Fashion Kit

Shopping and finding great fashion buys is fun.  Selecting pieces and putting together a great outfit is fun{er}.  Performing maintenance on your clothes is fun{est} a chore that should not be ignored if you want to keep them looking good.    Putting together a Fashion Kit will help you keep all your tools handy and eliminate excuses for wearing that "cat hair" sweater to work.  Here are some items I keep together in a recycled travel bag:  

Stain Remover. A pack of wipes or pen because stuff happens.

Lint Brush or Mitt. No excuses for the yellow cat hair on your black sweater. Enough said.

Fuzz Buster. One of the best investments you can buy. Don’t get the little cute one, get a decent size one that can easily de-fuzz an entire garment.

Jewelry Wipes.  A quick shine for your gold and silver jewelry. If you use this and the gold or silver tone earrings are still a charcoal color, it may be time to retire them.

Magic Shine.  Put a shine back in your step.  Also works good on your leather and vinyl purses, briefcases, totes, etc.

Button Pins.   In case you haven't gotten around to sewing that button back on, a button pin is a quick and easy temporary fix.  If you wear that blouse a couple of more times with the button pin, you get a violation from the Fashion Cop.

Eyeglass Kit.  Keep those chic glasses intact.

Eyeglass Cloth.  Keep those chic glasses clean.

This is a good list of items to start with... and you can find most of them at the Dollar Tree for $1 (duh).

Did I miss a useful item?  Please share it!

Can I Afford It?

Can you really afford it?   Maybe. Have you read the definition of A Savvy Buyer? I want to reiterate an important aspect of the job… A Savvy Buyer has great communication skills and is not easily embarrassed to seek and ask for opportunities to buy an item for less. In other words SPEAK UP and don’t be shy to:

·   Tell the Store Associate to double check the sales price even if the line is to the back of the store—that’s not your issue. Your goal is how to make sure you’re paying the lowest possible price. Technically speaking, a Fashion Buyers can negotiate a price. A Savvy Buyer can probe and question a price. Same goal!

·   Tell the Store Associate to put the item(s) onhold for you. Ask for an additional day or two if you are shopping on a Saturday, it’s the last day to use the extra 30% coupon, your Closet Account balance is $0.00, and you get paid on Monday.

·   Tell the Store Associate to put the items in Layaway. I have my best shopping memories buying on layaway.

·   Tell your BFF, “I’m not buying that right now.”You can choose to give a reason or not. Isn’t it amazing how other people can spend your money on you faster than you can?

·   Tell yourself, “I can’t afford to buy this right now.” (unless of course, it’s a $4.99 sweater and $5.99 skirt and you skip the fancy coffee and/or meal deal you were planning to buy later. You’re Welcome! I just save you 1,500+ calories!!

·   Tell the Store Associate “no thanks” to a credit card offer for an additional (measly 10% off) savings, which you will easily repay with the interest payments. Refer back to Closet Account for tips on managing your money to buy clothes and accessories.

When it comes to fashion and clothes, we tend to focus more on what others think and impressing them. Paying $450 for a blouse by a designer whose name I can’t pronounce doesn’t make me look or feel any different or better, and as A Savvy Buyer, it’s not something I would brag about. As Suze Orman would so eloquently say, "Can I Afford It?" Not sure, ask Suze yourself!

Fashion First Aid

How many times have you pulled out a jacket only to find a missing button, loose helm, or tear?  You can extend and revive the life of your clothes and avoid fashion blunders with a Fashion First Aid Kit. 

A sewing kit is the obvious first aid essential and you may already have one.  Make sure it contains more than just primary colors of thread?  With all of your great fashion buys and colors, it would be tacky to replace a button with a different color thread.  Your Fashion First Aid Kit can include:

1. Sewing needles and thimble
2. Thread (beyond the primary colors)
3. Scissors
4. Snaps
5. Safety pins (various sizes)
6. Hooks and eyes
7. Elastic
8. Fusible web
9. Seam ripper
10. Pin cushion
11. Thimble
12. Needle Threader
13. Button safety pins
14. Tape measure
15. Standard, portable, or sewing hand-held machine

You could buy a stocked sewing kit or create your own.  I created my own so I could buy quality components like scissors, seam ripper, etc.,  that will last awhile.

If you work away from home, keep a mini Fashion First Aid Kit at the office. Stuff happens at work too, so you should have mini sewing kit for emergencies.

The Paint Department

You are probably wondering what does the paint department have to do with being A Savvy Buyer?  Simple, the paint department will help you make better buying decisions and organize your buying for maximum return.

Fashion Buyers have the luxury of going to fashion shows and getting actual samples and swatches to mull over before they make their final decisions.  As an alternative, you can use paint samples chips to help you coordinate and plan your purchases.

Whether you’re looking for new colors or colors to make an outfit “pop,” putting together a color reference tool is beneficial.  Your color guide can be made into the form of a color wheel, ring, board, or chart. 

I prefer using a color ring that I always keep with me.  I travel regularly, so I always have opportunities (after I take care of business) to hit my favorite stores and my color ring is a great reminder of what items I have and want by color.  So on the back of each color chip I create two columns, one for HAVE and the other for WANT and keep track by items (tunic, shrug, slacks, necklace, shoes, etc.).



A Sample Paint Chip From My Color Ring

You could never run out of colors to compare and mull over at the paint department.  My initial plan was to write the color on the back of the paint chips, but I learned that designers have named this color Blue Sapphire, CEN, Royal Blue... just to name a few.  I'll just stick to matching the color on the front.




 

Closet Account

How do you control your closet shopping? Do you have a budget? You know, that thing called a limit on how much you can afford to spend on clothes and accessories each pay day without having to eat Ramen noodles till the next pay day. Setting up a checking account with a debit card just for buying for your closet is a good way to control and manage your savvy buying and shopaholic ways.

Fashion Buyers have a budget to manage and are held accountable for being financially responsible. A Buyer wouldn’t last long if they constantly went over budget? They have to make some tough decisions on what to buy even if when there are soooo many cute clothes to choose from.
If you work for a company and have direct deposit, you can have a certain percent or specific dollar amount automatically deposited in your closet account every pay day. For birthdays, anniversaries, and special events, request cash to be deposited in your Closet Account. As A Savvy Buyer, you can get a lot more for your money than someone who buys you a gift (at MSRP) that winds up in your Regift bin.

Force yourself to spend only what you have budgeted for clothes & accessories. Save your big spending for end of season shopping (lowest prices).  Don’t succumb to pressure and debt if you really can’t afford to pay cash for an item-- especially another purse or pair of shoes you don’t really need.

Make a commitment to NOT use credit cards for your closet buys. Years later, you can still be paying for clothes you no long wear, have given away, or can't fit.

Open your Closet {Debit Card} Account and start shopping debt free!

Inventory 101

This should always be the first order of business for A Savvy Buyer.  But don’t just take inventory, organize and purge your closet on a regular basis (1 – 2 times a year). ?

Although it’s an expensive undertaking, most retailers go through a physical inventory of their entire store/ warehouse at least once a year, sometimes twice. It’s a process of manually counting all of the items in the store/ warehouse(s).  The goal?  To count every widget, find materials they can’t identify, and search for other materials that arrived in the store/warehouse and then disappeared.  Sounds familiar?  How many times have you said “what happened to my favorite you fill in the blank I brought last year?

I try to avoid stores that are designed in disarray because it’s a waste of precious shopping time.  Fashion Buyers wouldn’t invest time viewing items from a supplier/designer who's space is in disarray and can’t figure out what they have, how many, what color, etc. ?

Also, Fashion Buyers can’t make good buying decisions for a store if no one knows exactly what they they have and how many.    Neither can you— it’s a key task for A Savvy Buyer.  Your closet is your personal “boutique” and you are the Buyer.  So as A Savvy Buyer, you should maintain your Boutique like a well run store to maximize your return on investment.
 

Have you ever gotten irritated while shopping during inventory?  Or more irritated when the sales associates confirms that an item you want “should” be in the store because the computer shows they have three on hand.    It’s such an important process, that some businesses close during inventory or pay personnel a higher rate to have it done overnight.  As an incentive or punishment (depending on what motivates you) why don’t you make a promise to not buy another item until you purge and organize what you already have.  Here are three reasons why a physical inventory of your closet should be first order of business to becoming A Savvy Buyer:

1.  Save Money.  You save money by NOT shopping for and buying the same items you couldn’t find or forgot you had them. Fashion Buyers wouldn’t keep their jobs long if they continually purchased duplicates for their stores.    

2.  Save Time.  If you organize your closet based on your dressing habits, it will save you many hours of finding items as you answer that daily question “what should do I wear?”   Do you decide what to wear based on:  your mood?  the weather? impressing others?  your agenda?  Whatever it is, organize your closet accordingly.

3.  Make Wise Selections.  Knowing what you have, what you don’t have, and what you need/want is good information to have BEFORE you make purchases.  You have better odds of selecting clothing and accessories that will compliment and/or expand your current inventory, thus creating more outfits and options. 

Whenever I have major projects like taking inventory, I enlist the help of my sisters (five to choose from).  Of course they want to know what's in it for them. So I agree to help them with similar or same projects. It works well for closet inventory and purging, putting up outdoor Christmas decorations, cleaning the garage, landscaping projects, and getting too much unsolicited advice.

Ask a family member or friend to help and get started on your closet!