One Per Month Challenge: February

Well, I took the plunge and purchased a pair of matte black Tieks for my February purchase. These are certainly an investment piece. I have only heard good things about Tieks, and I needed a simple, classic pair of black flats, because I didn't actually own any plain black shoes. Aside from saving money, this challenge is about finding quality pieces of clothing rather than spending money on bogo impulse buys in the Target shoe section. I thought about this purchase a lot before ordering, and in the end I decided to go for a more expensive pair that I knew was going to be comfortable and last, instead of a cheaper (but still fairly expensive) pair that might not feel much better than a $13 Target or Old Navy pair. So far these have really been amazing- best pair of flats I've ever owned. I'm looking forward to giving them a real test during my upcoming trip to DC, where I'll be walking around the city all week. The packaging was truly superb, the leather nice and soft, and I've received compliments on the teal color pop already.

As far as how the challenge is going so far- I've been tempted a couple times, to the point of adding some things to my virtual shopping cart,  to take advantage of some great online sales, but I haven't bought anything. Though, the things I'm looking at are for work/professional purposes, but I'm going to wait until closer to the end of February to get a couple things, and I will probably buy in-store so I know the items fit (and no shipping costs). Two months down, ten more to go!

Previous Months:

January

- S

Black Shoes

I'm thinking ahead to my one February purchase, and I'm fairly decided that I will get a nice pair of simple, black shoes. I don't actually own a pair, usually opting for more "fun" shoe styles, but I think everyone needs a pair of classy black flats, am I right? Since I'm heading to DC at the start of March for a policy conference, I think the time is right for this purchase. Here are a few options I'm looking at. 

1. Sole Society Angelina $59.95

2. Tieks Matte Black $175

3. Seychelles Skip a Beat $95

4. J Crew Emma Leather Ballet Flats $125

Any recommendations? Also, I think I may have to make some exception purchases in Feburary as well. I really need a pair or two of good dress pants and tops for work and for the conference in DC, so I'm going to be on the look out for those in addition to the shoes. 

- S

One Per Month Challenge: January

I have decided to try this thing for a year, where I only buy one clothing or accessory item each month. This includes shoes. I'll share my purchase with you each month here on the ol' blog. I decided to do this as a fun(?) challenge for myself. This is more to prevent any unnecessary stops at the shoe section of Target and to limit any excessive spending on things I don't need, and to think more carefully about investing in specific, quality items rather than just buying something (or three or five somethings) because it's on sale or cheap. I want to appreciate what I have more, and spend less time thinking about these fleeting, material avenues to happiness. I will make an exception, however, if I need some professional attire or something particular for an event (I will be graduating with a masters degree in May and hopefully starting at a new job shortly thereafter), but I will try to plan for those purchases in my monthly allotments. I haven't yet decided if I should put a spending limit on it, or if I need one; I doubt I would spend much over $50, since I rarely spend that much on any single item anyway. :)

This month I got the denim boyshirt in saltstone wash from Madewell for $52.80, when they were having a 40% off post-Christmas sale. I bought this before I decided to do this challenge, but I can't think of a better way to start than with a beautiful denim shirt from Madewell!

PS- After I came up with this challenge I searched around the internet and found this article on the topic.

- S