STYLE Savvy: Setting Some Guidelines

Lisa Hess tries to decide if an old indulgence is past its prime.

Right around the time my daughter left for college, I ordered a clothing subscription box. While clothing on my doorstep wouldn't fill the massive silence that emerged in the wake of the departure of an 18-year-old, it did make me smile. And it was fun trying everything on.

Eight years later, I'm still subscribing. I've swapped the first company for another one, and I still love getting that box of clothes on my doorstep.

Lately, I've been rethinking this plan, and toying with the idea of unsubscribing. Not only is my closet full, but my dresses and jackets have taken over the closet in my now young-adult daughter's old bedroom. (To be fair, I've had most of these clothes for over a year and some of them for much, much longer. And these are small closets in a 1950s-era house). 

Rationalizations? I prefer to think of it as putting things into perspective.

Still, I don't need new clothes. Even worse, I know my affinity for these boxes is contributing to the excessive waste that runs rampant in the fashion industry (not to mention enlarging my carbon footprint thanks to that oh-so-convenient free shipping).

But adding a new piece here and there is fun. Plus, I like getting them delivered — it's like a little gift on my doorstep. 

Fun or not, I knew it was time to do some reckoning when I accidentally purchased the same sweater a second time. Even worse, the original purchase hung in my closet with the tags still on it! In my defense, I thought the sweater looked familiar, but when I checked my closet, I didn't see its twin.

Another red flag.

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To keep or to drop?

Spoiler alert: I'm not dropping the subscription. But I am establishing a few rules. 

1. One box per month. They love to tempt me with an additional offering at the end of the checkout process. I need to say no (and I usually do).

2. Judicious purchases. What this means has changed over time but given my current clothing situation, the following rules apply:

It's different from what I already have. There are possible exceptions to this rule (staples like black pants or neutral tops), but they should be just that: exceptions.

The item fills a "hole" in my wardrobe (a sweater that matches those pants that nothing else matches, for example) or replaces something worn.

I feel great in it. It doesn't just fit, it flatters. It's soft with no itchy tags. It moves when I do. I can imagine myself wearing it all day. Comfortably.

The price is right. The last box had a pair of pants I loved that fit me better than almost anything else in my closet, but they were twice the price I usually pay. It was hard to pass, but a few minutes of thinking about what else I could do with that money did the trick.

3. Practice one in/one out whenever possible. The last box had a plum blouse with a scalloped neckline that fit perfectly, including sleeves that hit at the wrist without needing to be rolled up (a serious fashion win when you're five feet tall). But ... didn't I already have a blouse that was similar in color? I checked the closet, found the blouse, and tried it on. Not nearly as flattering. Keep the new one, donate the old one (which was purple, not plum, for you color fashionistas out there).

If you think these sound like logical guidelines I should have set at the beginning, you're right. Those first boxes were like free play — all exploration and no rules — because I was all about a surprise that made me smile.

But times have changed, so my habits need to change as well.

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Easy upkeep

If you're wondering what any of this has to do with organizing, it all ties back to the E in STYLE: Easy Upkeep. If we keep purchasing things — even necessary things — with no regard for where we're going to put them or how much space we have, upkeep quickly becomes anything but easy, which means the time to stop buying is before we overrun our homes with stuff that quickly becomes clutter that we have to somehow store and/or eliminate.

While none of us can single-handedly solve the issue of waste generated by an entire industry, we can minimize it in our own little corner of the world by making sure we know what we have before we make a purchase, making sure whatever we bring into our homes has somewhere to go, and storing our things in a way that makes sense so we can quickly find them when we need them.

It’s okay to indulge ourselves a little. We just need to make sure that, in the long run, the indulgence doesn’t cost us more time or money than we meant to spend.

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