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Wednesday, January 4, 2012

DRESS PER WEAR FACTOR

A year ago I was sitting on a plane next to a couple who were on their way to Las Vegas. Being on a cramped plane, I couldn't help but overhear to their conversation... okay I admit, I was eavesdropping. It was apparent that they didn't know each other very well because they were still making small talk, but I had to laugh at what they were talking about. The man was a bit of a cowboy and the women seemed to be a rich valley-girl that loved to spend her daddy's money. She was telling him about a girlfriend that had called her asking for her advice on whether she should buy a $400 dollar dress that her husband already told her not to buy. Here's what I heard:

Valley Girl Who Likes to Spend Daddy's Money: "I told her to totally but it! Because if you really think about it, if she wears the dress 40 times her dress-per-wear-factor is like only $10 dollars!"

My mouth dropped open. Dress-per-wear- factor??? Is that a thing!? And wearing the same dress 40 times.... that would take a long time. There are 52 weeks in a year. You would have to wear that same dress almost once a week for an entire year to wear it 40 times! That's like living in an episode of Charlie Brown, every kid is wearing the same thing every day.

At first I was so annoyed at this ladies materialism but then I got to thinking. Dress-per-wear-factor isn't a bad concept. I took a look at some of the outfits that I would have worn last year. MEK Jeans: $85, Dressy T-shirt: $20, Cute heels:$20. Now lets say I was going to wear that outfit 10 times (much more realistic than 40!). My dress-per-wear-factor would be $12.50. Still a little high in my opinion but better than $40, which is what the dress-per-wear-factor of that black dress would be if you wore it 10 times. Today I spend much less on my clothes. Here's an outfit I wore today. Everything I have on is from garage sales.
My shirt was $1 dollar. My jeans were $3 and my shoes were $5. Even my white spaghetti strap under shirt was a dollar from a garage sale.
Here's a close up of my shoes. Anyone notice the brand? Naughty Monkeys. You can't find these for less than $50 in stores! But name-brand doesn't mean that your dress-per-wear-factor (dpwf) has to go up. The total cost of my outfit is an even $10 dollars. If I wear it 10 times my dress-per-wear-factor is only $1! So much cheaper than a $12.50 dpwf! Take a look in your closet and add up your dress-per-wear factor. Is it a reasonable price? Looking fashionable doesn't have to be expensive. If you're smart you can look cute and still have money in your pocket. I will be posting some other outfits I have found at garage sales and second hand stores with their dress-per-wear-factor later so check back in!

6 comments:

  1. I love this post, I love the concept of "Dress per wear", what a great way to look at investment pieces.

    I get almost everything from thrift stores. It kills me to shop in retail stores now :)

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  2. I am totally using this "DPW" .... even though I thrift, this helps me feel even better about my finds! pippa
    www.shopwithpippa.com

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  3. Whoa.. this is super smart! Im going to use this!

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  4. OK, now I get the DPW... I will have to apply that!!!! Thanks!

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  5. Super cute. love that idea. dress per wear factor!

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  6. Hey, came over to this post your recent post and I use this same concept in my own thinking--I bought a pair of $80, very comfortable, good arch-support shoes to wear to work because I was standing all day....according to my calculations I've worn them at least 182 times....they're holding up perfectly, it's getting down to a couple dimes per wear, so I don't feel bad at all. When it's just shoes that I'm not going to rely on or wear as much I wouldn't want to spend that much money on.

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