ObesityHelp

Just before surgery I started a Goal Weight Clothing Fund.

Basically just an envelope that I added a few dollars to every week or so. At the end of every pay period, whatever money was left in my wallet got added to the envelope - even if it was only a dollar or two. Or if unexpected money came in or someone paid me back on a loan or I received a gift card for a holiday ... it all got added to the envelope. Little by little it grew. I never counted the money, just added to it over time.

The intention of the fund was to have a large stash of money to use on a shopping spree for new clothes once I hit my goal weight. How fun would it be to have a few hundred dollars to spend, guilt-free, on myself?!

Well.... it doesn't look like I'm going to hit my goal weight anytime soon (it'll happen eventually, but it might take a lot longer than I originally thought it would). I've been in the same clothing size for a year now. So I've started spending it. First I counted it. Just over 0!! Holy Moly!

Honestly, I can't imagine spending 0 on clothes at a normal retail store, paying full price. Right after surgery when I was losing weight (and sizes) so rapidly, I became a Goodwill-Addict and bought all my clothes at thrift stores. I was amazed to find out that Goodwill sells so many brand new, with tags, clothes that are obtained for normal retailers (Target, Meijer). And of course, every week Goodwill has a sale on a certain color tag - which means 1/2 price clothes. Almost everything in my closet has been purchased for either .49 (full price) or .75 (half price). And about 60% of everything I buy at Goodwill is new with tags -- the other 40% is clothing in such good condition that it looks like new.

So with bargains to be had at thrift stores, it's hard for me to pay - for a blouse I know I could get for .75 if I looked hard enough. In the past 20 months I can count on one hand how many items of clothing I've bought at full retail price (2 pair jeans, a sweater, a blouse).

But I took the plunge and bought some clothes at retail. Yes, they were on clearance and super great bargains... but it was a departure for me to do it. Kmart is having their annual clearance event (actually most retailers have huge clearance events in July). I bought 2 pair of sandals, 1 sweater, 1 blouse, 1 swimsuit = all for . Not a bad haul, huh? And that came out of my Goal Weight Clothing Fund. How fun

I don't know if I'll spend the entire 0 on clothes though. I'm seriously contemplating buying a bicycle with part of the funds - but we'll see.

So if you're just starting out in your WLS journey, I highly recommend starting a clothing fund. It's fun to watch it grow and even more fun to start spending it. Keeping yourself in clothes that fit after losing weight can get very expensive -- so you have to plan for it

~Pam