January 2021 Shopping Reflections

I stuck to my goal this month of not shopping very much for my closet. Only one purchase for January, which I already previewed a few weeks ago. Admittedly, it is a few days early to declare this, but I'm pretty sure. 

My certainty that this is it for the month comes, in part, from how I haven't been in the mood to mindlessly browse or window shop online for clothes, shoes, or accessories, even though there have been some significant stressors in terms of both current events and some of my work-related tasks. So, for now, I think the chances are looking reasonably good that I'll be able to continue buying relatively little for my closet in the next few months, as I focus my attention and extra dollars on finishing off my student loan repayment. 

Maybe this is just because I'm specifically trying to avoid shopping for fashion-related things right now, but I feel like the post-New Year's sales haven't been that good this year? At least for the very short and specific list of clothes I would maybe have been interested in buying only if an unusually good discount came along, none of them have really been significantly on sale since Christmas or New Year's. It's starting to look like Black Friday was the better time to buy, which isn't consistent with my experience from past years. Anyway, this is definitely not important because it's so much better for me that I'm not tempted, but I'm just a bit surprised. 

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The clothing I've been checking the post-New Year's sales for is not that interesting. There's an all-cotton white and gray melange lounge set (joggers and a turtleneck) from J.Crew that I find overpriced at the intermittently available sale price of ~$90 to $100 for the set. On paper, I think this would be a fair price for an all-cotton lounge set, except that I - like many other customers out there - have long found the quality of J.Crew items and materials especially inconsistent. And there are quite a few reviews on J.Crew's website stating that these specific items are prone to noticeable shrinkage, even when the customer follows the care instructions on the label.

If the Vince boiled cashmere funnel neck sweater in this season's medium blue shade was discounted by a significant percentage, I might consider getting it even though I already have another perfectly nice and very similar-looking cashmere sweater in a nearly-identical color. In the event of such a sale, I suspect I'd ultimately still be able to resist because, even after a large discount, it'd still be an expensive sweater, plus it really is just too similar to the one I already have. Regardless, I've been saved from needing to make a decision because I haven't actually seen the Vince sweater in this color on sale anywhere since Christmas. 

In other words, it's been easy to stick to just buying one item this month!

Fashion - (TOTAL: $70.00) 

• Ugg "Scuffette II" Slipper - $70.00 - (also on sale here and here, limited sizes remain) These sequined shearling-lined slippers are so fun to look at. I sort of had my eye on these specific Ugg slippers since last November, but was waiting for the post-Christmas sales. On top of getting these for the discounted $70 price, I'm also getting an additional 10% cash back, or $7, from this purchase via Ebates a.k.a. Rakuten. Before I bought these slippers, I was a little concerned they might be too warm to wear in my sort-of-stuffy, sometimes overly warm apartment - we don't fully control the heat, the heaters automatically turn on when it's cold enough outside in the winter - but they've actually been just fine and comfortable. These only come in full sizes, so I sized up from my usual 7.5 to an 8. 

Have you been able to find anything good in the post-New Year's sales this year? Is it just me thinking that this year's post-holiday sales aren't that great? I'm admittedly not the most able to actually analyze whether this year's sales are of typical quality or not because I've only really looked at the specific clothing items I mentioned.