Easier Said Than Done... Not buying til Fall

Since I made my last post I still haven't bought any clothes, shoes, or bags. I did stock up on some underwear and hosiery from the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. I justified it because if a key pair of tights developed a hole in the fall I'd kick myself for having to pay full price. And the foundation garments I prefer don't go on sale except for now. Basics are different from continuing the superfluous accumulation of STUFF.

But I haven't bought otherwise. I am trying my best to not buy until Fall, since I don't really like summer clothes anyway, save for one See By Chloé linen dress I bought two sale cycles ago.

It is so simple and I hope to wear it in summers for years.

I have also toyed with the idea of forgoing my usual fall gluttony (since it IS my favorite season) and indulging in just one dress.

This one in particular. I imagine I'd wear it with bittersweet chocolate tights, and burnt orange vintage inspired buckle pumps with a chunky square heel. But it is essentially the more expensive Chloé version of my See by Chloé Trail Print Dress in a different pattern/colorway.

The shape is the same. The sleeves are the same. The exaggerated peter pan seaming near the collar is the same. But the price tag on the Chloé (even seasons removed from its initial debut) is far more extravagant than its diffusion line sister dress. So I guess it isn't meant to be! But I am reminded again of why I need to review what I have before making impulse purchases. More often than not, in doing so I will remember owning something which approximates closely the desired new/new-to-me item.

One thrify way I've avoided shopping for bags is by trading with other fashionable ladies in need of a switch. A woman from The Purse Forum offered me her Marc Jacobs Collection quilted Mouse Gray Blake in exchange for my Marc by Marc Jacobs Elderberry Quinn.

Although my lifestyle is probably better suited for the more casual Quinn and Elderberry is one of my favorite Marc by Marc leather colors of all time, I have also long admired MJ collection Mouse gray. And although I really like the practicality of the MBMJ turnlock line, I am starting to tire of its ubuiquity (though I see far less bags in Pittsburgh than in larger cities). My MJ Venetia (which I sold a while ago) couldn't fit over the shoulders but the Blake can. The retail prices on these bags carry a pretty significant difference (hers cost more, though she got it second hand) but at the end of the trade both of us were happy campers.

How are you managing to avoid shopping? Or are you indulging in the sales?