An Analysis of My Past Spring Purchases (2014-2019)
What better time to take a deep dive into my past purchasing habits than right now? Ha! It’s actually not something I thought to do until recently. Every time I go to list an item on Poshmark, I find the corresponding budget post to see what the original retail price of that item was. I started noticing that there are certain months where I no longer own anything I bought that month. (Plus, I’m currently working on a statistical analysis for work and it got me thinking about fun stats I could do here!)
With it being spring, and because I have a quarterly budget for clothing, I thought it would be useful to take a look at exactly what I’ve purchased in past spring seasons (March, April, and May) and the items that have had longevity versus the items that have not…and hopefully it’ll give me some insight into how long I keep certain items in my wardrobe and help guide my future purchases. Almost every item that I purchased in springs past and still own is pictured above (I forgot two items because they weren’t within arm’s reach in my closet, and I left out the jewelry and most of the accessories).
I have been tracking my purchases almost as long as I’ve been blogging, so there’s a lot to discuss! Hope you enjoy the flashback to old posts (and if you click on any of the collages below, you’ll be taken to the original budget post!).
SPRING 2014
I first started tracking my purchases in March 2014. Back then, I was linking up with other budgeting bloggers on Franish to hold myself accountable (ICYMI, she’s back to blogging!). In my early blogging days, I included things in my budget posts that I wasn’t sure if I was keeping, and that made things messy in the long run.
The first three collages are of March, April, and May purchases, and the bottom two collages were also from the March budget post and are of my February purchases (left) and PayPal purchases (right). I was on a self-imposed “shopping freeze” in February and broke it (lol). The other purchases were paid for with PayPal funds from eBay sales so they didn’t count against my quarterly budget.
Out of the 39 items I purchased in spring 2014, I still own 10 items:
4 pairs of shoes (boots from March, loafers and tan sandals from April, sandals from May)
Both pairs of jeans (March)
Grey sweater (bottom of March collage)
Anchor bikini (April)
Navy blazer (May)
There are a few things shown here (and in future years below) that I technically still own, but they’re currently listed on Poshmark so I am pretending that I don’t own them anymore since I don’t have plans to re-introduce them to my wardrobe.
SPRING 2015
Out of the 21 items I added to my wardrobe in spring 2015 (one of which was gifted as part of my first real brand collaboration), I still own 8 items:
Both bags (March)
Two pairs of shoes (April)
Lace tank (April)
Seersucker dress (April)
Floral skirt (April)
Black and white striped tee (April)
SPRING 2016
Out of the 17 items I added to my wardrobe in spring 2016 (one of which was gifted as part of a brand collaboration), I still own 14 items:
All 5 tops (April and May)
Both bags (March)
Two pairs of shoes (white sandals from March, espadrilles from April)
Earrings (March) and necklace (April)
Tan skirt (March)
Cashmere scarf (April)
Straw hat (April)
SPRING 2017
Out of the 14 items I added to my wardrobe in spring 2017 (two of which was gifted as part of a brand collaboration), I still own 11 items:
Four tops (white tee from April, three tees from May)
All 3 pairs of shoes (March and April)
Both pairs of pants (April)
Denim shorts (May)
Necklace (March)
SPRING 2018 & 2019
2018 marked the first year that I started blogging my budget every quarter instead of every month. It just made sense to do so because I have a quarterly budget! Plus, blogging my budget every quarter allows time for returns if necessary.
Out of the 11 items I added to my wardrobe in spring 2018 (two of which were gifted as part of a brand collaboration), I still own 9 items:
Three tops (flannel shirt, sweatshirt, and linen tee)
Both dresses
Both pairs of shoes
Midi skirt
White jeans
And out of the 16 items I added to my wardrobe in spring 2019 (again with two gifted items), I still own…everything!
Whew! That was a lot. I should probably not wait so long to do an analysis next time, haha. I find it interesting to see how many items from each spring season I still own. Did you also notice that I don’t add nearly as many items as I used to? I’m down to a much more reasonable number of wardrobe additions in one season. Nearly 40 items in 2014…yikes! 😬 I definitely started making fewer but better purchasing decisions with each year.
Anyway, I also wanted to break down what I still own by item type to see if there are any trends:
Tops and tees: 16 out of 32 total (50%)
Sweaters and cardigans: 2 out of 8 total (25%)
Shorts: 2 out of 7 total (29%)
Skirts: 4 out of 8 total (50%)
Pants: 3 out of 4 total (75%)
Jeans: 5 out of 7 total (71%)
Dresses: 4 out of 9 total (44%)
Blazers and outerwear: 1 out of 1 total (100%)
Shoes: 16 out of 21 total (76%)
Bags: 5 out of 6 total (83%)
Jewelry: 5 out of 7 total (71%)
Accessories: 3 out of 5 total (60%)
It appears that, in the spring, I’m pretty good at purchasing blazers, bags, shoes, and pants that work for me long term. I’ve also done a decent job picking out jeans and jewelry. These items have taken me through slight changes in my style (from ModCloth to Madewell) and a big life change (transitioning from grad school to work). The items I’ve ended up getting rid of the most are sweaters/cardigans and shorts. Shorts…ugh. It’s so hard for me to find shorts that fit how I like and that don’t move around!
For me, I’ve found that the items that I tend to pass on are things that don’t quite fit the way that I’d like or things that are uncomfortable to wear. Other items I’ve gotten rid of are things that I loved and wore quite a bit but that don’t really fit my lifestyle anymore (see: most mini skirts, dresses, novelty prints). I’m getting better at immediately returning items that don’t fit how I’d like or that hurt or are too fussy to wear. I read a lot of reviews to gauge how things fit and last over time to hopefully prevent a bad purchase that would result in a return.
Out of everything I don’t own anymore, so far, only one item broke: I lost the back of one earring. Everything else held up fine (which is good considering a lot of things were not worn much!) and was either donated or sold on Poshmark.
That was a fun look back at everything I’ve purchased in springs past! I hope it was interesting for you too and maybe got you thinking about the items in your closet with longevity and how you might focus your purchases in the future. I’m looking forward to doing this again in three months with my summer purchases!