How Color Saves Time and Money When Shopping for Clothes

Blog: How Color Knowledge Saves Me Time and Money When I Shop. (I scored this dress for less than $4!)

I have no shame in admitting that I’m a Goodwill shopper. As a single mom looking for deals, I have found all sorts of wonderful things there for my home, my son, and for myself. In fact, I recently was able to come home from the local Goodwill with more than a dozen items (mostly tops, one dress), on which I spent a total of about $45. I had tried on probably double to triple that, and was in and out of there in 30 minutes.

Say whaaat?

Blog: How Color Knowledge Saves Me Time and Money When I Shop. Twelve items from Goodwill, $45, in 30 minutes.
My finds – all about $4 each! And look how they all visually fit together.

Yep, because of a little trick I used called COLOR, I have become that efficient at clothes shopping. As an image consultant, I have learned how to analyze clients (and myself) to determine the most flattering clothing colors (based on skin tone, hair and eye color). I use the color palette as the key ingredient for building wardrobes that really work, AND creating efficiency when shopping and putting together outfits.

My Three-Step Time-Saving and Money-Saving Shopping Strategy:

  • Eliminate about 75% of the choices in my size, based on color. I focus entirely on my colors, and cancel out the “noise” (anything outside my color palette. This is a little trickier at first, when you’re first getting a handle on your palette, but once you’ve practiced a few times, it becomes so easy! For many clients, I actually will order a custom color swatch wallet for them (in their specific palette) that they keep in the purses and take on shopping trips. It’s very easy to whip out the wallet and hold it up to a clothing item when you’re unsure of its color.

    Now, some of you reading this probably suffer from FOMO and worry you might be missing some awesome items if you use this strategy. But trust me when I say that this really works and that you aren’t missing out on anything, except something that isn’t going to look great on you. I’ve done experiments on myself with this (shopping outside my color palette, just to see what happens), and it doesn’t end well. It ends in a lot of stuff not being worn, or being given away, and money wasted. Womp-womp.
Blog: How Color Knowledge Saves Me Time and Money When I Shop
Once you know your colors, you can eliminate most of the choices in the store and go with what you KNOW will work for you.
  • Try on things in my colors and look for fit and style. This is where I really whittle down my choices. Theoretically, everything in the cart *should* work, because the colors are right and they’re all in my sizes. But we all know there will be things in there that didn’t quite fit right, had a quality issue (like a hole), or that weren’t really my style after all.
    My try-on process is super fast. I organize my items by “Yes,” “No,” and “Maybe” on three separate hooks.
  • Decide on my “Maybe” items. If I’m not absolutely excited about them, or don’t need them as some kind of staple, they go onto the “No” hook.
One of the blouses I scored! Works so well with the accessories and shoes I already had.

And that’s it! I was so pleased to take my items home with me and know that they all work with my existing items. (They’re all in the same color palette – including my shoes, bags, and jewelry). And I didn’t have to spend a lot of time or money on them – just about $3-4 per item.

How I Can Help You Find YOUR Best Colors

Blog: How Color Knowledge Saves Me Time and Money When I Shop
More shopping finds – I love how the cardigan and blouse work together.

Color is my FAVORITE thing to teach clients because it has such an impact on your wardrobe and makes life so much easier. Plus, the process of learning it is kind of cool, too. (I’m a total nerd about it!)

In fact, I’m such a color geek that I decided to offer a group workshop for ladies who want to get their colors “done” AND learn my color styling secrets!

Color Workshop

I’m offering the workshop locally in Charlottesville on June 29, 2:00-5:00 pm. The cost of the workshop includes your own individual color analysis (where I use fabric drapes in natural daylight to assess your skin, hair, and eye coloring), and that awesome color wallet I mentioned, too!

Since this is a group workshop, there is also a cost-saving benefit of getting a group rate. (It would normally cost more for three hours of my consulting time.) And in a group setting, we can learn a lot from each other, too!

To learn more, and reserve your spot, click here for the Facebook event, or head straight to the event on Evite. [Note: this was a past event that has already occurred.]

Private Appointments

If you can’t make the workshop, but are interested in a private 1:1 consultation to have your color assessment, contact me to learn more.

P.S. If you’re outside of the Charlottesville area and are interesting in getting your colors done via an online program, let me know! Send me a note using the contact form and I’ll add you to my wait list.

Other posts you might enjoy:

Style Hacks: 4 Ways to Make Your Button-Down Look More Stylish

4 Things to Purge from Your Closet Right Now