I had booked my first session and decided to start with the closet purge. I wanted to show her what I already had an wanted her opinion on the best value items to add some quality and versatility to my wardrobe. My first session started with a
free 30-minute image consultation where I went through a binder of magazine
images and showed her what I really liked, and what really wasn’t part of my
desired look. She also got information on my lifestyle, habits, and budget.
Next, she went through my wardrobe and helped me identify
what was no longer worth keeping, what was great, and what was great with revamped
sizing from the tailor. She complimented me on my jeans and my shoe collection,
and luckily saw very little need there, so our budget was going to be better
used towards those tee shirts I’d been hunting for and accessories. She worked
really fast and efficiently, even despite sneezing attacks because I hadn’t vacuumed
my closet and there was definitely some dust. I was trying clothes on left and
right and was happy to have someone help me purge stuff that really didn’t make
me feel or look good.
About 60% of what we kept needed to be tailored. I had lost
weight over the prior years, which was a good problem to have, but meant a lot
of my clothes looked pretty unprofessional or sloppy on me.
First session was $187.00 – ~1.5 hours of closet purging.
After that, every time I looked at my closet I felt like I could breathe – it
wasn’t packed to the brim with stuff I had been carrying around with college.
It looked like it had been cleansed and was beginning to look well-curated. I
had an easier time putting together new outfits, even with significantly less
clothes as I hadn’t even been to the tailor, yet!
One week later I was at her recommended tailor. The tailor
was so sweet and showed me multiple ways to alter much of the clothing. She
would recommend this way or that, and tell me the different pricing options available.
She was also quick to recommend the cheaper way of doing things, which I
appreciated. I’ve never been one for salesy people.
I had 10 pants, 3 skirts, 1 top, 1 sweater, and 1 dress
significantly tailored. Some items needed tailoring in multiple ways (hemmed,
pockets sewn shut, waist taken in, thighs taken in, and so on). Grand total -
$267.00.
Phew! I was started to get nervous! This was a lot of money!
To gather some data on my past spending for reference, I
consulted Mint.com which had been tracking my credit cards and back accounts
for 4 years. I learned that in 2012 I spent $3,265.25 on clothing in the prior
year. Say what?!? How is that the case? I do not earn much money as a
Psychology PhD student, so I really was floored by that amount. So, I went
through the individual transactions, and to be fair, there was money spent on
gifts and underwear and things you wouldn’t consider part of one’s “wardrobe”.
So, let’s be conservative and take $1000 away for those categories – still!!
$2,265 in 1 year on a wardrobe that I wasn’t happy about? What in the world was
happening? I was really wasting money on purchases I wasn’t pleased with. At
least in 2012. No more of that. I was going to be really thoughtful and get joy
out of my purchases, but to do that, I needed some expert assistance.
So, I had the tailor experience and a fully revamped
wardrobe with great pieces that fit beautifully. A lot of the pieces I got
tailored I had bought on a steep discount at sample sales or during college (~5
years ago) when I worked in retail, so paying $20 to breathe new life into a
pair of trousers still didn’t make it an expensive item over its lifetime.
My goal was not to use a personal stylist for the rest of my
life. The stylist was a lovely person and I loved working with her, but I
wanted to develop the skills to shop on my own. But having seen that I was
capable of draining thousands of dollars on things that really didn’t satisfy
me, I was ready to outsource this skill and learn from an expert.
So, costs so far -
$454.
Stylist fee, tailor fee
Ok, stay with me. I know I've talked a lot about getting rid of stuff and paying lots of money. More good stuff is to come... ;)
To be continued...
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