Do you mix & match work clothes & non-work clothes?

[TheVeryThing]

or do you keep them completely separate?
I know it's ridiculous but I always seem to get bogged down by this. Obviously, if you have uniform for work, or have to dress very formally every day then it doesn't apply.
I need to be fairly smart for work (trousers, nice top and often a blazer, or a dress for more formal meetings etc) but I seem to have very few nice clothes for days at home, and nothing for going out in the evenings.
I could wear 'work' tops with jeans (or even a work outfit with different shoes or jewelry) but I seem to have a mental block about it and end up looking really scruffy on my days off.
So what do you do?

[Artandco]

All the same here, I wear smart casual all the time

[ChablisChic]

I work very part time, so my 'work' clothes tend also to be my smartish going out or away for the weekend clothes, whereas at home I tend to be in jeans or yoga stuff. When I worked full time there was a bit more of a separation as I bought stuff specifically for work, but it's not worth it now.

[TheVeryThing]

Thanks, that sounds very reasonable.

I think my problem is that I have had to invest a bit more in work clothes over the last year, after a promotion, and I have a very limited budget so struggle to buy anything else.

Some stuff is too formal to wear outside of work but I think I need to look at them as just clothes, and wear whatever looks good and is appropriate.

There's a slight chance I'm overthinking this

[chanie44]

No.

I hate wearing work clothes out of work, even though at work I only have to be 'smart casual' and that's how I dress at weekends.

[Magicalmrmistofeles]

No I like to keep it separate, some of my work tops could be non work and some dresses too but I like the boundary of work / non work.

[TheVeryThing]

How do you decide what is 'work' and what is 'non work'?

[beachyhead]

My work stuff is entirely separate and I would never wear it outside work, unless I had to go to a funeral or personal business meeting of some sort. Also, I'm more scared of mucking it up as my home life involves children, dogs and a garden

[TheVeryThing]

Lots different approaches, which is not helping with my overthinking!

beachyhead is your work wardrobe very formal then? I have some clothes which I obviously would never wear to work and a few things I would never wear outside of work but most could be mixed and matched.

katiegg I bought a dress last summer which I wore for my 40th, and then to a couple of work conferences. I'm also planning to wear it to a wedding next month and am no longer sure what category it falls into!

[PetiteBateau]

I just wear clothes, I don't separate them into work & non-work

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

When I had a job I found stressful and difficult I kept them separate as I didn't want to be reminded of work when I wasn't there.

Now I have a job I love I don't feel the need to keep them separate at all, in fact it follows through in other ways too, I do work stuff at home, hone stuff at work, it is all nicely blended.

[Oly4]

Mostly separate though favourite tops and useful cardigans do get crossed over. I'm more casual at home

[avocadotoast]

Hmm, bit of both. I tend to wear dresses for work so I probably wouldn't wear them out of work. But I've been known to wear tops for both.

I do much prefer to keep things separate if I can!