Quarantine Clothing Number Crunch 2020
Well, the numbers are in and despite not leaving the house this year, I seem to have spent $628.76 on clothes. Now I did manage to make back $94.52 from selling my old clothes on Thredup, bringing my total spent down to $551.62. Plus $130 of that was for new running shoes, and $89.17 of it was purely for shipping since we can’t go to stores, so I suppose it sounds worse than it is.
But of the 31 items I acquired, only 2 of them are for my capsule wardrobe, and they are literal replacements of my favorite pants in a smaller size. My focused efforts in pursuit of very specific (secondhand) bras and leggings got me thinking about what other specific items I could track down, and that led me to the pants for my capsule.
At the same time, I started feeling very cold around the house since the pajama pants I purchased in the spring were no longer adequate for winter. And that same issue sent me searching for socks.
The only somewhat frivolous purchase I made this year was a handbag from Thredup that I didn’t exactly need, and for which I blame The Anna Edit and Lizzy Hadfield. All this to say that despite my feeling out of control with my spending in November and December, it was all utterly practical.
But those utterly practical items are also the ones that we don’t want to have to spend money on. We expect that sweatpants and socks are just always there at the back of our drawers. But with my recent weight loss (and all my previous gains and losses), I’m left without those old cast-offs we take for granted.
Here’s what I bought:
2/6/20 Running Shoes $130
4/7/20 Grey GAP PJ Pants $21.57
4/20/20 Black GAP PJ Pants $27.20
5/7/20 Blue GAP PJ Pants $21.58
10/11/20 Thredup Neely Mack Handbag $37.69 + $3.32 tax + $5.99 sh
10/11/20 Thredup Danskin Leggings $9.75 (free sh)
RETURNED 11/4/20 Thredup Danskin Now leggings ($16.99 free sh)
11/6/20 Ebay black 34B B1321 bra $14.95 (free sh)
11/6/20 Poshmark black 38B RN72409 bra $12 + $7.11 sh
11/10/20 Poshmark tan 36B B1421 bra $13 + $7.11 sh
11/10/20 Poshmark pink 36C MOB1321 bra $10 + $7.11 sh
11/10/20 Poshmark black and white 36C B15279 bras $8 + $8 + $7.11 sh
11/12/20 Poshmark black and white 38C B1321 bras $15 + $7.11 sh
11/13/20 Poshmark grey Danskin leggings NWT $15 + $4.99 sh
11/18/20 Poshmark black 38C B1321 bra $11 + $7.11 sh
11/20/20 Lands’ End 2 pairs M Serious Sweatpants $44.94 (free sh)
RETURNED 11/20/20 Lands’ End 2 pairs L Serious Sweatpants and 2 pairs fleece socks ($57.88 free sh)
11/21/20 Poshmark Under Armour fleece joggers $22 + $4.99 sh
11/26/20 Poshmark 2 pair J. Crew pants $47 + $7.11 sh
RETURNED 11/28/20 Under Armour leggings and top ($87.49 free sh)
11/29/20 Dick’s Sporting Goods 5 pairs socks $26.98 + $6.99 sh
12/4/20 Poshmark black Danskin leggings $5 + $7.11 sh
12/10/20 Lands’ End 2 Serious Sweatshirts $35.96 + $9 sh
I also received 2 Christmas gifts:
12/25/20 RBX fleece-lined leggings size L (Christmas gift)
12/25/20 Fratelli Talli wool-blend winter hat (Christmas gift)
Here’s a breakdown of my purchases by category:
Loungewear and PJs: ($160.25)
3 GAP PJ pants
2 Lands’ End sweatpants
2 Lands’ End sweatshirts
Gym Wear: ($198.84)
Running shoes
Thredup leggings
Poshmark grey leggings
Poshmark black leggings
Under Armour fleece joggers
RBX fleece-lined leggings (Christmas gift)
Bras: ($134.65)
9 Ebay/Poshmark bras
Accessories: ($80.97)
3 Adidas socks
2 Cozy Cabin socks
Thredup handbag
Winter hat (Christmas gift)
Capsule: ($54.11)
2 Poshmark J. Crew pants
Seeing it laid out like this does help me make sense of it all. I mean, if anything it’s the OOTH stuff that doesn’t make sense. I literally didn’t wear any of my capsule, handbags, or bras this year, so why did I even feel the need to buy them?
Well, the bras were a passion project. It didn’t completely make sense to buy 9 used bras, but it did help me survive the election fallout, the nail-biting over whether we still live in a democracy or whether we’re subject to a totalitarian state. Think of that $134.65 as therapy.
The handbag we’ve discussed— the bloggers made me do it.
And finding those 2 pairs of J. Crew pants in size 10 to replace my identical size 14s was an absolute lark, an irresistible chance to wear my favorite pants at my current weight. I mean, come on. I was honestly considering gaining some weight back just so the 14s would fit— that’s how much I loved those pants. Who cares that I won’t get to wear them for another 6 months while the vaccine rolls out?
One statistic I’m quite pleased with is the Used vs. New percentage (not including gifts):
48% Used ($304.54)
52% New ($324.22)
Despite most of this stuff being things you just don’t buy secondhand (bras, leggings, sweats, socks), I somehow managed to get the bras, leggings, joggers—and handbag—secondhand (the smell does come out eventually).
The new items were the Lands’ End sweats, socks, running shoes, and pajama pants. These are all things that just wear out and I feel you have to buy new. But literally everything I bought all year (except for the handbag) was a replacement for something that wore out or got too big. (Oh boy, I’m really feeling the rationalization now.)
I did not, however, try any ethical/sustainable brands for the things I needed to buy new. It just seemed like a lot of trouble to pay for shipping, return shipping, higher prices, etc. when I don’t even know my size in these new-to-me brands. With the big clothing companies (Lands’ End, GAP), I could order multiple sizes and get free shipping, and then return whatever didn’t fit for free.
I just hate paying for shipping. I will go so far as to order $100 worth of stuff from Lands’ End (which I did) just to get free shipping. I mean, lots of people must do this. The company must benefit from it somehow— people either end up liking the extra stuff they order or are just too lazy to return it. I, on the other hand, squeeze every drop out of them and return the stuff right away.
With the Lands’ End sweatpants, I ordered 2 colors in Large and 2 colors in Medium because I didn’t know what would fit. But the 50% discount was so good that I still didn’t reach the $100 threshold for free shipping. So I threw in 2 pairs of fleece socks and that finally did it. But the socks and the size Large pants went right back.
Then I still needed socks, so I ended up having to order from Dick’s Sporting Goods and pay $6.99 for shipping. And when I went back on Lands’ End to order matching sweatshirts to go with my pants (the allure of matching sets was too good to pass up), it seemed silly to do the whole $100 rigamarole again, so I paid $9 for shipping. I had no choice but to pay shipping on every one of those bras and leggings and pants from Poshmark. It’s $7.11 per order from each seller, which works out alright if you buy more than one item from a seller, but what are the odds of that happening when you’re on a bra mission?
As far as the timeline goes, here’s the breakdown by month:
2020:
Jan 0
Feb $130
Mar 0
Apr $48.77
May $21.58
Jun 0
Jul 0
Aug 0
Sep 0
Oct $56.73
Nov $314.68
Dec $57.07
This comes out to an average of $52.40 per month. Better than last year, but it still seems like a lot for essentials only. There were a total of 29 items that I paid for (2 items were gifts), so it comes out to an average price of $21.68 per item. The most expensive items were the running shoes at $130, and the least expensive were a pair of Adidas socks at about $6 including shipping.
If we offset my total spent ($628.76) by the amount credited to me by Thredup ($94.52), this brings my total down to $534.24, and my monthly average down to $44.52. Not bad.
I did have one failed purchase that could not be returned, and that was the pair of grey Danskin leggings I bought New With Tags on Poshmark. It turns out they had a low rise as opposed to the high rise I wanted. I’d already cut off the tag and washed them when I realized this, so it didn’t seem worth it to sell them on Ebay, but they will eventually go into a Thredup bag for resale.
Aside from that, I’m quite happy with my purchases for 2020. I have plenty of stuff to get me through early 2021 as far as lounging, sleeping, and working out— the only things I really do. And there are those few OOTH items I have to look forward to. We’re still a long way from sitting in coffee shops mask-free, but at least there’s a light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccines. Thank god Biden is in charge now.