How I’m going to save more money by spending more on clothes! [Cost Per Wear Theory]

Before the end of every year I do two things. I set my goals for the new year, and I also indulge in a serious wardrobe and beauty cabinet detox. There’s something about the start of a new chapter that pushes me to want to de-clutter and re-organise. Well last year, December to be precise, I did exactly that, I went through my hair care/beauty cabinet, and did my usual task of creating a ‘Yes’, ‘No’, and ‘Maybe’ pile, allowing my younger sisters to take their pick from the ‘Maybe’ pile, before giving it away to charity.

In the case of my wardrobe however, this didn’t quite go as planned! For the first time in years my ‘No’ pile was huge (70% of my wardrobe)! Almost every item of clothing I had was either slacking, bubbling, fading in colour or no longer my style. I remember sitting on the floor in front of my wardrobe in shock. I couldn’t believe I had allowed this to happen, but I knew exactly how it had.

THE PROBLEM WITH BUYING ‘CHEAP’
If you follow me on social media or know me personally, you’ll know that I love Zara. I like to believe I have a casual chic style, and Zara almost always has what I am looking for (at a reasonable price). In 2016 however, I took a break from shopping at my usual favourite spots (inc. Zara). Myself and hubby had set some pretty steep savings goals, so I decided it made sense to cut down on my spending, and contribute more towards our goals. The greatest mistake I would go on to make, was to frequently buy cheaper clothes, as opposed to fewer high quality items. The latter of which would have prevented my wardrobe dilemma in the first place!

You see buying cheaper clothes so that I could save more money, actually ended up costing me what I had saved and more. Had I been smarter about my spending, I would have continued to buy high quality clothing but less frequently, because as proven by the remaining 30% of my wardrobe (mainly mid-high end purchases), high quality clothes last much longer.

One theory that explains this really well is the Cost Per Wear theory.

The Cost Per Wear theory basically suggests, that in the longer term, buying more expensive/higher quality clothes, actually works out cheaper, than buying cheaper/lower quality clothes.

Take the following real life example of two pairs of heels I own, and bought at the same time:

*In the past 24 months.

In the example above the Cost Per Wear theory couldn’t be any more true. After a year of wear, my Forever 21 heels were so battered and bruised, I had to throw them away. My Zara heels on the other hand are still going strong, and have only been re-heeled once.

With the new year upon us, I’ve put together a solid clothing budget for 2017. I aim to spend more on items of high quality, and will only buy ‘cheap’ if I fall in love with an item, and can’t imagine my life without it! I like to see such items as investments in my happiness (wink wink!)

So that’s pretty much how I plan on saving more money by spending more on clothes. My lesson from 2016 was that buying cheap, can sometimes be more expensive, and I won’t be making that mistake again!

Anyone else think the CPW theory sounds like a good idea?