It is the season of wardrobe posts again. Let's talk about the elephant in the collective lolita room: money spent on my wardrobe and what I actually got for the money I spent.
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I know, we all know, that choosing lolita is a luxury. Lolitas spend Amounts Of Money but we rarely talk about what kind of amounts. Everyone has different levels of disposable income and the community has worked hard towards being inclusive regardless of level of disposable income (it has not always been that way). There are a lot of jokes about overspending and going in to debt. I have chimed in on those jokes over the years but I don't want to contribute to that anymore. I want to be clear and mindful going forward and for me it starts with taking accountability for my funds and spending.
Here is what I wrote for my 2024 lolita resolutions:
When I think about how much money I spend on my items I get scared. Partly because I don't know exactly what I spend. I could do a rough estimate but going forward I would like to feel more secure and hopefully as a following result also not feel scared. I want to be mindful of my resources, which I already am in all other aspects of my finances, so it is high time that I take this next step in being fully financially confident.
As usual it was more scary to think about the task than to actually follow through with the task. I dedicated a couple of minutes for documenting as soon as I had bought something. I knew if I didn't do it right away I would let it slide.
I chose to document the amount I paid for an item converted to SEK (Swedish kronor) at the day of documentation.
I chose to not document shipping fees, taxes, customs fees or shopping service fees. I also chose not to document any alteration fees that were needed. This is however something I am aiming for in this year's resolutions which will be interesting to follow up on.
Some items I both bought and sold in 2024 because they didn't fit as anticipated or I didn't use them as much as I had hoped. I chose to remove those items from the documentation since I wanted to focus on items I actually kept.
I have also sold a lot of things in my wardrobe that no longer served me but I chose to not document that amount either.
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What did I spend during 2024?
How do I feel when I see this number? It is a big number and I thought I would feel bad but I am only relieved. I will gladly spend a certain amount when adding to my wardrobe as long as the items have a genuine purpose in my wardrobe. I always add with the intention of keeping items for many, many years to come. Now I have an actual number to refer to and I can be more aware of my spending going forward.
Since this is my first year fully documenting my spending I have nothing to compare it to other than my gut feeling. My gut feeling tells me that this is a higher number than usual for me because I went to Japan in the beginning of 2024. The majority of the amount I have spent this whole year was spent over those two weeks. I saved up over a long time for those two weeks so it was a planned and expected expense. I am also very aware that I am privileged for being able to save up that kind of money to spend on shopping.
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What did I get for the amount I spent?
I bought a lot of newly produced items in 2024 so I would like to go back to buying more second hand again. When I was straight sized it was very easy to buy things second hand but my body has changed so I tend to buy more newly produced items nowadays. When buying second hand I also have to take alteration in to consideration. I have so many thoughts on buying newly produced items from a sustainable point of view but that is a whole other blog post.
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Tracking my spending per item is now a habit and I am looking forward to comparing future numbers. Just as I had anticipated I feel more in control and aware than before and I am therefore much more confident in curating my closet.
