Building a Wardrobe Week 3: Making a Shopping List

Now you have (1) discovered the colors that show you off to your best advantage and (2) gone through your clothes to find the gaps in the wardrobe that fits your lifestyle. This week it is time to take those gaps and make a concrete shopping list to work from over the coming months.

Be honest with yourself when you create this list. Maybe you need a lot of things to build a decent wardrobe; maybe you need very few. Maybe you are tired of items you have from last year and want to freshen up your wardrobe by giving away old pieces and buying new ones. It is okay if your list seems too long or too short. You have a budget and you will stick to it, so you don’t need to feel badly about your list.

Make a list of EVERYTHING you need based on the gaps in your wardrobe and your lifestyle. EVERYTHING means clothes, shoes, jewelry, accessories, and even underwear. Don’t be too specific yet about style or color — you should do a little preliminary browsing first to decide what you like. I generally use Microsoft Excel for my wardrobe lists because I can add columns if I like to keep track of where I buy things, how much I paid, etc.

Now, divide your list into two: one of things you are willing to buy cheaply/secondhand/deeply discounted and one of the few things you are really picky about and on which you are willing to spend some extra $$$. This is the hard part. Only list a few things — maybe four or at most five.

For my part, I am in the market for two things that I am willing to spend extra money on: a new bathing suit and a new pair of amazing sandals. Everything else I am perfectly happy buying off the Goodwill or Value Village rack.

Happy listing!!!!!!