Why Not Wearing Your Investment Pieces Is Like Tossing Them

This post encourages you to wear your investment pieces and to enjoy them before your heirs do. Read why doing so makes them actually inexpensive.

Disclosure: There are affiliate links in this post.

Why It’s Hard to Toss Clothes When Overhauling Your Closet

We all know that it’s important to go thru the steps of a closet overhaul at least twice a year, better after every season around the begin of the new one. Thus, an annual cycle of moving out the winter clothing for spring, … the summer clothes to create a great fall wardrobe, … ending with winter. You get the idea.

Despite we know better that we have to makeover our wardrobe not only for fit, trends and personal style, the hard part is to actually let go clothing. Ok, it’s obvious that when you identify too tight clothes in your closet overhaul, they have to go. The same is true for too wide clothing that can’t be altered. All you can do to be resourceful is to consign them or donate them for charity when they are still in pristine order. Hoping that one day they will fit again is not a realistic thought when your body changes are due to menopause.

Why to Think of Clothing in Terms of Cost-per-Wear, Not Value

We have to dress everyday like we have to drink and eat everyday. In other words, we buy clothes for a daily need like we buy food. Nobody would think of the value of a latte or a slice of pizza! So why do it for something so essential like a dress, skirt, or blouse?

Interestingly, when it comes to a trendy item we rarely think about its value.  Getting rid of yesteryear’s trends is easy on us when we clean out our closet. They were cheap clothes. Your expectation on that $20 Must-have blouse from last year was to wear it just that season. And you know that most of these cheap pieces often fall apart in the first wash. Well, dry cleaning them costs more than what you paid for them. Of course, at-home dry-cleaning is a fraction of the cost of dry cleaners. However, most likely you even wore the clothing more than 20 times. Then it was having fun for less than the price of a latte. So what?

But what about these beautiful clothes you have, you are not wearing? Here I’m not talking about special occasion clothes or memorables like your wedding dress.

When You Wear Your Investment Pieces They Are Cheaper Than You Think

Yes, I am talking the high price tag pieces. The one you saved for forever to get them. The ones called investment pieces!  Unconciously, we think of them in material value because we know that we splurged on them. Investing in clothes somehow makes us resistant to wear them or even to toss them when we makeover our wardrobe. We keep them for good like a Sunday’s Best. But what is good enough for you? Shouldn’t you be good enough for you every day? So, why not enjoy your achievement?

For example, your diamond tennis bracelet. When you wear a $5000 diamond tennis bracelet every day, the cost-per-wear is less than a dollar after 5000 days. That’s after 13 years. Your daily latte grande at Starbucks costs you $18250 in 13 years assumed the price remains the same (which most likely is not the case).

See your investment pieces this way: When you don't wear your investment pieces they actually have zero value for you. #budgetfashion Click To Tweet

In other words, you are not enjoying them, when you do not wear them.

Why to Sell Investment Clothes That Are No More So You

To makeover your closet for fit, trends and style means to get rid of pieces that are no longer your style, but otherwise totally fine. You bought them because you loved them back then. Sell them to buy something new that is more you.

You should have no fear of your personal style evolution. In terms of the example of the tennis bracelet, it looks great with classic, business casual, sport-inspired casual or even resort style. However, when your style has morphed into Bohemian or Athleisure after retirement or just over time, it doesn’t do you any good to keep it. It has zero value for you unless you sell it.

Why to Cut Your Loss, and Toss?

Of course, you will not be able to get the money back you spent on the investment or the money that you would have to pay when you would buy something similar today. You consider this difference as a loss because you gave it a value. But it isn’t a loss. See it this way: You got some wear out of it.

The difference between what you paid and what you sold it for, is the price for wearing it. When this difference divided by the number of times you wore the piece is below a dollar, it was even a great bargin! If not, just cut your losses and move on!

Keeping it instead would be similar like tossing it because it has actually zero value for you. However, it gives you a value when you sell it.

Get rid of your anxiety about what to wear when with How to Dress for Success in Midlife. Buy the book now.

Photos: G. Kramm

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