Take The Tag Challenge!

Anyone who has read my blog for a long time knows that 1.) I used to be addicted, yes, addicted......to shoe shopping, and actually went to therapy, real-life-adult-problems therapy to help me get over it.  2.)  I went through a gnarly breakup and 3.) I love a good bargain.   Well, those random facts about my past all come together like this.

Once upon a time, I found out my (now ex) boyfriend was cheating on me (in August 2011) so I packed my stuff one day and left his pathetic-ness and moved home.  I had since been "healed" of my cough cough* minor shoe buying problem but I still felt broken and I was sad for a long time.  Thankfully I eventually snapped out of it and completely turned my life around.  I got in major shape, lost about 30 lbs, and literally threw away HALF of my wardrobe, and started fresh.   So I did what any half crazy and newly single young woman would do, I went shopping.  A lot.  Long story short......this happened....

 Yeahhhhh, that's a picture I took with my phone around mid-December (2011) of the product of all my shopping. That is an unhealthy amount of clothes to have purchased over the course of 4 months.  Well, needless to say, I had one of those days where you just get amped and decide to throw out all of your old crap, women.....you will know exactly what I am talking about.  Well, at the time I had a double story closet with two sliding doors, seen here, where all of my shoes were on one side and all of my clothes were on the other, on two closet bars.  By the time all was said and done, I had gotten rid of literally half of my clothing and a rather large chunk of shoes, which I donated to the local thrift shop of course.  I knew exactly how much I got rid of because I now had, exactly one completely empty closet bar, and one completely full closet bar.  Well, everything I had gotten rid of was items in my wardrobe that I had had for years, I mean since 8th and 9th grade, and I'm currently 21.  I just pitched all of the stuff that I didn't really care for, didn't fit, and the random tops I had gotten on those days that I went shopping just to kill time, and came home with random stuff.  Anyways,  I filled my now completely empty closet bar with all of the clothes you see above, all of the new clothing I had depression bought while coping with my breakup.  So I now had, for the first time, the most perfect blend of clothes.  New clothes, that were right on trend and higher quality, mixed in with my old clothes from high school that have meaning and all of my classic pieces.  I was at wardrobe-peace  (that's also when I did my first major blog post on how to maximize your limited space.)   Oh, and random little Vik Tip: NEVER EVER EVER get a garment rack for your room unless you've already run out of closet space.  Having an empty one with a few measly shirts on it will only make you, subconsciously, want to buy more and that is where the horror begins.  That stupid garment rack is what led me to shop so much.   It's now what I store my scarves on as punishment :)

ANYWAYS.....(jeez, I even ramble in writing form....there is no such thing as a nutshell version for me)  This leads me to the TAKE THE TAG CHALLENGE!  I, obviously, had a lot of clothes in my wardrobe with tags on them, seeing as I was buying clothes faster than I could wear them.  So I came up with a fun and innovative way to reduce the amount you shop and have fun doing it.  You can even get your boyfriend/friends/family in on the "fun". Essentially, you are going to follow my rule to reducing your shopping urges:

"Never buy yourself something new, until everything in your closet has been worn once and nothing has a tag on it anymore."  -Viktoria

I say this because women love shopping, obviously, but let's face it, we all have items hanging in our closet that still have the tags on them.  Shoot, even in light of my recent Target Haul, I have shirts with tags in my closet, that's how I got the pics for this post! GASP! (looks like I should take my own advice huh?) Anyways, this is what you'll need:

-A cute little container with a lid- get creative! Have fun with not shopping and saving money! It can be a Mason Jar, a Chinese Food Container, even Tupperware. 

-All of the tags from those clothes..... go ahead rip 'em off.  (I know you're confused now so read on)

-A silver sharpie, or white colored pencil.  

-Cash Money

 So it's as easy (and fun) as this: 
1.) Jot down a little description on the tags of what they are [i.e: Forever 21 Peplum Blouse, JCPenney Tie Die Maxi Dress, Aztec Print Bandage Skirt etc]
2.) Throw all the tags, and spending money in your container.
3.) Shake it up.
4.) Every time you need to wear something out, you must wear something from that jar. And 'out' is the key word there, lounging around the house is not worthy of removing a tag from the jar.  And until everything has been worn, no shopping! Once you have reached the final tag, you can retrieve your little cash insensitive, and wear that final item to the mall to go shopping.

 .......................................................

 I know this sounds super lame, and like a tactic that parents with teenage daughters would use but it's fun, plus, it's in the comfort of your own home so you can be as lame as you want to be, nobody can see you :)  And if you really want to start saving, you can get your loved ones in on it, so they now that you can't buy anything new until your jar is empty.  If you're home is anything like mine you live with someone who can find Waldo in a fricking library and notices any little new thing, so those new tops you try to sneak by are no exception and will be noticed.
            If you want to make sure you're not shopping even longer, you can write a number on the tag.  Let's say you write 4, that means you can't buy anything new until you wore that item 4 times, 4 different ways.  Just keep little hash marks on the tag itself and don't remove it from the container until you have worn it that many times.  The best part is, in the process of doing this you will be forced to make different outfits from that one piece, and it will help you realize how versatile your wardrobe really is.  That in and of itself with reduce to urge to shop, because it will become something that isn't even necessary anymore.  Why shop when you can create an endless amount of possibilities out of the items you already own?

            From here on out, I will be taking the Tag Challenge with you all!  Here is what my jar looks like......a bit ridiculous I know, it's stuffed. I honestly didn't even realize how much damage I had done until I wrote this post.  I thought I had maybe 10 shirts with tags still on, turns out I have a couple dozen.....Also, as an added bonus. If I do an OOTD with a "tag challenge" item in it, I will be posting a picture of the corresponding tag, with a "TTTG" stamped across the photo.  

 
So please join me, in taking the challenge, to wear what we already own, and de-tag our whole wardrobe, pushing ourselves to the limit, and seeing what we create with items we've had under our noses this whole time. We'll save money together, and look super cute along the way.  xoxo -Viktoria

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT by posting a picture of your creation on our Facebook Wall (here)!!!  I'd love to see what you come up with, and the type of container you use to hold all of YOUR tags!

AND Happy Birthday to one of my readers, you'll know who you are :)

Fashion questions and style advice: allsizefitsone@yahoo.com