Choosing Well

It's Day 6 of the Mindful Consumption Challenge. How are you doing so far? Only buying what's budgeted? What you need?
 

 

“My motto is ‘buy less, choose well, make it last.' You should wait until you really need something before you buy it. In fact, don't buy this collection.”
- Vivienne Westwood (Source)
 

Saturday while I was at Code Salon, I stumbled across the October issue of More magazine. Besides Salma Hayek's photo, an article, Declutter Your Closet to Find Your True Style, caught my attention. One of the tenets of the Mindful Consumer's Mantra is "I will end the year with either the same amount or fewer possessions than I started the year with." As my closet is stuffed this seemed like perfect timing. (You can read the article online here.)
 

My takeaway from Jennifer Braunschweiger's experiment? Choose well initially and revisit regularly. In addition to the traditional year-end sort of items into Keep, Fix, Donate, or Trash piles, wear everything in your Keep pile. While working your way through everything you decided to keep, refrain from making new purchases and only wear each item once.
 

 

Why wear everything in your Keep pile? Because there's a difference between how you feel about an item and how you feel in an item. Plus, there's an added benefit. At the end, you'll have a wardrobe you truly love. The exercise will also help you decide what's missing and what to budget for.
 

Yesterday I started the exercise of wearing everything labeled "Keep" in my closet. I'm pretty sure I have more than 25 days of outfits, so I have additional support for not exceeding this month's clothing budget or getting new things that I won't wear. I'll let you know how it goes.
 

Anyone else have any tips for being a mindful consumer?
 

Ciao Bella!

Eden

 

Credits: All layouts designed by and images taken by Eden Hensley Silverstein for The Road to the Good Life.