels for it.

This was not always the way I shopped. Back when I was younger I was notoriously bad at passing up a good deal. Maybe it was a sweater that wasn't quite the right colour or a skirt that was mostly flattering or a poster that was pretty, but not quite my style... if it was a decent item at a good price (especially if it was a well-made item), I had a rough time passing it by. Inevitably, though, this led to a closet full of clothing I was never satisfied with and a home full of decor that wasn't cohesive. Once the thrill of the deal was done, I was stuck with a bunch of stuff that wasn't quite right for me.

I wanted to buy beautiful things (there's that expensive taste thing rearing its ugly head again), but I never felt like I had enough money to pull it off. Instead, I settled for cheaper items that were mostly there, but not completely. The crazy thing, though, is that I was actually spending quite a bit of money on clothes, shoes, and home items... it just never felt that way because I was making lots of smaller purchases instead of a few larger ones.

Over the last five years or so I had been dabbling with buying less (partially thanks to getting addicted to John Fluevog shoes... it's hard to go back to other brands once you start wearing Fluevogs, but even on sale they're a bit pricey), but it only stuck more recently.

A year and a half ago I bought a wallet that shook some sense into me. Yeah, a wallet... just go with me here for a minute. It was Boxing Day and, thanks to a massive sale and an influx of holiday money that made me feel richer than I actually was, I bought a stunning green Kate Spade wallet for $50. Yeah, that's not ridiculously expensive, but I should point out that this was more than double what I had ever paid for a wallet ever in my life. The entire experience felt almost shamefully decadent, especially since I was a poor grad student at the time.

I'll tell you what, though... it becomes very hard to spend money on, say, a pair of slacks that are baggy in the waist when you have to whip out the most perfect green wallet ever to do so.

The wallet inadvertently pushed me to wanting other perfect things. However, I had to find a way to outwit my natural tendency to jump on good sales regardless of good sense (and, let's be honest, it's very hard for most people to afford perfect things if you aren't strategic with your purchases).

And so, an internal dialogue was born (one my friends have become pretty familiar with, as it tends to become external dialogue I hassle them with every time we go shopping together... you guys know I only hassle out of love, right?): "Yeah, but do you really love it?"

For example:

Me: "Wow, this grey sweater feels awesome... plus it's 40% off!"
Sensible me: "Yeah, but do you really love it?"
Me: "Well... the fabric is fantastic, but I'm not completely sold on the neckline, and I'm trying to avoid wearing grey..."

See. "Do you really love it?" plants fantastic seeds of doubt unless you're 100% sold on the item. As long as you can make a commitment to be totally honest with yourself when you ask the question, then you can be assured that nothing comes home that you aren't delighted to have. And if you're spending less money on things you don't use a lot, then you can reallocate that money to things you're going to want to use all the time (or, alternately, other things like travel or a car or... well, if you become overwhelmed with a sense of fiscal responsibilities there's always your crippling student debt, home loan, or retirement savings. You could pay my student loans if you're running out of responsible categories... *sigh*).

So you save money (well, in my case you reallocate that money and spend it on fewer, but higher quality things, but that's a topic worthy of its own blog entry), but that's not all You also save space in your home (no more trying to find space for yet another t-shirt you'll never wear), make getting dressed easier (no more weeding through your closet trying to find something to wear that you dislike the least), and have home decor that actually works together (no more uncomfy office chair that doesn't match your ugly couch).

What's not to love? I'll be honest, it'll feel godawful awful for awhile when you start. If you're anything like me you'll likely be seized with crippling anxiety at first for fear that you're leaving behind something fantastic... but after awhile you realize that if you rejected the item because you didn't 100% love it, then you don't end up missing it... if you even remember a week later that the item existed (this will happen. A lot).

Trust me, the anxiety lessens.

Eventually one day you'll look in your closet and realize everything in it brings you obscene amounts of joy. I'll tell you, it's worth the nausea-inducing stress you originally felt at the start (oh... the nausea... it's horrifying!).

When you just want one part of a set

Friday I was out perusing the mall and by pure accident I bumped into this:

Ah pouch... I'll find you yet!

Yeah, so the makeup set is nice and all, but it's not like I really need more eye shadow right now. No... what caught my eye was the little Milly pouch the set came with. While first and foremost I'm completely obsessed with Kate Spade stuff, my interest in Milly comes following not so far behind. My weakness for retro clothing lines knows no end!

So the dilemma: do I leave behind a completely enchanting pouch or do I spend $45 (plus tax) on makeup I don't need just so I can get my paws on a freakishly adorable pouch?

Thankfully, my fiscally responsible side won out and I left the store with no pouch... which, of course, I still felt pretty pouty about. Then I remembered... people get those "gift with purchase" makeup bags and such all the time, so every person like me who wanted the pouch but not the makeup there's likely also a person who liked the makeup set but was indifferent to the pouch... and since the pouch was name brand there was always a chance someone might be selling it on eBay.

Ah eBay. So different from those early days of people just selling random stuff, yet still occasionally useful. The site is infested with professional sellers and counterfeit goods, but there's still some good deals there in certain cases. Lucky for me, there were quite a few Milly for Clinique bags available for a song. Alas, not the exact pouch that first caught my eye, but some other great designs that included a different pouch in the same fabric.

In the end I picked up several makeup bags for a few bucks each... way cheaper than buying the makeup set I originally saw.

Moral of the story: if there's something in a set that you're keen on, check on eBay or other auction/classifieds sites before you blow a metric ton of money on a bunch of stuff you don't actually care about just to get one or two things you're lusting after.

Alternate moral: if there's a set of something that you only want a part of, buy the set and put the stuff you don't want up on eBay for someone else to pay for. Goodness knows I might thank you for it.