Here are all the clothing and accessory purchases I made in 2020, a total of just 20 items. I had planned to buy one item per month and whilst I obviously didn't stick to it, it was successful in curbing my spending more than anything else I've tried.

When I saw an item I liked I would ask myself if I liked it enough for it to be my 'one item', most of the time to answer was 'no', and it went back on the rail.

I don't doubt that being in lockdown had an impact on my spending, even when we were out of lockdown I didn't want to venture out too much, I can probably count the number of times I stepped foot in a charity shop since April on one hand. Which is no bad thing (except for the shops obviously).

My only truly nonsense purchase was a pre-loved Monsoon dress. It's not the sort of thing anyone needs during lockdown but it's just so lovely. I'm sure that at some point the perfect occasion to wear it will present itself, even if I have to wait a while.

The most expensive purchase was the leather rucksack and given that this was purchased a week before we were put in to lockdown for the first time, and the need for a bag vanished overnight, it's actually been used a decent amount. It's the only bag I've used when I've been out since I purchased it. With luck (and mass vaccinations) I'll be able to use it so much more in 2021.

I hope you're well, stay safe, stay inside, and keep smiling!
xx

With Wearing It All Summer complete, I moved onto Wearing It All Autumn. I didn't know how long I'd keep it up for as the deeper into Autumn we got the more the weather thwarted my efforts to take daily outfits shots outside, my efforts to take photos inside has always been fruitless, but I continued for as long as I could.

I don't rejoice in the arrival of autumn, I prefer the warmer months when I can go out without a coat, the first time I wear a pair of socks after the summer always elicits a sigh of resignation, no more sunshine for a while...

I like jumpers, scarves, lighting the wood burner but letting go of summer is always a bit of a trial. This year it seemed that summer vanished overnight, replaced by howling winds and lashing rain. There was no gentle transition.

By the time I'd started week four of my autumnal Wearing It All, and I'd given up on trying to wear just one layer or going sockless. I wore scarves, and three layers on some days.

I started this challenge with a haircut. I did it myself, after watching a number of YouTube tutorials I decided to give it a go. It looked OK (it now needs another trim). I've yet to find a hairdresser that cuts my hair exactly how I ask them too, so in terms of getting what I wanted it's a success. Sure, it wasn't technically brilliant, but it was good enough, and I saved myself £35 and half an hour in a chair wearing a face mask, making small talk.

So, five paragraphs into the post, here's week one of Wearing It All Autumn. The first two days saw the last of the sunshine. I actually took off the long navy cardy and pottered in the garden relishing the feeling of the sun on my skin. But the next day it started to rain, then the wind got up (see day 5) and it didn't get much better.

Day 3 and 4 I wore one of my new tops. With the Summer Wearing It All challenge I know I have to wear something different everyday otherwise I wouldn't stand a chance of wearing all of my warm weather clothes. The summer challenge caused a lot of washing, and it took me a while to work my way through the resulting ironing pile! But as I have fewer cold weather clothes I can wear them more than once. I normally rarely wear something just once and then wash it, unless I dribble my dinner down the front (which happens more often than it probably should). I'm happy to wear something 3 or 4 times before dropping it into the laundry basket, especially if it's been worn with something underneath. How many times do you wear your clothes before washing them? My Aunt will wear something a maximum of twice, but my Uncle will wear something all week - if my Aunt lets him get away with it :)

The rain continued into week 2.

Out came the thicker layers, I did try to go bare ankled on a few days but usually by midday I'd pulled on a pair of socks and some slippers. It was socks weather from this point forward.

I went out twice during week 2, you can tell by the fact I'm carrying a bag. One was a trip to the supermarket, the other a trip to the post office, charity shop, and garden centre. I filled the boot with plants, some for the garden, others for the hanging baskets. I was so focused on the plants that once I'd wandered about outside I was half way round the inside before I realised I'd forgotten to put on my face mask. I was mortified and hoped no one had noticed. There were only a few other customers, and I hadn't been in spitting distance of anyone (not that I spit, it's disgusting), but I still felt awful, I'd been so engrossed in my own thoughts that simply hadn't registered the fact that I'd passed from outside to in.

Week 3 and I grabbed all of my jumpers and cardigans out of storage, and every last item of summer clothing was stored away. The long mustard cardigan is my most recent clothing purchase. I'd popped to my local charity shop after my friend told me that they're getting loads of items donated but not much custom. I'd hate to see it close so I made a few purchases - every little helps right?

This is where I stopped photographing the Wearing It All challenge, the weather was miserable and didn't allow for daily photos so whilst I still tried to wear as much of my wardrobe as possible, I just didn't document it, and I'm sure there's only so many photos of me standing in front of a wall that you can stomach.

We're well into winter now with icy cold winds and gales, overnight frosts that last all day and the threat of snow. It's rather nice not to have anywhere to go at the moment.

I hope you're all well, take care, and keep warm!
xx

The warm weather already seems like a dim and distant memory doesn't it? Thankfully the last few weeks of my Wearing It All Summer challenge had enough warm days for me to wear a few more items from my Summer wardrobe.

Week 10 saw two days wearing DIY clothes, but the other days I focused on items I hadn't yet worn. I'd been waiting for the weather to warm up and the week started out warm enough to wear a sleeveless shirt, and then a knee length dress. I'm keeping the dress but the shirt (kept twisting) and the jeans (just a tad too tight) have already been donated to charity.

Week 11 started with my very long wide leg trousers. Now that I'm thicker around the middle than when I purchased them they sit higher up so aren't as trip-hazard long, but they could still do with being taken up. Which I will do, along with some mending that's needed around the waistband (a result of treading on the too-long hem).

It was lovely to wear my paisley dress again, I used to wear this a lot and it always reminds me of our honeymoon. I don't like the grey tee paired with my new-to-me stripe skirt so it's an outfit that won't be repeated. The final few outfits of the week allowed me to wear my old black jumper a few more times. I keep thinking 'this will be too tatty to wear soon' but it just keeps going.

Week 12 The dresses were both birthday presents, I liked the red one paired with jeans when I wore it but now that I look at the photo I don't like it nearly as much. The final days of the week were deliciously warm and allowed me to wear a few of my summer tops - something I didn't think I'd be able to do. It was nice to be able to enjoy a few days of sunshine. I was aware that each sunny day could be the last one of the year, and spent time outside to enjoy it before autumn made it's presence felt.

The challenge got me out of my habit of wearing the same items on repeat, and it helped me slim down my wardrobe a little, which hopefully is something I can continue to do over the coming weeks. Whilst I'm not someone who rejoices in digging my jumpers out of storage, it will be nice to continue with the challenge wearing my cooler weather clothes.

I finished my Wearing It All Summer 2020 challenge yesterday. I've shared weeks 1, and 2 and 3, and weeks 4 - 6, so here are weeks 7 - 9.

These are the final few weeks of August, turning into September. Week 7 was a week of dresses. The final three were ones I had in the pile of stuff waiting to be listed on ebay, but I tried them all on first before doing so. I'm keeping the white one, it's about 5 years old and this is only the second time I've worn it! But I love it so it's staying (this could be my favourite outfit of the summer). The navy dress with what looks like a dolka dot pattern (it's actually raindrops) has a peter pan collar and a narrow band of pin tucks up the front, it's lovely. I picked it up at a clothes swap years ago but this is it's first wear. I think it's a little too short though so I won't be keeping it.

The burgundy polka dot dress hasn't been worn before either, I purchased it in 2016 and have no excuse for not wearing it, it's been saved from ebay... for now...

The only dress I'm not keen on out of these is the floral midi dress, which is a shame as I purchased this online at the beginning of lockdown, and I loved it when it arrived. I'm going to try it with different shoes, possibly add some accessories but if that doesn't work it'll go on ebay.

During Week 8 I actually went out! (you can tell by the wearing of a face mask). The first instance was just to the supermarket to pick up a few provisions. Day 5 was a photo an hour and a trip to the seaside for art galleries, and tea and cake.

Many tops worn over this week are rarely worn, the pink v neck top and black dress are items usually worn at Latitude (easy to wear and do not crease), but the blue dress is a new-to-me purchase, picked up from a charity shop on my way home from Aldeburgh the day before.

At this point I was starting to run low on clothes that hadn't been worn for the challenge that I could wear, I needed more sunny days so I could finish wearing all my summer tops and shorts but that wasn't to be...

Week 9, the weather was less than ideal and definitely not shorts weather. I took the opportunity to wear my recently purchased preloved stripe midi skirt again, which has knocked my green skirt off it's top spot, and it was lovely to wear my navy jumpsuit again.

I'm thinking the green dress is destined for ebay, it's pretty but rarely gets picked over my other dresses and I don't have the room to keep them all. The point of this challenge was to purge my wardrobe and it's worked to a certain extent, but I still have items I'm dithering about. Even though I want to wear all my clothing items as much as possible (ideally 30 times or more), if  something doesn't work I'm not going to wear it, so there is no point in keeping it.

I'll post the final update in a few days. In the meantime I've turned my attention to what to do next...

The last time I mentioned my Wearing It All Summer 2020 challenge was back in July. I've shared weeks 1, and 2 and 3, so a catch up is in order. If you have no interest in my daily outfits, look away now.

Week 4 was the last full week of July. The challenge has given me the opportunity to weed out the items in my wardrobe that I don't like, and those that aren't working. Each item is being assessed and I've already donated a number to charity and listed other items on ebay without wearing them for the challenge. Some items I picked up and simply thought a very definite 'no', and that was that. Other items I'm dithering about. 

I realised that my decision to buy only one clothing item per month this year, was partly due to not having room for any more clothes. I want to wear everything as much as I can but if I don't love something, or have a use for it, then it needs to go. A purge is long overdue.

From week 4 the green cords are going. I bought them from ebay, they're preloved and have been worn over 30 times. I dyed them last year from khaki to dark green, which I like but I just don't wear them anymore.

The other items are a mix of hardly worn, and worn a lot. The wide leg jeans, yellow maxi, and navy jumper have all been worn over 30 times. The jeans worn on day 5 and 6 are over 11 years old, and patched so many times I always wonder if they'll survive their next wash!

Week 5 took us from July into August. I decided to wear my face mask in any outfit shot taken on a day when I'd need to wear it, to keep a record of when I venture out, which as you will see isn't very often. This instance was a trip into town, my first since March. 

During this week the temperature started to rise and it finally started to feel a little more like summer again. Dresses and skirts came out of the wardrobe, and I dared to bare my arms. The khaki maxi dress has been mended, I'll tell you the story in a future post, and the skirt worn on day 6 and 7 was one of the three items I purchased in town earlier in the week.

Week 6 starts and ends with tops I bought on my trip into town in week 5. I'm not completely sure about the navy / orange vest top but I think I'll persevere. If I decide against it I have a few people in mind who might like it. 

The weather really started to heat up over the course of the week, hence the wearing of shorts on 4 consecutive days. I could've worn shorts on day 3 too, but I left early for a trip to the beach when it was still overcast, and I didn't trust it to warm up much. I wore the mask for a minute when I went inside to buy ice cream. The day before I'd been into Tesco, popped to the Post Office, and thoroughly enjoyed wandering around a garden centre for the first time in months!

The burgundy heart print shirt has been mended recently too. I sat down one Saturday and mended a number of items, which was such a satisfying way to spend an afternoon.

I'll leave this here and catch up on weeks 7 - 9 in another post. I still have items unworn (and some new-to-me items to wear!).

How are things with you?

Here's my complete Buyer's Archive for the year, every item of clothing, every pair of shoes, and every accessory I purchased in 2019.




There are so many purchases that I really like and enjoy wearing from this year. The burgundy boots have barely been off my feet since I bought them. The brown leather bag has been in almost constant use. Both of my check coats have been worn a number of times already, and the floral shorts I purchased in September will be the first to grace my legs next time the temperature allows.



And the jumpers, it's been a good year for jumpers! I purchased 13 in all, with the first and the last both being gorgeous shades of green.



I've found five footwear items in charity shops this year, which is a lot for me as I rarely find footwear I like. Yes, one of those was a hideous pair of Crocs, but they have their place, acting as the perfect garden shoes.

There have been a few items that didn't stay in my wardrobe, for various reasons, but I made a huge effort to list these items on ebay, and made a small profit in some cases.

It feels like a really successful year of shopping. I purchased fewer items than last year, and kept within budget. Also, for the first time ever, I quickly identified the not-so-great purchases and either sold or donated them, instead of keeping them, trying to convince myself that I'd wear them at some point. It freed up valuable space in my wardrobe, which is something I need to continue to do, starting with a wardrobe purge...

And this concludes the fourth year of keeping track of my spending on clothes and accessories with A Buyer's Archive.

It also concludes my blogging for 2019, which just leaves me to say 'Happy New Year', and to wish you all a very happy and healthy 2020!

Work has been busy! For the last few weeks it feels like I've spent far too much time at my desk. A fellow freelancer and I were working on several projects together and as he was off on holiday on the 12th we had a lot of work to get done in a short space of time. But we did it, and with a little time to spare.

It does feel good to be really busy, but I was already busy doing other things outside of work and something had to give. So I was unable to make a number of things I'd planned to make for a Cake & Craft stall I was helping with this week.



We had our first Christmas Cake & Craft stall a few weeks ago, which went really well, and I'd hoped to create some extra handmade Christmas cards, and knitted tree penguins before our second sale this week, but as work was busy I had to make do with what I could squeeze into the evenings. Which wasn't a great deal.



Nonetheless we still had lots to sell, and had another successful day. Over the two sales we raised £1,850 for the radiotherapy department at our local hospital. These have been our most successful sales to date, and I think this is partly to do with having invested in a nifty little machine so we could take card payments. People seem to spend more when they don't have to hand over cold hard cash, which is all the better when fundraising.

I did find time in the week to pop into the village, I needed to go to the Post Office to send off several ebay parcels, which was a nice little boost to my Christmas fund, and I stopped in at my local Sue Ryder shop whilst there.

I'm not meant to be buying anymore books but got more than a little bit tempted!



I justified my purchases by telling myself that a) I'd have enough time to read One Day in December before the month was up (time will tell), b) Domenica De Rosa also writes under the name of Elly Griffiths and I've read a few of her books recently, so I needed to read this too, c) Summer at Skylark Farm was one in a series I'm reading (albeit in completely the wrong order), d) the cover of Old Baggage was too beautiful not to buy, and e) I've seen Normal People all over my Instagram feed with rave reviews, so clearly this is a book I need to read. I really am beyond help when it comes to my book addiction.



I'm now looking forward to the pace of life slowing a little, and hope to have a relaxing weekend, before the Christmas chaos sets in. With lives getting busy at this time of year I was unable to book a table to go out to dinner with friends this month to celebrate a birthday. So, we've opted to wait until the new year, it'll be something to look forward too. I always find January to be a long and uneventful month.

With a little luck we'll get our Christmas tree on Saturday, and I can spend several hours getting the decorations to look just right. I might even watch The Holiday whilst I do so.

I hope you've had a good week, and have a lovely weekend.

I share all of my charity shopped clothing purchases in my Buyer's Archive posts, but I rarely share all the other things I find. There's a wealth of loveliness to be found on the charity shop shelves.

Here are a few items that came home with me recently.



Stoneware Pot
When we moved in and realised we didn't have a single drawer in the kitchen I purchased a wicker cutlery holder to put on the worktop. After eight years of daily use the base was broken and full of holes. I had a rummage in the pantry to see what I could use as an alternative.

I found a utensils pot that once belonged to my Mum and Dad, I think it was one of their wedding presents, and a large stoneware pot that I'd sometimes use as vase (purchased from a charity shop some time ago). Both were perfect for larger cutlery items but my teaspoons needed somewhere to live.

My next charity shop rummage offered up this ideally sized little stoneware pot, decorated with a rather attractive looking cow. To keep them all together I put them on a round wooden tray we'd been given on our wedding day. I rather like the overall effect.



Teddy
I'm not really a teddy bear kind of person, I just have two soft toys from my childhood, and a giraffe that Andy gave me for my 40th birthday. But this little chap just looked like he needed to come home with me, he cost all of £2.00. He sits in my office, surrounded by books. He seems happy.



Glasses Case
I lost the case I'd been given free by my optician, I wasn't too bothered as I'm not known for putting my glasses away anyway, but on occasion I do need something. I picked up this pretty zipped case for just £1.50. 



Ceramic Bird
At the beginning of the summer I went to The Suffolk Craft Society Summer Exhibition with my Dad. A collection of these little birds by ceramic sculptor Mary Wyatt were on display, and I so very nearly parted with £25.00 to bring one home with me. A few weeks later I spotted this one on a low shelf in a charity shop for £5.00. Needless to say I didn't think twice.

What have you found recently?

You can see how the weather changed over the course of April just by looking at my capsule wardrobe outfits. We started with chilly days and rain, but by the Easter weekend my ankle grazing jeans and short sleeves were only just about cool enough.



It didn't take long for the cooler weather to return, and it was back to jeans and jumpers, but wasn't it glorious while it lasted? Thank you, more please.

Jeans and long sleeves dominated my current outfits until yesterday, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more sunshine and warmth. All this rain is great for crops, gardens and filling water butts but it's not good for my soul. I'm at my happiest when the sun is shining and I can feel it's warmth on my skin.

In previous spring seasons I've found it hard to put a capsule together because the weather can be so unpredictable. This spring I decided to tweak it every month, hoping that I'd be adding more summery clothes each time.
I have 24 items in this capsule, six fewer than in April, which is more than enough to see me through the month. Twelve items remain from the April capsule, with twelve added, and only seven items are brand new, 76% is pre-loved - a statistic that brings a smile to my face.

April was a mix of cold days and delightfully warm days, my capsule served me well, but I did wish I'd added more lighter tops and fewer jumpers (why did I think I'd need ten jumpers?!). I've redressed the balance for May, and dared to hope that I'll be in need of a pair of shorts.

I wanted to add some rarely worn items to my May capsule. I do have a habit of reaching for my favourite items which leaves things languishing in my wardrobe, forgotten and unappreciated. I've sidelined my trusty navy jumpers for now. I feel little bereft at not having either of them in this capsule, they're usually to hand, season after season. But not having them will make me wear other things, and it's likely I'll find other outfit options that I like because of it.

In addition to trying to wear my less worn items I've also had a really thorough wardrobe clear out and listed a lot of items on ebay. I feel there's little point in having a capsule wardrobe if I'm constantly adding more and hardly wearing the vast majority of it. Better to sell it and hope someone else will make good use of it.

The point of having a capsule was to limit my spending and to make the most of the items I already own. I enjoy having the capsules, and I do feel like I wear more of my wardrobe because of them but it's failed in curbing my spending, I'm still adding too many items.
I now have, what I hope will proved to be, a wardrobe of clothes that work well together and are a joy to wear, making putting together capsules much easier, and easing my guilt at having clothes I simply do not wear.

I have that wonderfully refreshed feeling you get after decluttering. I don't intend to buy any clothes in May, possibly even June too. The shopper in me is going to have to take a little holiday.

Come on May, let's see what you've got.

Ah spring, it's almost here at last! The warm interlude in February awakened my love of bright sunny days that are warm enough to leave the house without a coat. I'm hoping that the sun will be back with us sooner rather than later.

The improving weather turned my thoughts to my spring capsule, I'm looking forward to wearing some recent purchases, mixing them with older items to create new outfit combinations. My cropped jeans are making a reappearance, and my cropped dungarees their first. And the green skirt is back now that it's been mended and is wearable once again.

I've decided to make my spring capsule monthly, just like I did in the summer. It allows me to wear more of my wardrobe, and it lets me tweak the capsule depending on the weather. Spring and autumn are always tricky to get right as the weather is difficult to predict.

This is what I'll be wearing in April.
I've got plenty of things for cooler days, but have enough for days when the sun comes out.

Happy spring!

THIS YEAR

My first new purchase of the year was a pair of black ankle boots from ASOS. They were in the sale, and I had a voucher to use so they ended up costing me just £9.50. They remind me of a old pair that I used to love (seen in this post back in 2012). I think I'll get a lot of wear out of them, especially as I've sold all my other black ankle boots on ebay.

Just look at the colour of this Tu yellow jumper, found in a local charity shop. How could I not part with £3.50 to make it mine?


My best buy of the month must be this M&S leather bag. I paid £8.75 for the gorgeous aged leather in my local charity shop. Why would anyone want to get rid of a bag that's just starting to get beautifully worn in?

Whatever the reason, I'm glad they did because I love it.

LAST YEAR

Last February I spent £9.75.

The gloves have been worn a lot (they were purchased in the H&M sale because it was a bitterly cold day and I was out and about without gloves, I was more than happy to pay £3.00 for warm hands).

The PJ bottoms were £2.00 from a charity shop but still had the Next tags on. They turned yellow when I stupidly washed them with my dyed yellow maxi, but have now washed out to a rather pleasant cream colour. Maybe one day they'll return to their original white. Not that it matters, they get worn on rotation with my other PJs, no matter what colour they are.

The cardigan hasn't been worn much, only five times in fact. I do like it but we seemed to go from winter straight into summer last year and the opportunity to wear it came and went in the blink of an eye. I'm beginning to think that this year will be much the same.

I am enjoying the warm weather, I've just been out without a coat on, but it does seem too warm for February, and that feels all kinds of wrong.

Total for January: £21.75

Total so far for 2019: £23.75

Total at this time last year: £65.24

Left of £500.00 budget: £476.25

Items purchased: 4 (pre-loved: 3) (new: 1)


For the fourth year running I'm taking part in A Buyer's Archive inspired by Elise (who sadly doesn't blog anymore but can be found on Instagram), to keep track of my spending on clothes and accessories

Happy New Year! I hope 2019 is treating you well so far. This post marks the start of a series of 2018 round up posts, I love putting these together and looking back over the year.

Here's my complete Buyer's Archive for 2018, every item of clothing and every accessory I purchased in the past 12 months.

This first image shows purchases up to the end of June. Almost everything here has been worn, the delicious summer we had meant that my summer clothes were worn a lot.


There are a number of items in this image that haven't been worn yet but some of them have only been in my wardrobe for a few weeks, and have yet to appear in a seasonal capsule wardrobe.

I'm really pleased with my purchases this year. I've bought more pre-loved than new and I think I've got fewer duff purchases than ever before. A breakdown post is in the pipeline.

There are so many purchases I made this year that I completely adore.


Red floral skirt. This was my only January sale purchase. I can't believe I've only had this for a year, I feel like I've been wearing it for years. This skirt never fails to make me smile.


Floral maxi dress. I did only wear this once, but I loved it. It's perfect for summer, it's light, airy and easy to wear. I loved the mustard bag too and used it a lot in the weeks after I bought it, but now it needs mending, and you know me and my mend pile...


Orange maxi skirt. I paid a fiver for this and it has pockets.


I have a bit of a soft spot for anything with a blue floral pattern, add a rara skirt into the mix and I'm smitten. This was £6.00 well spent.


Khaki cropped jeans. I had an inking that I'd quite like a pair of cropped jeans, and ebay obliged offering these up for £10.99.


Yellow jumper. Having convinced myself that I couldn't wear yellow and avoided it for years, I thought I'd give it a go. Turns out, I kinda love it.

I also love the knee high boots I purchased in November, and the long winter coat I bought in December, but these have yet to be photographed. All in all it's been a good year of shopping, I've added so many amazing items to my wardrobe this year, that I'm considering drastically reducing my clothing budget for 2019. I know that complete spending bans don't work for me, but I would like to wear the clothes I have more often, and constantly adding items to my wardrobe makes this harder.

What things have you purchased this year that make you smile?

For my summer capsule wardrobe I decided to have a monthly edit, instead of keeping it the same for the entire season. It's been really nice to swap it around a little.

I put this together during the last week of August and even though I've worn shorts this month already it does seem a little daft to have three pairs in this capsule. As I sit here and type the world outside is grey and chilly!
This month I removed nine items and added four new ones. I need to mend my green skirt as the zip now only goes 2/3rds of the way up, and the red floral skirt needs the hem repaired. It's frayed quite badly. It seems that 90% of the mending I do is to repair frayed seams, it's maddening. (Since starting to write this the hem on my green dress has frayed too!!).

I've still got plenty of summer clothes in this capsule, we did have a few lovely sunny days at the beginning of the month, but it has turned cooler. If the sunny weather is over (although I hold out hope for a few more sunny days), I know that I have plenty of cooler weather options should I need them (see below). The great thing about midi and maxi skirts and dresses is that you can add tights if it's really cold, but if it's just a little on the chilly side they offer enough coverage for warmth.


I've already started looking at my autumn capsule, I know that I need another pair of jeans and another jumper so I'm on the look out. I'll be spoilt for choice on the jumper front but I'm not looking forward to the hunt for jeans!

Andy gave me this dress for my birthday and I wore it the next day to lunch with friends. I love it, it's comfy and so nice to wear. Did you notice the pom pom necklace?

August did have it's share of dull days, but when the sun did shine I relished pulling on a pair of shorts or slipping into a dress from my August capsule. I was able to mix new (to me) purchases with things that have been in my wardrobe for a good few years, I always love finding new outfits combinations. And as you can see my recently purchased yellow bag got it's fair share of usage.


I'm already looking forward to the return of summer next year...

For my summer capsule wardrobe I decided to have a monthly edit, instead of keeping it the same for three months. Doing so means I can swap things around each month and wear more of my summer clothes.

My July Capsule was lovely, full of lots of colour, and things I don't get the opportunity to wear very often. For August I removed a few things that need mending, a few things I didn't wear and added some new (to me) items and some things I purchased last year that have yet to be worn.

With the glorious weather we've been enjoying it's been lovely to wear my summeriest of summer dresses and skirts. I'm hoping this month will be more of the same, we've had some rain and a few grey days, can we have the sun back for the rest of the month now please?

I realised in July that I probably didn't need 36 items for 31 days, but I couldn't bring myself to eliminate anything more from this month's total of 34. I have too much that I love and want to wear. Which isn't a bad position to be in really.

This is the first week in my August Capsule.

I couldn't wait to wear my new (to me) cropped jeans and wore them two days in a row - some might say that you shouldn't be seen in the same thing twice, but I couldn't care less, they're so comfy!

The lace top in the first outfit is one I purchased in May last year. When I realised this it immediately went into the capsule. It works well with the high waist of the cropped jeans.

The next day I wore them with a pre-loved top that's been around a while. I wore this for two days in a row too, again firmly sticking two fingers up at anyone who tries to tell me 'you can't be seen wearing the same thing twice'. Absolute piffle. Why can't we all just agree that everyone wears their clothes more than once and it's insanity to pretend otherwise.

I also wore my sequin top and denim shorts for the first time, and used my newest purchase - a mustard coloured shoulder bag - because I couldn't wait to give it an outing.


As the week drew to an end I wore a long floral maxi. I've not worn this before. I bought this imagining I'd wear it on a faraway beach at sunset (this beautifully illustrates the dream world I inhabit most of the time). The last time I was walking on foreign sand was in the Sahara, and this would've been most impractical. Before that I was in Zanizbar for my best friend's wedding 9 years ago. My point being that I rarely find myself on distant shores, so pottering about in it at home and nipping to the shop will have to suffice, and let's face it, in this heat I could be some where abroad.

What's your favourite item in your summer wardrobe?