Houston, we have a problem.

I don't think it is only me that has a big dilemma between my fashion sensibility and my fashion reality. I am talking about champagne taste on a beer budget, people. Ok this isn't a groundbreaking realization, or is it?

Well it certainly isn't a new idea, this buying more than we can afford because we feel like we need it. So the realization is not that people live way over their clothing budgets, but that doing so is ridiculous. THAT is where I want you to commune with me, in the place of reality, where money doesn't grow on trees (thank you Randy for preaching that!)

Come with me to where a magazine, celebrity, television, or movie does not dictate how I live my life. Maybe you are saying that I am crazy, and this doesn't apply to you. Ok then, but let me tell you how it might. How important is the way you look, how much time, money and thought do you dedicate to it? How often do you go to the hairdresser, get your nails done, buy fashion magazines, read about Jennifer Aniston or Reese Witherspoon (my personal weakness), go shopping, go looking, look at catalogs, online shopping, reading books about fashion, fretting over what you need to have to be cool, modern, up to date, appropriate? Do any or many of these apply to you? Then, this IS a big part of your lifestyle. The question is what are you sacrificing to achieve this lifestyle?

These items in moderation shows an attention to detail and your personal appearance, but it's the excess in detriment of other parts of your life now and your future that I am concerned about. It is the constant focus on these things that aren't lasting in fashion or your life, but yet you are trading a considerable portion of your life in pursuit of something you may never catch.

My goal of this blog is to show you a simpler way to look at your clothes, a way that is appropriate for you, not conforming to someone else's ideal. You take what you want for fashion and have it conform to you. It is your servant, you are not it's slave.

I am asking you to take a look at your daily life, your expenses and judge for yourself how important fashion and your appearance really is to you. You need to have a balance in your life, all parts need to sum up to a complete picture of you, your past and your future. If you are spending your paycheck on the bare minimum of bills, then shopping with the rest with no savings, you are out of control. You are letting this dominate you and you need to get back in control of your budget. I recommend putting away the credit card and stop shopping altogether for a period of time. Just like an alcoholic can't go to a bar, you can't go to the mall. Evaluate yourself and see where your priorities are! Look at those past bills and see what you have to show for it. Was it worth spending all that money for what you have in your closet. If you invested well, attagirl! or attaboy!

Go to the library and read about Madame Bovary and Marie Antoinette. These ladies lived the life of luxury, fashion and endless pursuits of the fleeting and look where they wound up! Just think about what you are sacrificing when you are spending all your time and money on something that will be on the "not" list in the not too distant future. Invest in clothing that lasts, and most of all invest in yourself, your interests, your family, friends & learning how to let fashion serve you.