No Spender Bender...

Inky www.inkyknits.blogspot.com and some gals at FL turned me on to the concept of a "No Spender Bender". You basically pick a calander month and do your best to refrain from frivilous shopping and spending. The goal is to eliminate mindless add-to-cart clicks which pays off by increasing your available financial resources so you can purchase the things you truly need or have really wanted and lusted after but never thought you could swing.

I'm going to give it a try, starting *gulp* now and hopefully making it through the entirety of March. I'd really like to stick it out for April too. My Green Light items can be purchased as finances allow because they are more or less essential at the moment. I don't expect to accumulate them all in a month or two. I certainly couldn't afford to do it all at once. If the right item presents itself and it's on this list, it can be considered for purchase. The Red Lights are forbidden. The Golden Tickets are a fantasy purchase, allowable but at the expense of needed Green Light items. In other words, THINK about it and decide if it's really worth it.

Here's my personalized "No Spender Bender" proposal:

The Green Lights

***Proper undergarments in modern materials and correct sizes that will enhance and/or allow me to wear the vintage garments I've already acquired.

***Correctly sized shoes (no vintage measure guesses or delusional moments of believing I can get my foot in a AAA width) that will allow me to wear the vintage garments I've already acquired.

***Everyday handbags that compliment those shoes and complete the look. (I had to add the "everyday" stipulation because I know myself too well and can already hear the excuses for bidding on a lot of 6 sequined evening clutches at auction, lol.) This is a prime example of why I need NSB. There's a brown leather bag I've been eyeing for months, wouldn't spend $75 to buy but essentially wee wee'd that $ and more away on frivilous items I could have lived without. I'm hoping NSB will finally allow me to nab that lucious leather chocolatey goodness once and for all.

***Everyday separates that serve as good casual vintage or vintage inspired street wear. I really need basics so this list is a bit longer.
-A pair of Freddies or something similar in a regular length and/or capri version.
-Circle skirt, pencil skirt, trousers, any wardrobe expanding bottom pieces.
-Casual blouses.
-Casual cardigans. (This means no beads!)
-Casual summer dress IF I truly adore it and not just because it might fit or
because I recognize the label.


The Red Lights

Embroidered pillowcases, dresser scarves, housewares, recipe books, star-spangled dressy cardigans, prom gowns (formals), fall and winter coats, accessories that can't be worn with what I already own, HATS fortheluva! no more random hats, red lipsticks or any makeup I can't see in person first, hair styling guides/magazines and/or styling tools until I cut/color the mess I have now, robes, nightgowns, pajamas, useless decorative items that I only feel compelled to purchase because I've seen it on the set of Mad Men (I don't smoke and found myself eyeing up Don Draper's ashtray!), buying because it's cheap, or buying something I don't love just because I think it might fit, buying anything with obviously ridiculous and way out of line shipping charges or being drawn into a bidding war that taxes my budget.


Golden Ticket Items

I'm allowed to add pieces to my 1950's Vernonware dish collection in my pattern only.
(Seriously, the coupe soup bowls are like trying to find the Holy Grail)

A perfect, it's everything I ever wanted, I want to look at it all day, cuddle in it all night and inhale it's dried on the clothes line in the sunshine scent every morning purrrfect Chenille Bedspread.

One, gotta have it, makes me drool, will definitely fit, can't look like what I already have, I must actually look good in that color, dressy dress. (If I were a stronger woman, I would not allow this one exception but alas, I cannot live without a little loophole.)

So how about YOU?
What have you been dreaming of but putting off?
What do you really need to make an outfit useful?
What are you willing to do without and what can't you live without?