From Day to Night: One Dress, (minor) Transformation

  [These two sets of bracelets were purchased one year ago - never worn until this recent trip]     Why us women always buy new clothes/shoes/accessories when going on the trip (specifically vacation)? I can’t quite answer this question at least in the past (or too ashamed to answer – cough..cough). Ahem…I used to be one in this category.

Those days are over.

My attitudes towards life and money have shifted significantly since I welcomed the year 2012 – Cheers to a year of more thorough financial decisions. Vacation is meant for a true relaxation and lots of self pampering in a comfort place away from home. We as a family don’t travel much (1 time per year, two if we are lucky).  So when we do, I want us to totally soak in the experience, enjoy the places and savor delicious meals.

I began to think that I should invest more money on the vacation itself rather than spending half of it even before leaving the house.

Again - Why do I have to wear new stuff since no one even cares whether I wear new or old clothes anyway?!?

It is all in our little mind I guess.

For this trip, I immediately implemented my minimalist approach – recycling my clothes/accessories. And hello, do you remember those old days when flying with suitcases were free of charge??? The good old time was way over so it is even more important now to pack wisely and bring as few suitcase(s) as possible. I prepared and packed our outfits according to activities we planned to do during the trip. Tried to mix and match them in many ways possible.   This outfit for example, I wore it twice and tweaked it a bit. For its day look, I just kept it simple. Then for a night look, I added a few accessories. I actually wore it the first time at night for a brief period of time so it was not dirty or anything.

Below is my cost breakdown of my cloth shopping before the trip

1) $26 Sandals from Payless
2) $0 A maxi dress (c/o SammyDress – here). Yes I wore this dress twice on the very same trip.
3) $0 A maxi dress previously purchased from Bangkok in March (will do a post soon)
4) $0 DIY Make Old New Again accessories (do it myself – part one here)
5) $0 other clothes worn during the trip –old clothes found in my closet
6) $0 purses – used an existing Chanel purse (bought in May 2011) and a camera bag

Total money spent $26
After all, I still had money left to indulge our bellies, add some exciting fun activities to our days and last but not least buy a few souvenirs for family and friends back home. Best of all, no extra junk to add to my home.   ***********************************************************   In the upcoming post, I will reveal where we went for the night   Hint...hint....Meet me at the Luau   What is Luau? Stay tuned