Help me stop saving my clothes for 'best'.....

[MrsRogerSterling]

I have a terrible habit of never wearing most of my clothes as I am saving them for better days/best. The thing is I am a stay at home mum of a 5yr old and an 10 month old baby so never really go anywhere other than school, supermarket and coffee/lunch dates so 'best' never comes around.

I end up wearing the same few things over and over, I have some lovely day dresses that make me feel good but I just think whats then point. I see other mums at school and think they look nice and in reality I have the same things sat in my wardrobe at home!!

Talk some sense into me please.

Just wear them! Add a denim or leather jacket and biker boots to de-pretty a party dress for daytime. Start tomorrow - Saturday is surely enough excuse for 'best'

Right, I am very like you so this is what I do. I MAKE myself wear new clothes within a couple of days of buying them, kind of break them in iyswim. I also try to plan outfits 1 or 2 days in advance so I don't just wear the same old stuff. And use any excuse to "dress up", coffee with a friend, new play group, plumber coming round, whatever!

Oh and don't let yourself buy anything new until you've worn all your stuff a few times!

Oh I do this too, OP, have some lovely unworn stuff sitting upstairs!

Wear your best clothes out and about and your least favourites at home. I used to do this and clothes look dated when those 'best' days came round.

Wear a nice dress tomorrow, with wellies if necessary

How old are you OP? I had this mentality until I turned 40 and suddenly thought, jeez, I'd better get on with stuff! You can't wear your finest clothes, your poshest perfume and your sexiest shoes when you're dead, so do it now!

what ladydepp says... wear stuff within days of buying it to sort of break it in in your head. That really works.

We are not getting any younger. Why save them up for a day when we don't look as good in them?

My policy is now to buy lovely dresses that might cost more but to wear them often to bring down the per unit cost of each wear. Tis lovely to catch the eye of other people

I used to do this too but am slowly getting better at wearing my 'best clothes' all the time. I do feel so much better when i'm wearing nicer clothes although I am a bit to see the knees on my 'best' black skinnies are starting to wear/fade due to crawling round after a toddler! I have also just discovered scarves (thanks mn!) and these deff dress up an outfit

for a month i set myself the task of wearing something each day that i hadn't used for a long time. you could do the same with best things. some days it was just a piece of jewellery.

really easy to do. for me this unearthed a load of 'new' things that i hadn't used and made me dump a few things that were totally impractical/too small etc

or rotate things on the hanging rail. so try and pick things from one end and put clean clothes on the other. this is what i do with tops to stop me always wearing the same ones

I've just started wearing some of my better clothes, and it really is liberating! Good luck OP.

Encourage yourself to wear your nice stuff by having a go on this! wiwt.com/outfits/

charliefox I'm 37.

I know you are all right, thanks for replying. I am going to wear something new today, for the first time in 2 weeks it isn't raining so I will wear a dress and some sandals to take dd to swimming lessons and try not to worry about the baby wiping her nose and biscuit crumbs on me!

You have inspired me to not wear my jeans today (parents visiting which is perfectly good excuse to dress up - I've spent all day tidying house - why would I then wear jeans and Tshirt myself?). I only wish I'd seen this thread earlier, as am now typing this while waiting for emergency Veet to depilatory legs.

Oh I did this too
Than I just made myself wear stuff - I also mixed stuff up a bit - like dressed stuff down with ankle boots or wool tights than things felt less formal. Then I started getting compliments on it and enjoying it. I wouldn't say I dress up on a day to say basis but I don't live in just one pair of jeans and a t shirt
Once you start you ll get lots of confidence and feel great. Enjoy. Just take em out and wear them

Why not set yourself a challenge to wear a different outfit every day for a month? It doesn't have to be completely different every time but a different combination of tops, bottoms, accessories etc.
That should get you wearing some of your 'good' stuff and also maybe give you some ideas on how to wear things more casually.

I totally agree wtih @justtryingtodomybest - I am doing a 30 day style challenge at the moment and I'm taking photos as I go along ..

Just take the plunge and pick up a dress, put a denim/leather/cardigan with it .. winter boots (or wellies!!) and a scarf.

You might feel strange at first as you wear your 'best' stuff but once you get used to it you'll feel great that your wardrobe just grew and you didn't spend any money on 'new' outfits!

Good luck

Fiona

Oh I am the opposite, I wear dresses just in the house when I am not even going anywhere.

Just think, if you work your way through your wardrobe you won't have to do any laundry for weeks!

This blog post sums it up nicely I think - totally agree with her! Have extended it to makeup too - have so many eyeshadows and lippies I hoard and never wear, I've been making an effort to wear one or two a week (bright lippy has really cheered me up in this crap weather)

I so need to do this, I'm dreadful about keeping things for best and then they just sit in the wardrobe. Just one question though, do you still have 'going out clothes'? Yes, I know as mums wecdon't get out much but when I do I like to wear something that hasn't necessarily been worn on the school run or to toddler group?

Also presumably you still keep black tie/wedding outfits for best??

ha i do this too! i have tons of things in the wardrobe still with tags on from ages ago

they're so lovely and new i just like to gaze at them occasionally

i am also starting to do this with make up too! crazily priced make up as well

ooh love that blog moo! interestingly i have some dresses that i could wear daytime if i had some lovely new boots to go with it to 'tone' them down.

Wear a different outfit every day until you've gone through your entire watdrobe. How long before you get back to outfit 1?

Yyy, tis the curse of womanhood. My sister and I talk about this all the time.

I'm 41, and I finally feel ok using my luxury toiletries, skincare etc every day.

But I need a boot up the bum clothing wise. I'm not really a day dress person, really its always gonna be jeans and a top, but I have so many lovely tops that don't get an airing.

Apply CBT therapy: what are we actually waiting for? Get your best, softest cardi out and wear it right now!

Thanks for inspiring me op, especially in this rubbish weather :)