June Purchases

This was a very busy month for me, with my birthday and an internship. I had quite an urge to go shopping, and I did go to the mall one day this month with my mom to do some birthday shopping- I have to admit it felt really good to spend money, it felt cathartic to pull my debit card out and buy a few things. This has always been one of my main reasons for shopping, that it felt relaxing and fun. I'm not sure what to do about that except maybe find something else to replace it that doesn't involve spending money.

THIS MONTH I TOSSED: 
2x sweaters
2x button up shirts
2x shirts
1 pair of shoes

One of the only reasons I haven't gotten rid of more this month was just because of how busy I was. The month of July looks like there will be a lot of wardrobe-related tackling issues happening, including tossing some stuff and (hopefully) creating a capsule wardrobe.

Here are my purchases for the month of June:

• ZARA Leopard Attitude Sweater - I saw this sweater on the website back in January and it sold out almost immediately. I searched in every store, on Ebay, and couldn't find it. Last week when I saw it on the rack in the store I almost screamed! plus, it was marked down from $50 to $20 AND I used a birthday gift card to pay for it! I know that it isn't really something I 'need', but I know I will love it.
 

• H&M Grey Slouchy Leopard Sweater - I absolutely love this sweater and I've already worn it twice since I bought it last week. I know for a fact it will be a favorite this fall when the weather cools down.

• ASOS Pink Burnout Baseball T-Shirt - I had been searching for a slouchy soft baseball t-shirt for awhile and found this one on ASOS on sale. It's super cute and really easy to just throw on with some jeans.

• Joe Fresh Cream Crochet Skirt - I had been pining over this skirt for over a month, hoping it would go on sale. It finally got marked down from $45 to $29 and I snatched it up. It's exactly what I wanted when I talked about getting a sweet chic skirt or dress back in this post- so happy I found it!

• Smart Set Black & White Skirt - This is a amazing work appropriate skirt and I found it at Smart Set on sale for only $14.99, quite a steal if I must say. I think my goal at the moment in terms of work clothing is just to add a few very basic pieces to my wardrobe; as right now I don't have a job to wear it to but they are great to have on hand for interviews or anything that comes up.

• ASOS Leather Chelsea Boots - I have been wanting some flat chelsea boots for awhile, and these ones from ASOS were $120 marked down to $75 so I'm happy with that deal. I'm going to have to wait until it gets a bit cooler to wear them but I think they will become a staple for sure.

I'm happy that everything I bought this month was on sale (not included the H&M sweater, which was only $25). I think my focus for July is going to be working on maintaining & improving the wardrobe I currently have, as well as checking out a few thrift/vintage stores to see if I can find some good deals on a cute dress or two. I also really want to list a bunch of clothes on Ebay to sell; I have been meaning to do that for awhile.

For my birthday my mom bought me this cute skull necklace from Blue Ruby and earrings from The Bay; I love them both! They are so me.

Halfway Point

It has been 6 months since I began my journey of moving away from fast fashion, curating my closet and enjoying the clothing that I have, so I thought it would be a good time to post a bit of a reflection on how it's gone so far.

I feel like I've finally hit on a bit of a turning point; the past few months I have been saying NO to clothes and I haven't been impulse shopping like I used to. When I've gone into H&M I've picked things up and put them away after really considering them- I think about how I'm going to feel adding them into my already full closet, and it doesn't make me feel good. I have been passing over garments that were almost what I wanted, but not quite. Old me would have bought them anyway and then bought the actual perfect item later on, had it come up. I feel that I must have a fear of missing out in terms of clothing- I'm afraid of letting that just okay item get away in case I never find the really amazing piece that I want. And I'm becoming okay with that- if it isn't perfect, why add it to my wardrobe?

When I look at my clothes I'm slowly seeing a cohesive LOOK emerge; I'm itching to go through and get rid of pieces that don't fit the image I want to project. In keeping with this I plan to go through my wardrobe and pull out the things that don't fit with 'THAT GIRL' I want to be- I'm considering doing the 333 challenge, but for now I just want to really focus on those pieces of clothing that scream "ME", and see where that takes me. Basically I will be re-doing Step 2 of A Pair and a Spare's post "Wardrobe Rehab"; 'Define Your Style' which I did in an earlier post about, using photos from Pinterest as examples.

I also plan on going through all of my purchases for the first half of the year (as a few other bloggers have done) and rating them based on how many wears they have gotten and if they were a good purchase. I haven't kept track of specific wears, but I have a general idea about how much I've worn something and how into it I've been.

I am excited to see how the rest of the year goes!

What I Wore in May

This month I decided to get back into the habit of regularly snapping photos of my outfits before I head out- I think I was annoyed at having to post them every few days, but compiling them by the month is much more manageable!

You can see below I definitely have a uniform- skinny jeans, skinny jeans, skinny jeans all the way! I really tried to make an effort to wear skirts & dresses a bit this month as the weather was getting warmer. When I showed up to my boyfriends house in my floral F21 dress he mentioned that I was 'all dressed up'; this was dismaying as I used to dress like this quite often in the past, but since I've gotten lazy and have been wearing jeans more often than not, even casual skirts and dresses are looking 'dressy' on me! This really tells me I need to make skirts and dresses a more regular part of my wardrobe again.

Striped Shirt: Max Studio from Marshalls, Black Skinny Jeans: Urban Planet, Leopard Print Slip-Ons: Steve Madden, Grey Scarf: random mall store

 Leather Jacket: Viparo, Dress: H&M, Pink Flats: Madden Girl from Marshalls

Leather Jacket: Viparo, Striped Top: Max Studio from Marshalls, Pink Skinny Jeans: Dollhouse from Value Village, Leopard Print Slip-ons: Steve Madden

Leather Jacket: Viparo, Leopard Print Sweater: F21 from the men's section, Jeans: Urban Planet, Knee High Boots: F21

 Leather Jacket: Viparo, Leopard Print Blouse: Vintage from a Flea Market Sale, Jeans: Urban Planet, Ballet Flats: Wal-Mart

  

Sheer Floral Blouse: Value Village, Jeans: Urban Planet, Shoes: Wal-Mart

Floral Dress: Forever 21, Cardigan: H&M, Boots: Forever 21, Tights: Target

Cropped Denim Jacket: Forever 21, Fit n' Flare Dress: Old Navy, Ballet Flats: Madden Girl from Marshalls, Purse: Sole Society

 

Fuchsia Cardigan: H&M, Striped Tank: Joe Fresh, Skirt: H&M, Tights: Target, Ballet Flats: Wal-Mart

 

Suede Moto Jacket: Bershka from Ebay, T-shirt: Cheap Monday, Skirt: H&M, Ballet Flats: Wal-Mart

 

Suede Moto Jacket: Bershka from Ebay, T-shirt: Max Studio from Marshalls, Shorts: Joe Fresh, Purse: Sole Society, Flats: Wal-Mart

May Purchases

This month has just flown by, I didn't get around to doing any posts because I was crazy busy! Overall I would say this month has been my most successful yet- I rarely did any online shopping, in fact I didn't end up buying a single thing online this month! I also did a variation on the 'Clothing Swap' idea with my friend, in which we invited people over to her place to take all of our stuff. Not very many people showed, but I managed to get rid of a huuuge amount of stuff! The majority of this stuff was not on my Closet Inventory list but things I had had piled up for ages. Nice to finally have it all gone.

In terms of things I had hanging up in my closet at the beginning of the month that have now been tossed/donated: I tossed 16 scarves and kept 33. Just a note that when my Grandmother passed away I inherited about 25 of her scarves, a few of which I got rid of. Even though I don't really know if they will ever come in handy to wear, the ones I kept are really pretty and I don't mind holding onto them for awhile. I also tossed a pair of Joe Fresh dress pants that were too short, and a faux-leather Moto Jacket from Buffalo by David Bitton that is too big for me.

There may actually be a few other things that made their way from my closet to the clothing giveaway party, I will have to do an updated Closet Inventory at some point soon!

Now for the fun stuff: my May Purchases.

• Max Studio Striped T-Shirt and W118 by Walter Baker Leopard Blouse from Marshalls - I have been wearing this Max Studio shirt ALL MONTH. Just try getting it off of me! It's the kind of perfect slouchy tee I see often online, but is just a bit too expensive to justify the purchase. The leopard blouse is great as work wear or for a dressy event. Both of these tops were originally around $65 and were marked down to $20.

• Express Columnist Slim Dress Pants - I absolutely love these dress pants! I didn't have any that fit me properly, and I wanted to make sure I had a good pair if a job interview or similar occasion came up. I went on a 40% off day and got them for about $50.00 which is well worth it in my opinion. I can't wait until I have a chance to wear them.

• Old Navy Pink Sueded Heels - These were definitely an impulse buy. But it gives me more reason to start wearing heels more often again!

• NYGARD Black Label Cropped Pink Pants from Target - These pants were on sale for less than $20 and I thought they would be a great buy for any future dressy/casual events.

The only reason I ended up buying the heels from Old Navy or the cropped dress pants from Target was because I was out with my boyfriend running some errands, along with exchanging a shirt for him at Old Navy that I got him for his birthday (he barely has any clothes), which tells me that a lot of the time I buy things on impulse and without any planning. Sometimes that's okay and you end up walking away with some nice stuff- but I know that I need to be careful and not let my need for instant gratification get away with me.

I'm really happy with everything that I bought- it's great that everything is pink, black, white or some variation. I feel like I'm really honing in my purchasing and not going off target to styles that are way outside of what I wear day to day.

• At the Clothing Giveaway with my friend I procured: F21 Floral Crop top, F21 Cream Jeweled Blouse, Cropped Cream Cardigan, and a light brown Infinity Scarf - I have definitely been trying to stay away from Forever 21 as much as possible (and I've been doing a great job of it I think!) but I didn't mind picking up these few items for free. And if I change my mind, I won't have any guilt about bringing them to the thrift store. I've been wanting a few more cardigans and I wasn't sure if this one would work into my wardrobe, but it looks cute on so I thought I would give it a try.

April Instagram

Woohoo, I think I met my goal of instagramming at least 3 times a week! Here are just a few of my faves from April.

Follow me on Instagrammmm!

Summer, summer, summertime

Summer is fast approaching and I have been thinking about what I have, and what holes need to be filled in my summer wardrobe.

TOPS

What I Have: Lots of graphic tees. A bunch of tank tops, both fitted and flowy. I've got a few good cardigans.

What I Want: I would like a few more casual blouses; one of these will be the giant Hawaiian shirt I plan on DIY-ing into a cute summer top. I would also like a loose/casual button down shirt in linen or cotton, and anything with stripes! I've also been looking for a nice light open-knit sweater or cardigan over the past few years and haven't found anything I've liked. I'll keep searching.

BOTTOMS

What I Have: I have plenty of skirts that I really need to make a priority of wearing this summer. I have one great pair of pink shorts that I love that I bought at Joe Fresh last year, and I have a pair of capri's from yeeeaaars ago.

What I Want: I mentioned in a previous post that I wanted to hem my black & white leopard print shorts, that is a project I need to get going on. I would also like to get another pair of capri's as I only have one right now. I would also like to find a pair of black & white printed shorts to add a bit of visual interest to a simple tanktop/shorts outfit combo. After talking about my love of mixing up tough/chic looks in a prior blog post, I would love to find a cute eyelet or lace skirt to mix into my wardrobe. I will probably search thrift stores and the mall for this one.

DRESSES

What I Have: I have a handful for Forever 21 dresses which are okay, but they are really too short for me- I plan on phasing most of them out of my wardrobe in the future.

What I Want: I don't feel like I have any amazing workhorse dresses in my wardrobe- I mainly feel kind of meh about them. I would like a couple more summery dresses in a fit n' flare style that show my shape- I find that dresses like these are typically very flattering on me, which is frustrating since I am constantly drawn to oversize tent/smock dresses! Related to my wanting to find a cute skirt, I would love to find a pretty lace/eyelet/crochet summer dress to wear with a moto jacket.

OUTERWEAR

What I have: I have plenty of denim jackets, a rain jacket, and moto jackets so I really don't need anything else!

ACCESSORIES

What I Have: I have at least four or five pairs of ballet flats so I won't need to buy any more this year.

What I Want: I really need another pair of casual flat sandals- the one pair I have right now actually broke last summer. I managed to superglue them back together, but I'm not totally certain they will stay that way for long!

 My Priorities are:

• a pair of sandals
• a sweet/chic skirt or dress
• a few thrifted summer dresses
• my summer DIY projects

April Purchases

April was an interesting month. It was great in the fact that for the majority of it I did not feel compelled to shop, I didn't slowly drive myself crazy trying to tear myself away from online shopping. In fact I hardly went on my two favorite online shopping websites- Forever 21 and ASOS- at all this month. April was my first month out of school, and I finally had time to start going through my wardrobe, culling a few things, and that energized me. I hope to continue this through May. I still want to cut down on the amount of things I'm buying each month, so that will be something to work on in May.

• Joe Fresh slouchy crewneck tanks (1 b&w stripes, 1 black) & black cuffed shorts - I only have 3 other pairs of shorts and none in black so I was happy to find these ones! The 2 tanks were a bit of an impulse, but they have already gotten quite a bit of wear this month already so I think they were a good purchase.

• Forever 21 cropped tanks (in black, grey) - these are the perfect cropped tanks for layering under billowy/sheer summer shirts and tank tops. I've been in need of something like this for the past 2 years, and these two were only $6 each so I am pretty happy with them.

• ASOS Oversize Baseball Dress - I had been watching this dress for a few months and it finally went on sale, so I bought it.

•  From VALUE VILLAGE: H&M pink dress, H&M striped sweater dress, Gap b&w striped dress, Dollhouse pink skinny jeans - I went to Value Village twice in April to help someone do costuming for a high school show, and ended up finding these pieces for myself. I'm really happy with all of them, especially to find 2 spring/summer dresses. I generally don't like the buy out of season but the sweater dress was a steal at $15 and I know I will be wearing it a bunch next fall.

•  I was gifted 2 leopard scarves! People know how much I love leopard! Related to that I will be going through my scarves soon to remove some I don't need anymore and make room for these two.