Monday, December 20, 2010

A new lease of life

As I mentioned in a previous post I have taken it upon myself not to buy any 'new' items of clothing for a whole year (with the exception of socks and underwear).  I decided that I was spending too much money on cheaply made but expensively priced clothing that I could only get a short period of use out of before I had to throw them away.  Christmas shopping at the mall has been quite a test of temptations but I am happy to report that so far I have only been buying for others!  However it did get me to thinking about all those items that I have at home and haven't been wearing because they a) need to be repaired or b) need to altered to fit better.  Back in the day people only had a couple of pairs of (well made) shoes and if they got damaged they weren't just thrown in the dump and replaced, they were taken to a cobbler and repaired!  I managed to find at least 3 or 4 pairs of shoes that I would love to wear again.

 The heel bit needs replacing on these lovely ladies.



The front needs to be stitched up on these so I don't get wet toes!

And some are just shoes I have been lugging around with me for way too many years because I never got around to wearing them in.  I bought these black Mary Jane's 12 years ago in Paris and never worn them yet haven't had the heart to get rid of them either!

Basically I have come to the realisation that I am incredibly spoilt and want for things I absolutely don't need.  I have a wardrobe full of beautiful things and yet I still manage to convince myself that I need something else.  If ONLY I had that skirt my whole life would change... yeah right!
x

5 comments:

  1. You're so right! It's amazing how much money you can save by buying used clothes and shoes. Shoe repair is a dying art but there are still places out there that can fix sad shoes. My husband does leather work so he fixes all of my shoes and what-not for me! :)

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  2. That's a good thing! I buy too much (fortunately mostly vintage or second hand, but still)... And I actually have been thinking of trying something like that next year, too. Put a money limit on how much I'm allowed to buy in a month (like 50€ and if I want something more expensive I have to sell something or save from another month) and perhaps a little higher in the beginning of a new season, because then you might need a little more (see, I'm already losing it up a little, heh)...

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  3. I think its just inbuilt that as a woman, you always 'just see' something else that you want. I am the same, I have too much (even though it is mainly all 2nd hand), but still - wherever it comes from, its too much! A good challange for the new year and you should definetely repair those beautiful red shoes!

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  4. I need to take better care of my clothes too. I have an enormous bag of repairs waiting to go to the shoe shop and dry cleaners!

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  5. Ha ha well I'm certainly glad to hear that I am not alone with this problem!

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