Everyone knows that budgeting is a key element to being financially secure, but many mistakenly view a budget as a hindrance or limiting device instead of what it really is – an enabler. That’s right… your budget is a enabling tool to have and love the things you need and want, including your ideal wardrobe.
Is Your Wardrobe Part Of Your Budget?
We all buy clothing and accessories. Yet, many budgets don’t even include clothing as a component. The few budgets that do include wardrobe as an allotted expense seldom itemize or use subcategories to ensure the dedicated money is spent wisely. It’s an oversight destined to leave you with a dysfunctional closet that you dread entering.
If you want a useful wardrobe that you love and easily helps you live your best lifestyle, then this must change. No worries; our helpful guide will show you just how to create and spend your wardrobe budget.
Lifestyle Pie: Where Are You?
Take a moment to plug a general “wardrobe” category into your budget so that you’ll have a hard number of how much money you have available for your wardrobe. Now, it’s time to break that number down so that you can ensure each dollar is spent on wardrobe items you’ll love and need. How?
Look at your monthly calendar or think back over the last three months. Where do you spend the most time?
Lifestyle is one of the first things I evaluate when consulting with a new client. It’s called a lifestyle pie, and it tells me how much time my client spends at various places with various different appropriate types of dress, such as athletics, leisure, work, home, traveling, worship, academics, and so forth.
Each piece of your unique pie gets a slice of the wardrobe budget, but each slice is sized (valued) to reflect how much time you spend engaged in the activity. So, if you spend 30 percent of your time at the gym, 50 percent at work, 10 percent at home, and 10 percent socializing, then 30 percent of your wardrobe budget would be on athletic wear, 50 percent on work attire, and so forth.
Five Steps To Put Your Wardrobe Budget To Work
You know how to create your best wardrobe budget. Now, it’s time to figure out how to implement it.
Unless your closet is completely empty because you’ve lost/gained a significant amount of weight or suffered a catastrophic loss, then you’re likely not starting to put your wardrobe budget to work from a clean slate. This means that you must consider what you already have to know the where and when to put your new wardrobe budget into action. The following five steps will help you:
- Go to your closet and pull out anything that hasn’t been worn in the last two years or that you just don’t like because it makes you feel uncomfortable. Donate it, store it, consign/sell it, but just make sure that you remove it from your useable space. This enables you to know where you have a need and want.
- Identify gaps by making a list of clothing shortages and absences.
- Do you have a capsule wardrobe that can be dressed up, down, and expanded upon as needed? If not, it’s a prudent investment for any lifestyle pie.
- Evaluate your wardrobe using TOP (time, occasion, and people.) What do you want your wardrobe to convey through perception? Does each piece compliment your style, ideal color and fit, message, goals, and budget?
- Think about how you can expand by mixing and matching a few pieces to turn them into multiple outfits.
Is It Time To Call For Help?
Of course, we realize that it’s difficult to master the above skills, especially if your lifestyle is busy funding and enjoying the fruits of your budget. That’s why professional image consultants, such as myself, are always here to advise and guide you. Allow us to plan your entire wardrobe budget for you so that your closet will be full of useful and lovable items.
