Money Well Spent

I’m a big fan of animal prints.  So when I saw someone on the subway earlier this year wearing an adorable animal print raincoat, I decided to scour the internet and see if I could find one.

Not surprisingly, I found several.  However, since it was already June, the coat season had passed and there wasn’t much stock left.  After placing a few orders (and then a few reorders to get the right size), I was the proud owner of a Betsey Johnson silver and black animal print raincoat with lots of style, and at a bargain price.

There was only one problem:  the sleeves were too long.  Ordinarily I buy petite, but at the end of the season, beggars can’t be choosers.

Hemming sleeves is not that difficult, so I had it in the back of my mind to hem them myself over the summer.  I had plenty of time before coat weather started!

Fast forward three months to mid-September, and the coat was still hanging in the closet with sleeves that were too long. Since coat weather was rapidly approaching, I swallowed my pride and went across the street to a local tailor.

Less than a week later, the weather turned cool and rainy, and I was delighted to be able to wear my new raincoat with its beautifully and professionally hemmed sleeves!  Not only was the coat ready when I needed it, but the tailor did a much better job than I would have done.

This experience reminded me of something I encounter at some of my clients’ homes.  I often see pile of items that need some sort of work:  jewelry to be fixed, shoes to be repaired, clothes to be altered, stains to be scrubbed out.  This pile has become a source of stress.  Not only is it an eyesore, but it is a reminder that the client’s life is a little bit out of control.

To eliminate such a pile, the first step is to ask yourself whether all of those things really need doing.  Is that broken piece of jewelry something that you love, or can you simply get rid of it?   Do you truly need those clothes or shoes, or do you have enough to wear without them?  Measure your commitment to getting these items taken care of.  Perhaps the reason why you are procrastinating is because you are lukewarm about them.

If your commitment is strong enough, write in your calendar when you are going to take them to be done, and then do it.  If you are entertaining the thought of doing some things yourself but have been putting them off for months like I did, commit yourself to outsourcing it instead.

The $30 that I spent to turn my coat from a reminder of failure to a wearable item of clothing was money well spent.