The door in my wardrobe*

*the door not actually being there was a disappointment - but at least I was allowed to play with the clothes

//// 2010

Posted on | December 31, 2009 | 8 Comments

First things first: happy, happy New Year to you! May 2010 be good and exiting year for all of us!

Thank you for being here, reading and commenting. I think that a blog is not much without the readers. Your views are always appreciated and I’m extremely thankful for all the good reading that your blogs and the blogs I’ve found via yours provide. It is great to know you!

Then the new years promises. Nah, not really, but I actually like this rather artificial discontinuation point, and the idea of setting some sort of goals and plans for the future. So why not now?

Last autumn was not particularly easy time for me, I had some health problems that among other not so cool things broke my exercise routine. I think that I’ve got some sort of grip of them now, but I want to continue without medication from now on. So I really need to figure out how to exercise to help me feel well and actually be well. I will not make it a huge point in this blog, but I will lightly document how it is going, so occasional fitness project post or mention might follow.

And then the second one, more relevant to the content of this blog.

I have been saving the majority of my shopping money for sales times for a few years now and I’m quite happy to my last autumn success — I cut down almost all impulse clothes shopping in Zara and H&M and had decent amount of money to use in December. Still I think that I have shopped too much. This year I plan to shop significantly less — and better.

So the idea is that I will make my first serious purchase this year around May/June — I will save until then and try to use the whole sum to one or two investment pieces. And the same for winter sales time. The timetables can change if I get some opportunities to travel but the basic principle stays (although I think that I will prefer planned purchases from web instead of quick random browsing of stuff). In-between times I’m allowed to shop only necessities, in my case underwear, socks, tights and maybe leggings and t-shirts — the idea is not to stash these more, but replace items that have been worn out. I can make some limited second hand purchases — but just good and useful pieces with great price, I have to also make a list what to look from charity shops to make this more controlled. In addition to that I can do (knit and sew) stuff myself. But no high street shopping at all. No stashing DIY stuff.

Scary. But also somehow liberating, I have decided just to stop thinking about buying new stuff and concentrate on using the current wardrobe creatively — and there should be plenty of time and energy left to plan and execute some larger DIY projects. I have done similar thing once before — I had financially very challenging period in my life and I just cut out all clothes shopping — now my life situation is so different, actually I think that I will just breathe more freely after this decision.

I don’t even think that this will make blogging difficult. I have still lots of stuff in my wardrobe that has never been photographed here. I have always enjoyed the view to how other people cycle their wardrobe and make out new ideas how to make the favorites look fresh in different outfits. And then, I can probably dive deeper to DIY stuff in this blog, I’m thinking about sharing the projects from beginning.

Did you make any plans or promises for 2010?

And FYI: no, Bollinger did not sponsor this post, unfortunately :-D …

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Discussion

  1. sugar kane
    January 1st, 2010 @ 1:36 am

    Happy new year to you, your blog is such a treasure!

    Your new shopping strategy sounds very good, I think I might try something similar… Instead of promises for new year, I make resolutions. For 2010, mine are: Write a book (or two) and se Sonic Youth live. And you know, enjoy life a little more!

  2. Steff
    January 1st, 2010 @ 5:01 am

    Your shopping plan sounds fantastic. I might just join you. I kind of have to anyway with the amount of money I’ve spent with the dreaded credit card in the last couple of months.

    And I also had some bad luck the last few months of this year, which resulted in me breaking the good exercise habit I’d had during the beginning and middle of the year. So here’s to both of us being healthy and getting back on track!

    I think it’s an excellent idea to do some more DIY stuff on your blog, and to keep us updated on the progress of projects. I’ll read your blog no matter what you post!

    Oh, and my plan is to get some big sewing projects done, to do some writing, and to figure out what I’m doing career wise with my life. Big plans!

    Happy New Year!

  3. dust
    January 1st, 2010 @ 1:50 pm

    Happy New Year!
    I like your (no)shopping plan. The thing is, many times it turned out that making something myself costs less time than and effort that looking for particular item in the shops. I’m looking forward to see your DIY experiments, specially the knits.
    My health condition requires exercise, does making clothes count like one?

  4. Varpu
    January 1st, 2010 @ 3:17 pm

    Uudet vuodet sinnekin! Toivottavasti saat pidettyä lupauksesi. Pitäisipä itsenikin liikkua enemmän juurikin oman hyvinvoinnin kannalta, mutta en tiedä missä välissä sitä ehtisi.

    Shoppailusuunnitelmasi kuulostaa aika samankaltaiselta kuin omani, ei “high street” (mikä se on suomeksi??)-ostoksia eikä muutenkaan turhuuksia, niin välillä voi investoida johonkin laadukkaaseen, jota oikeasti tarvitsee/haluaa ja tulee käyttämään. Itseni pitäisi tehdä vielä kunnollinen vaatekaappi-inventaario niin tietäisi, että mitä sitä oikeastaan tarvitsee.

    Ja intoa DIY-juttuihin!

  5. Anu
    January 1st, 2010 @ 5:23 pm

    Hyvää uutta vuotta ja onnea suunnitelmallesi! Itselläni on ollut samanlainen projekti käynnissä jo pari vuotta (polkaisin sen käyntiin heti uuden vuoden jälkeen vuonna 2008) ja se on osoittautunut varsin palkitsevaksi. Olen kirjoitellut aiheesta blogiini jonkun verran, kategoriaan “ryhtiliike”.

  6. Anna
    January 1st, 2010 @ 9:17 pm

    HAPPY, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

    Mun uudenvuoden kulutuslupaus on hyvin samanlainen kuin sun, lyhykäisyydessään suurin piirtein: “hillitse mieltäsi kirppareilla, älä osta lainkaan high street –ketjuista. Ja hyödynnä paremmin jo olemassa olevaa.” (High street –hankinnoissa poikkeuksen säännöstä mulla tosin muodostavat h&m:n ns. designer-mallistot, joiden hinta-laatusuhteeseen olen ollut poikkeuksetta varsin tyytyväinen. Eli jos jotain sellaista tänäkin vuonna lanseerataan, ja ko. suunnittelija mua kiinnostaa, niin sellaisesta voin hankintoja kyllä tehdä.) Ja mä olen myös päättänyt, että pääasiassa säästän rahaa muutamaan suurempaan hankintaan sen sijaan että ostelisin koko ajan jotakin. Palaan näihin teemoihin varmasti vielä omalla tontillani. Hauska kuitenkin huomata, että muilla on saman suuntaisia aatoksia! :)

  7. annika
    January 1st, 2010 @ 10:48 pm

    I will for sure join in on you shopping plan, saving up for my trip to New York this autumn and go on a shopping bonanza there. I am terrible with my spending money and I shop far to much, and I am currently home with my 8 month old baby, meaning that I really don’t need all those clothes that I buy.
    The day before Christmas I bought a pair of boots for 400 euros that I will not be able to weare until spring. I always do that.
    So no more excess shopping for me in 2010, only stuff that I really, really need (not just want)

  8. Kamicha
    January 2nd, 2010 @ 2:02 pm

    Enjoying life a bit more sound something I should do, too.

    Jotenkin toivon, että H&M valitisi ensi syksylle jotain oman makuni kanssa yhteensopimatonta. Matthew Williamson ja Cavalli mallistot ohitin kokonaan (ok, Williamsonilta olisin voinut ottaa jonkun iloisen tunikan tai pareon, mutta hillitsin itseni kerrankin).

    High street kaipaisi kyllä tosiaan kunnon suomennusta. Tietysti voi puhua vaikka ketjumyymälöiden vaatteista, mutta onhan tuo vähän kömpelöä.

    Dust: no, it does not count — unless you make something like this: http://www.kerriesplace.co.uk/weblog/archives/brookieknit.jpg :-D

    New York… …ooOOoo…

What do you think?





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