When clothing temptation is all around you, it takes a lot of work to stick to your clothing budget. Sometimes you need help recovering when you overspend.
Alexandria Blaelock, author of Ms Blaelock’s Book of Signature Wardrobe Planning says, “one of the wonderful things about a budget is that you never get that feeling of cold dread in the pit of your stomach when you look at how much it all cost. But when you do, give yourself a break and think constructively about what to do next.”
Here are Blaelock’s tips for recovering when you overspend:
- Take a deep breath: While you overspent, no one is going to laugh maniacally and blow up the planet. You made a mistake, that’s it. You may be in the position where the money you spent on clothes needs to be somewhere else, but panicking is not going to help that.
- Consider your planned purchases: You had a reason for your planned purchases, so don’t feel bad about them. Just think more about whether you came in under budget, or spent more than you expected? Were there good reasons or did you get distracted? Do you feel justified or guilty?
- What can you learn from your unplanned purchases: Why did you buy them? Did you have an unexpected need, or were you greedy? Was it a big purchase or lots of tricky small ones? Are they clothes that you can wear for a long time, or are they single purpose? Do you feel justified or guilty?
- Return what you can: Sometimes you just have to buy things and move on – you feel justified. Other times you know that you have overindulged and you feel guilty. The clothes that you feel guilty about are the ones that you need to return because you won’t wear them and they will eat away at you. Most stores require that the clothes be unworn, in their original packaging with the tags attached and the receipt as proof of purchase. If you feel guilty, the clothes are probably ready to return.
- Reconsider your wardrobe plan: Regardless of whether you can recoup some of the cost or not, you need to think about how you came to blow your budget and factor that into your plan. Maybe you need to revise your cost base, or perhaps you need to plan smaller sprees at more regular intervals. Even if that’s next year because you have nothing left for this year.
These five tips will help you start recovering when you overspend and set you on the path to a better wardrobe plan in the future.
Click here to find out more about Ms Blaelock’s Book of Signature Wardrobe Planning, or visit Alexandria’s website.
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