I’m Done Waiting To Be A Certain Size To Buy Clothes

I gained 7 pounds in January and February.

SEVEN POUNDS.

I know why it happened. It’s due to a bunch of different reasons.

I overscheduled myself big time in January and February and I’m wasn’t getting enough sleep.

I don’t drink enough water in general.

I’m using food to deal with stuff that’s going on in my life and I’m eating too much and most of the time I’m eating when I’m not even hungry.

Menopause has arrived, and I simply cannot eat the amount of food I could before menopause.

Aaaahhhh, menopause.

So I am heavier than I have been in a long time.

Most of my clothes are too tight.

I don’t have a lot of clothes to begin with because I keep telling myself I’m not buying anything new until I get back down to a certain size.

But this thinking is terrible.

It’s saying I don’t deserve to wear clothes that fit well or that are comfortable at the size I am at right now.

I’m punishing myself.

And when we punish ourselves, any changes we try to make aren’t going to stick.

When changes are coming from a negative place, from a place of shame, we will inevitably resort to old behaviors to get some relief from the self-imposed prison sentence we give ourselves.

Shame doesn’t motivate anyone to make lasting changes. It only makes us feel worse.

And when we feel bad about ourselves, we turn to the things that we use to bring us temporary pleasure to escape the shitty feelings.

You know… food, alcohol, drugs, smoking, sex, shopping, gambling…

Well, I’m no longer willing to wait until I lose a certain amount of weight to have clothes that I feel good in.

But I also don’t have unlimited amounts of time, I don’t love shopping, I don’t plan to be this size for much longer, and I don’t want to spend a ton of money on a bunch of clothes that either don’t go together or won’t fit me in a few months.

(That is the plan — to be down about 15 pounds by May 1st).

So I went to my trusty capsule wardrobe plan from Get Your Pretty On.

And then I went to Savers (a thrift store).

Number 4, 5 and I love a good thrift store.

Even if I’m not trying to lose weight, I like shopping at a thrift store!

I love finding a good deal and I also like not spending a shit ton of money.

Plus, it’s an environmentally friendly way of living and I feel good about that.

So the girls and I went to Savers and I had my shopping list from GYPO in hand.

That’s one of the things I love most about the GYPO style challenges. They enable you to shop with purpose and intention and you aren’t just buying a bunch of random stuff that doesn’t go together, giving you a closet full of clothes, but still nothing to wear.

Now that I’ve been curating my capsule wardrobe this way for the last five years, I have most of the items on the list already.

But there were a few things I wanted to add, and so I went to the thrift store looking for specific items.

I needed a solid neutral top, a neutral cardigan, a trench coat-style jacket and a neutral light jacket.

I found all of them!

The navy top was even from Banana Republic.

I spent less than $30 on these four items.

I combined these things with stuff I already had using the combinations provided by GYPO.

Here’s an example of one of the styled outfits in the Spring 2019 capsule wardrobe:

Something I really love is that with each daily outfit suggestion you also get tips on how to dress it up and dress it down.

Sometimes I stick exactly to the outfit combinations GYPO provides (there are over 30 of them with each season!)

Other times I make some tweaks.

Here is my version of the above outfit:

My neutral cardigan is camel colored instead of navy, and so I switched the shoes for my favorite wedges because I have metallic sandals, but they are silver.

Here is the same $8.99 cardigan from Savers with the $2.99(!!!) Banana Republic top:

Here is the ($8.99) neutral jacket worn three different ways:

And here is the trench coat worn a couple different ways:

These are just a few of the combinations I made without any brain power thanks to the GYPO style challenge.

Being able to walk into a store (whether it’s Banana Republic or Goodwill) with a plan knowing exactly what I need saves me very valuable time and money.

And being able to get dressed quickly without devoting any brain power to that decision is invaluable to me.

I make too many decisions every day.

I really don’t want to think about what to wear. But I also want to look nice!

And with spring comes lots of events at school for the kids. I can quickly consult the daily outfit guide (it’s posted inside my closet for super fast reference) and throw on any combination in seconds, and head to school in a cute outfit and not workout clothes or sweats.

I share this with you because I really find the program to be so useful and worth the very reasonable expense. There is a big return on your investment.The amount of money and time I save every day/month/year combined with a neat and decluttered closet is a no brainer.

Get Your Pretty On has an annual membership that is only available until tomorrow (Friday March, 6th).

You get an entire year of carefully curated capsule wardrobes — with different color options and also online shopping links for every item on the list for those of you who like to shop online.

With the annual membership you get four seasons of a capsule wardrobe (with many pieces that overlap from one season to the next) at a discounted price, and you also get some freebies (like a guide to cleaning out your closet and a bonus French minimalist capsule wardrobe).

But what you really get is time.

Time to focus on what you really want to spend your brain power on.

If you work outside the home, there are also work wear capsule wardrobe challenges. I could have used these back in my teaching days!

Whether you are a stay at home mom who has lost her mojo or a work outside the home mom who would love to eliminate one daily decision, Get Your Pretty On has your back.

I know!

I’ve been using the program for years.

Here’s an outfit from one of my first “challenges” (about 20 pounds ago) in 2015.

Here’s another one:

Look back up at my current pictures. I still have those shoes, and they are still part of the challenges!

You will invest in pieces that you’ll use for years to come.

Don’t miss out on the annual membership.

Tomorrow is the last day it’s available.

You deserve to look good and feel good, no matter what size you are, and GYPO helps you do that, even on a very tight budget.

Get in on this deal while you can, and look good easily all year long!