Inside Job

Y’all know I’m a fairly organized woman. I love categories, loathe clutter and I’m possessed to make things streamlined a) in a wasted effort to control the world and b) because I secretly want everything to be perfect and lovely like the inside of a design magazine.

You can see how this might backfire continually given that I live with other human beings who don’t necessarily believe it is a punishable offense to touch walls or pin up posters of Selena Gomez all over the freakin’ place. (I know, I know. The crosses I bear.)

This is a long, vaguely off-point preamble leading you to the substance of this post: my latest realization that, seriously, I must shop my closet – not because of the recession (which I am very concerned about, naturally, but entirely sick of discussing), but because it is neither disorganized nor lacking for fabulous pieces. And yet, somehow I manage to repurchase the same freakin’ sweater every year. Go figure.

We read a lot of posts advising us to organize ourselves for maximum efficiency. They are particularly prevalent at this time of year. I’ve been looking them over and appreciating their content and thinking good point and see how much better that is all fixed up. I’ve been rather occupied by work stresses lately and by the new school year (as a parent) and by the latest renovation thing I have going on in my house (a continuation of the plaster work that started this spring). Lord knows, I have neither time nor extra disposable funds to apply to new bits and baubles.

What is it with me and the neither/nor thing today?

Savvy bloggers advise that we should organize because, in the absence of clarity, we are likely to wear the same thing all the time. Also, there’s potentially tons of crap, going unused, taking up valuable real estate and masquerading as stuff you might one day wear again, . Here’s the thing, I love everything I buy (even if, a few years after purchase, my tastes change) and I’m not a crap-keeper. You look in my closets – ok I have encroached upon M’s but she will be the beneficiary someday! – and things are neatly folded according to colour and denier and time of year. How is it that I still manage to wear the same 6 pairs of jeans and 8 tops (with a few little jackets thrown in for good measure)?

I look at Sal and Wendy and Jennine (to name but a few) and I’m blown away by their creativity. Seriously, you seen a Sal photo post lately? That woman has shoes for everything. And she wears them!

It occurs to me that this is not rocket science. I have clothes. I bought them with the same sassy taste I apply to my day to day dressing. I routinely read lots of magazines and blogs. I have a good eye and I’m nervy. What’s the problem? Fatigue? Apathy? Laziness??

Here’s what I’ve decided (but don’t hold me to it – in addition to the qualities listed above, I’m wishy-washy):

• Every week, I’m going to come up with one new way of styling the same old stuff .
• I’m also going to wear one thing not currently in circulation, even if it means I have to move the stuff on the far side to the middle (and mess up my colour progression).
• If I can’t find a use for that, ahem, crazy – if fantastic - item x I bought with the understanding I’d wear it semi-regularly, I’m going to put it up for sale on Laws of General Economy (though that is quite a time-suck, though a worthy one) or give it to a friend or put it on the front lawn for trawlers.

Who’s with me? Do you think your life might be enriched by a small, creative kick in the ass?

Savings and Rant

I'm on this "egad my Visa bill arrived and it's high - like on drugs (and bucks) - so I'm never going to spend any money again or until next month, whichever comes first" kick.

You know, a month is a long time.

Some efforts I've been making:

• Bringing certain foods from home to supplement the breakfast and lunch I buy at work. Yes, I know, it's financial suicide buying your breakfast and lunch, but it's the way I (harried working householder and mother) get out my door every morning with time to walk to work. And I do have strategies for buying v healthy and less $$ lunches. Gist is, I've cut my daily food budget in half for the foreseeable future. And while that isn't cold turkey (hahaha - get it?), it's an adequate start in my books.

• Not buying discretionary items: No checking out that new B Brown gel eyeliner till the restriction lifts, using my "no longer fave but still in the medicine cabinet" face products because the fab ones have run out recently, avoiding the cheese boutique with the awesome imported things from Italy.

• Not going out for dinners out (at least not $ ones)... Friday night restaurants with friends will be replaced by at home dining with friends. It's a lot more work but the food is generally better. And the atmosphere rocks.

So, I've been going along like this for a while - a few days now - and it's good. I'm one of those people who likes to spend up to a delicate tipping point (until she feels like she's losing sight of the financial picture) and then pulls it back from the edge. I think of myself as someone who spends hard and then saves hard (oh, who are we kidding, maintains the accounts as they must be maintained hard) but when I look at some of my blog friends (Enc, Sal) I recognize that my hallmark is not doing anything particularly extreme. In as much as I will retreat from the spend, I don't like to give it all up.

Intriguingly, that's my approach to eating too...

Soon, you're going to see a post in which I show you a great lunch I bought (fear not, it's a take out salad) and a new item of clothing. I'm not on a ban, as I've advised, though even if I were, it wouldn't make me an evil failure to buy when I'm trying not to. I carefully weighed the implications of each purchase, and I am entirely comfortable with the cost to benefit ratio. I paid cash and I will consider foregoing something else for the pleasure of having purchased these things.

I mention this, in part, because I've been stunned to learn that my blog friends who have undertaken the "long term ban" methodology - a worthy and challenging one indeed - have been occasionally harangued in commentary for having "admitted to" their lapses.

That blows my mind. I mean, I love hearing about the exploits of others - the fun challenges to which they subject themselves, the lessons they learn, the wisdom they can impart. It's how I live a whole bunch of experiences without having to go there myself! I like to think a couple of you may do the same when hearing about my trip to Mtl or cooking a new meal. (And might I say that I am blessed in that, to date, my every commenter has been lovely and positive.)

What I can't imagine is anyone offering up judgment and criticism to someone who's been open enough to share his or her methodology. It's pissing me off.

I suspect that hundreds of people have found subtle (if not gross) ways to reconsider and amend their acquisition habits for having read the "shopping ban bloggers". That's a public service peeps. These are real people with real lives, not paper doll role models.

That's the problem with being good. People judge you every time.

Phew.

That Club Monaco cherry red dress looks rather drab on me. (Shortens the waist, thickens the hips.) My wallet is soooo relieved.

PS: Once again I feel liberated from the shackles of "the purchase". You see, all the fun in this was in the browse, the touch, the observation. Hmmmm. We all know Enc is onto something. I'm just finding it such a challenge to carve out my own path of conscious consumerism.

Why Do You Shop?

Yesterday's post was inspired by this idea that's been tumbling around my brain for a while...

As you know, I don't have all the space in the world and I don't have a trust fund. I don't work at a fashion magazine or a sexy agency. I do not own a gallery. People don't pay me to dress stylishly. So why do I shop so frequently? More to the point, why do I buy?

Of course, the answer isn't simple. (Arguably the question isn't either.) I shop because I love the activity. You know how some people knit. That's how I shop. It's not some mindless function for me. It's a creative undertaking, a perfect form of mood alteration, a social occasion. Not unlike a fine meal or yoga or sex.

I shop because I enjoy observing beautiful things in their natural habitat. That stripey nautical T in it's spot at Club Monaco. That perfect snakeskin bag at Apt. 909. These items exist so harmoniously with their appealing surroundings that I can't help but to want to experience them for myself. And then, what starts as a theory, when it looks right on me, becomes utterly compelling. Come on, you know that feeling. There's nothing like becoming one with something new (especially if it had another life before you).

Vintage is perhaps the most appealing, not only because of its general pricepoint, but because it's like that badass boyfriend who took all those drugs and fucked those other girls before you. It's lived a life, you know. It was there a long time ago and it will likely outlive you and that is powerful shit.

So that's part of why I shop - who can even quantify the full landscape of reasons - but why do I buy? As people have suggested to me (and to themselves, I'm sure), why not look and touch and try and then walk away? Well, peeps, believe it or not, how much I shop is a testimony to how much I walk away - if this makes any sense at all. I frequently walk. I always buy less than I want. And sometimes that sadness for the objet that got away trails me for miles like a stray leaf caught in the breeze.

Which is why I love shopping with and for others. I am thrilled to search out beauty on behalf of someone else. Occasionally, it even blinds me to the gorgeous things I'd like for myself and I have a true "cake eating" experience. All the creativity, the opportunity to perform a service, a chance to observe someone grow in confidence with lovely new purchases, all on someone else's dime. I know, the selflessness :-)

I'm curious to know why you shop. Do you think you have a "problem" or are you a collector? Do you curate the pieces, treat them with the love and respect they deserve or are they, eventually, creative clutter at the bottom of your drawer? Please share your thoughts...