Why my wardrobe is full of old stuff

I cleaned out my wardrobe yesterday and I had expected I would have a whole lot of air space afterwards.  After all, I practically wear the same outfits to work every week and the same two pair of jeans on the weekends. I might get crazy and wear a dress for a night out occasionally but there are probably only half a dozen outfits I stick with and have done so for the last 5-10 years.  When I do buy something new (very rarely) its usually for a special occasion.  It's an ingrained habit that I guess was formed from only having second hand or hand-me-down clothing as a child.  I don't remember being bothered by it or knowing anything about brands until I was well into my teens but I guess kids are a bit more fashion conscious today.

So most of my clothes are old, either because I don't throw stuff out or they are from second hand markets, Vinnies or other people (my friend at work recently cleaned out her wardrobe and I wasn't too proud to say thank you very much - some of them even have the tags on them still, shhh don't tell her husband!).

(Denim jacket $20 from vintage shop, belt $2 from markets, 

dress from friend, boots $99 from Diana Ferrari 2 years ago.)

For a few decades my sisters and I have been rotating our wardrobes around. Every time one of us did a clean out we would keep a bag for the next time one of us visited. Sometimes we discover we could be wearing a top that was worn by one of us 25 years ago! That's what I call vintage!

But I can see the attraction of 'going shopping' as a monthly/weekly event for some, like a hobby. I sometimes get the urge to go in one of those big, cold shopping malls full of loud teenagers and crying babies that are sick of being dragged from boutique to boutique.  I, like many others, think that if I can just find that perfect outfit my life would all fall in to place. For the possibility of a new look that will make me look younger, skinnier or just not invisible. Then I realise I've been picking up the same type of clothes off the rack each time and proceed to talk myself out of buying it ("it's too expensive, I've got nothing to go with it, it's hand wash only, it looks exactly like that white shirt I've had hanging in my wardrobe for fifteen years").

And then there's the big question of where is that new top coming from? Where was it made and who made it?  Was it made ethically and from sustainable products or was it made by poorly paid workers in unsafe conditions with highly environment-damaging cotton?  Is it a cheap overseas imitation of an Australian product?

It all gets too much and I go home and put on that favourite horsey t-shirt I bought at a garage sale three years ago.

There's been a lot of media buzz about knowing where your cheap clothes come from lately, particularly since the horrific collapse of a clothing manufacturer's building in Bangladesh recently.

There was this piece on the Mamamia site today and the story on 60 Minutes on Sunday night.

Melissa Wellham's Mamamia story points out the Aussie chain stores profiting from the hardship of those workers and says we as consumers also have a responsibility to pay just a little more for that third pair of identical brown sandals.  After all, we only have two feet.

Would you be willing to pay an extra dollar for your child's pair of shorts to buy ethically?

*Joining up with Jess on Essentially Jess's IBOT**

Birthdays and Bloggers Brunch

Another Friday, another busy week over (gawd that went fast!), another glass of wine. And another FYBF with Grace!

I've got so many things I need to blog about and yes, I made a list in my notebook.  I'm in the middle of two reviews which I need to talk about and so many lovely things I've come across lately that I'd like to show you.

On the family front, my little Nugget entered the double digits last week and we had a little party at the local bowling/lasertag venue along with 6 of his friends and his big sister (she was surprisingly tolerant).  Seeing I had spent the day at the Kids Business Blogging Brunch and was more in the mood for putting my feet up and sipping a nice white, the event was manageable, besides the fact that a torrential downpour an hour before had flooded the lasertag room where they were supposed to be having two games.  Luckily the few staff there didn't want to disappoint a 10 year old boy so after one game of ten pin, they said they were ready for them to kill each other with laser guns.  Lovely.

While we watched them collect those hundreds of tickets in the games room (I think you can get a rubber ball for 475 tickets), the phone calls from the parents started coming in.  They would not be able to collect them (we had picked everyone up from school) because of the tropical storm which had flooded Parramatta Rd and caused untold pile ups.  So we took them all home.

We finally got home at 7.30pm and I could finally look at all the lovely stuff I got from the Bloggers Brunch.

As this was my first Bloggers Brunch and an opportunity to meet some of the brands that were willing to work with Bloggers, I tried my best to sell myself.  Not sure how I went (no phone ringing, no emails binging yet .... anyone? Anyone? Bueller?), but I quite enjoyed sampling all the products and getting to know the people.

My first stop was at Rust-Oleum where I found out my peeling white kitchen cabinets and drawers could be spruced up without the huge cost and hassle of visiting Ikea (though I do love that place).

I passed by the Spotlight stand even though I'm a VIP member and I can spend ages wandering around that store wishing I was crafty, but the onslaught of the Christmassy red and green frightened me off.

Next was Dyson which I hung around for awhile listening about how wonderful the new cordless vacuum cleaner which could almost inspire me to clean the house!  They also gave us a cute little one for the kids to use which my little niece is going to love for Christmas.

Another very popular stand was for Kambrook (could have been the food on offer) who are an old favourite of mine so I was very glad to take home to my little baker the Cake Pop Maker.  Kambrook gave me some great ideas for more pressies (check out the Little Chefs range).  The ladies there were lovely and very interested in what I was all about too (they even took notes!).

I spent the most time at Brown Sugar because as I was sitting and listening to some inspiring chicks (Toni Powell, 30 Day Gratitude; Rosemary Lee of Stars with Hearts; and Ellen Briggs who was hilarious and talking about her town which I know well, Mullimbimby), I was eyeing off a beautiful maxi (on their home page) that my mate Rachel from The Kids Are All Right ended up buying because it looked so much better on her (along with half a dozen other pieces which also were perfect for her). It's like she was made to wear absolutely anything!).  Kimbalikes picked up some great stuff too which suited her style perfectly.  I did end up buying this which I have already christened at the P&F Social Night this week and felt very spiffy.   I even recruited a new fan for them at work. She has already bought 3 tops from them (you're an online shopping queen, Yaz!). I'll be sure to be buying more pretty stuff from Brown Sugar (and I just love that their name is one of my favourite Stones tracks). Maybe I should have sold myself a bit more there, could have supplied me in a few more pieces?

I even got my eyebrows shaped with the Nad's ladies!  Anyone that knows me would have a laugh at this as they know I'm not big on the girly, beauty procedures.

Which might change in the future.  Because as I get older I realise I need to work harder to even resemble a woman (what's with the jowls and chin-hair appearances?? WTF???).  Of course I do the necessary hedge trimming but I've never waxed in my life (well except for the eyebrows last Friday).  I only got my ears pierced when I turned 40 because I don't like the idea of pain for beauty, but seeing the eyebrow waxing did not hurt one bit I might be tempted to take the wax a bit 'lower'.  I better stop talking now, eh?

Surprisingly, I'm also investigating a product which could be an alternative for me to having anti-wrinkle injections and dermal fillers, which I most probably will never do.  But first I wanted to ask your opinion on them.  The brand also has a new website which has a great before and after page where you can draw the bar across the faces to see the difference (I had lots of fun with this).  Please have a look at it here and let me know what your impressions are, what do you think needs improvement on the site and what you think of these type of procedures yourself.

Day 17 of 30 Day Photo Challenge: Something I have too much of and is taking up unnecessary space

Most of us have way too many clothes. We collect them by the cupboard full, some of us even have whole rooms dedicated to them. Who could possibly wear all these clothes all the time. Because that's the thing, some of us (OK me!) wear a few things all the time and buy something new when I have to go somewhere special. But I've stopped that lately and even feel guilty if I buy something that's not out of an op shop or passed on to me. But I still have a wardrobe full of clothes and shoes I couldn't turn down from friends and sisters as that would be wasteful. But what's wasteful is how I'm clogging up this huge wardrobe (well it's huge compared to all my previous wardrobes). I need to follow Nicole Avery's or Katrina's example and be brutal and cull, cull, cull! [As you can see by the colour range in there, I'm an Autumn. What about you?]