In this wardrobe I'm picturing, you'll be able to see their lifestyle, their likes based on the kind of clothing that they have, and also their dislikes based on the things that they don't have and have carefully chosen not to add to their wardrobe.

During my wardrobe declutter, which I've spoken about quite a bit already,

I could really see how many clothes I owned that were not quite right for me and I really should have put them back on the shelves or sent them back when I had the chance.

So today's video is a continuation on my declutter series on things that you should ask yourself before you buy.

If you ask yourself these nine questions, you're more likely to end up with clothing that you'll actually wear.

So here we go, more lessons based on mistakes I've made in my wardrobe and when I think of these I always want to share it with you so you're not wasting your money on clothes you're not gonna wear.

One of the first questions I'd like to ask myself, especially when I'm buying a wardrobe staple, is whether it's going to save me money or cost me money next year.

So what I mean by this is that if we take a bad example, something like a silk blouse that's dry clean only, it's gonna cost me, you know, $15 to $20 to dry clean it every time.

So if you think about it, that is going to add up really quickly.

Whereas a better purchase would be something like a black boot.

This is the kind of thing where if you buy something nice, you're not gonna need to replace it next year or the year after or for three to five years or ten years or a long long time.

And what you will need to do is to upkeep it, so making sure that you're looking after it, making sure that you're re-soling it when you need to and things like that.

But that is not gonna cost you nearly as much as buying a new shoe.

This is something I learned from my mom growing up.

She actually worked at a clothing factory at one point, so she kind of knew the importance of quality.

And when we're buying shoes every year, she'll always kind of push towards the nicer shoe that will last me two years, as opposed to getting me a pair of shoes that she'll need to replace next year.

So this has kind of stuck with me.

I sometimes forget it, but I always come back to it.

It is so easy to fall into this trap of thinking about our wardrobe in a very short-term way.

So what we want to wear on holidays, what we want to wear this season, and when we can do some more long-term planning, that's how we build a wardrobe that is really beautiful, full of high-quality pieces that will last.

And I think this comes from not shopping as much and not buying as much.

Something else this really applies for are just all wardrobe staples that don't really change from year to year.

Something like a wool knit in black, a wool knit in white.

If you have something good here that lasts a long time, you won't need to replace it.

A lot of this is also judging how long you think you'll last.

Like a lot of acrylic knitwear, I know that at the end of the season, it's going to look a little bit rough.

Whereas if you buy something in wool,

I would expect it to last at least three to five years, if not longer.

So we'll factor that in and do a little costing in my head.

Second question to ask yourself is whether you like the item itself or whether you like the fantasy surrounding an item.

It's so easy to love an item of clothing or an accessory, not because of just what it is, but who we think that we could be wearing that item.

So my solution to this is that I've started to do this running wishlist, where if something catches my eye online,

I'll do a little screenshot and I'll put it on this notion board.

I open up this board pretty often and especially anytime I might be shopping.

So what I usually do is that I try to find the item on a white background or at least something very simple.

So when I put on my board, it kind of removes some of the fantasy associated with it and I can just see the item for what it is.

The other thing is that I like things to sit on this wishlist for at least seven to maybe like 30 days.

So I'm constantly looking at it and it almost mimics the effect it would have if it was sitting in my wardrobe because I'm seeing it all the time.

And I find that after seven days, 30 days, sometimes I'm just so sick of seeing that item before I even buy it and I just take it off my wishlist.

This is something I recommend for everyone to help you decide whether you like the item for what it is and then also it's just great in terms of wardrobe planning to think ahead long term at what you might want to add to your wardrobe.

Before you buy something new, ask yourself does this freshen up your existing clothes and your existing wardrobe.

I love pieces that feel like they breathe new life into my wardrobe without me having to buy tons of pieces for my wardrobe.

Sometimes one item, they will just refresh everything that you're wearing.

Let me give you an example.

If I was to buy another cardigan for my wardrobe, it would basically have no effect.

I have so many cardigans.

A new cardigan is actually not gonna change anything even if it's in a different style or different color.

It's not really adding that much versatility into my wardrobe.

I recently was shopping my wardrobe and I've just fallen back in love with my lover jacket and this piece which I've had for a while but I haven't worn as much.

This piece is making all of my everyday outfits feel so much more elevated.

It actually takes every single outfit I was wearing with a cardigan and it gives us such a different look that now I can pair it with all of my dresses and my skirts and get so many new combinations just from one jacket.

Whereas the new cardigan won't do anything like that for me.

This week I've been using my Dragon Diffusion little tote bag a lot and my usual go-to bag is a crossbody.

So if I bought another crossbody, honestly things are looking very repetitive.

Whereas this one is just a new silhouette that makes the outfits that I was wearing with a crossbody feel a little different because of this silhouette.

I think you get what I mean.

This is something that also definitely comes from wardrobe planning as opposed to just buying things as we see them.

So ask yourself, does this item freshen up my existing wardrobe?

And I think the secret here is that it's not about buying more of what you have.

More of what you know is your style.

You want to push a little bit further and search for those pieces that beautifully complement your style but maybe is not what you've gone for in the past.

If I'm looking at an item of clothing,

I like to ask myself whether I have the wardrobe foundations to make it work or to make it work in the way that I want to wear the item.

For example, let's just say I'm looking at a mini skirt.

This is something I recently decided to add to my wardrobe and the way that I immediately saw myself wearing it was with sheerer tights, with boots, both ankle and higher boots and then with like cozy sweaters that were not too thick either.

So I could check all of these boxes off and this felt like it would work with what I have.

Whereas there are other things I've added to my wardrobe where I imagine wearing it with certain things that I just didn't have.

So when I paired it with what's in my wardrobe,

I could never get the look I imagined.

So sometimes it's not just about knowing how to wear it but really looking at your wardrobe and asking yourself whether you have the foundations to make it work.

You don't want to buy an item that you can't style immediately and you don't want to have to buy tons of new pieces to make this one item work.

This is actually also a sign that something might not be right for your lifestyle or your style if you don't have the foundations to work with this item.

So a big part of buying clothes you actually wear is asking yourself whether this item makes it easy to look and feel good.

As much as I love certain pieces in my wardrobe, some things can be fussy.

You know, it needs to be styled with a heel, it needs to be worn with a certain kind of shoe or a certain kind of top.

It's a fussy item to work with.

And then there are pieces where you're wearing a t-shirt, you put it on and it makes you look and feel amazing.

Those are the pieces that are usually worth buying for me over the pieces that are a lot to work with.

I'm just kind of pulling examples today from like literally around me and in my wardrobe to talk about.

But the first thing that comes to mind for something fussy are a pair of wide leg jeans I have.

I love the way they look and the denim is actually incredible.

Rag and bone jeans are really really good quality.

But the thing is these jeans only look good on me if I'm wearing like a heeled boot, if I'm wearing a heeled shoe.

But because this is a jean,

I want to wear it really casually and I'm not able to a lot of the days because it needs to be styled a certain way.

And these items for me are hard to justify anymore because the cost per wear never comes down as much as I want it to.

And then on the flip side, there are so many pieces that make it so easy to look and feel good.

So first thing that comes to mind are jewelry pieces.

So for example, bigger earrings.

I love these because I'm wearing like a black t-shirt,

I'm wearing a white t-shirt.

On those days, as I'm running out the door,

I often put on a bigger pair of earrings and that's my outfit.

I feel three times more put together than without the earrings.

So even today, this t-shirt is from Uniqlo.

I really like it because it's the Arism line.

It's very sweat wicking.

And I also like that it's cropped.

But it's just a long sleeve.

And I love this outfit though because I think the jewelry really accessorizes this top.

All of my jewelry pieces are the kind of things that fall into this category of making it really easy for me to look and feel good.

For my birthday, I got myself this lip and cheek color.

Um, it's from Chanel Beauty.

I have a very small makeup collection and I really love this product because it just makes it so easy to do my makeup.

It's on my cheeks today.

It's on my lips today.

It's so easy.

I apply this with my fingers on my cheeks and lips and it just makes it so easy to feel and look my best makeup wise in the morning.

And I like this kind of approach and attitude when it comes to all things beauty and fashion.

During my declutter, something I realized that I am good at spotting now is quality.

It's very easy for me to see whether something is good quality, whether it's physically going to last in my wardrobe.

But a question that is always good to ask is whether the fabric of an item matches with its function.

So for example, with t-shirts.

At Uniqlo, they have a range of t-shirts and the thickest kind of best quality style in my opinion are the Uniqlo U t-shirts.

But over the years,

I've discovered that I don't love wearing these because as soft and as beautiful and as long lasting as they are,

I don't like the way it drapes because of the heaviness of the fabric.

And I much prefer one of their lighter, slightly thinner t-shirts.

The mini t-shirts are my favorite and these are kind of like your light to medium weight t-shirt.

Not the thickest, but definitely the ones that go the furthest in my wardrobe.

I have this lightweight coat from Garni.

It's a waterproof raincoat kind of style and this is the kind of piece where you want it to be as light as possible while still functioning well in waterproofing.

Because this is the kind of thing that I want to tuck away when it stops raining,

I want to carry with me and I definitely don't want something that's super high quality, thick and structured.

So I feel like considering function is an underrated element of looking for good clothes because there is quality and then there's actually wearing it.

And sometimes it's understanding what is going to be that best point for you.

And then on the flip side, with things like blazers,

I want them to be slightly heavier.

I want it to be a really durable, substantial fabric so it drapes really well on the body.

Things like knitwear quality is so important.

I like it very dense, but at the same time not too bulky and I've just developed a preference for my clothing staples.

For a while, this was years back now,

I was wearing a lot of very structured things because they were so durable, they were so high quality, but they did not look good.

To me, good quality is about having the materials that will last and be durable, but it's also combining that with function and making sure that it works for the way that we want to wear it.

This next tip is actually inspired by me going home to help my mom organize her wardrobe.

So it always makes me a little sad when we have clothing pieces tucked away at the back of our wardrobe because they feel almost too precious to wear for the everyday.

But then they also get forgotten and never worn.

My grandma loved to shop and she had a lot of clothes and because she definitely had a hand in raising me,

I feel like this is where I get my love of shopping fashion from.

But when she passed away, there were honestly so many things that she never wore and I think that a lot of them probably felt too precious to be worn for the everyday and they're like saved for a special occasion.

We hear this story all the time, you'll probably see it in estate sales and like vintage shops as well where something must have been saved and just too precious to be used.

So the question to ask here is is this too precious for everyday?

Because we want to spend our money on the things that will bring us joy every day and if something is too delicate, too precious and we're not gonna wear it, then that's probably something we can skip.

Talking about this boot again because it's kind of right in front of me but with a lot of heels or like satin shoes or very delicate shoes,

I can be a bit precious with them because I know that they will wear very quickly.

Whereas with things like boots, this is so high quality, it's very appropriate for everyday so I'm not so precious with it and it truly gets its value in my wardrobe.

I know that everyone has a different balance here but this is about asking yourself what you feel comfortable wearing on the everyday.