Dress Challenge......258 days to go!

Oh hi there! How are you guys doing? Well, classes ended for the semester (yesterday), and now it is FINALS! At my school we have 2 weeks of finals, and a partial reading week. So, it kind of goes on forever. And ever. And ever. It has also been extremely frigid in the area of the world where I live. Tons of snow, below freezing at times, etc.

One thing that happens to me, very commonly, is that when the semester is starting to wrap up, and temperatures are dropping, I tend to become very schlep-y. I get in a clothing rut, dress in only my comfiest, warmest clothes, and generally look very blah. So this year I decided to wear a skirt or dress for the last 10 days of class (not finals. I even allow myself to wear sweats during finals). It went pretty well. Here are my findings...

1)  I felt more confident and business-like

2)  I got a lot of compliments...which is never a bad thing

3)  I re-discovered many dresses and outfits I'd never even thought of, further broadening my wardrobe! (which is a very good thing when on a no-buy!)

4)  Sometimes tights and a dress are even warmer than regular pants would be!

5)  Dresses and tights take up less room in the washer than jeans and sweaters. Which is pretty awesome when I'm already busy and don't have time to do 8,000 loads of laundry every week.

6)  It is much easier to update an existing outfit with a new pair of tights than to get a new outfit.  (If you'll remember, I am allowed to replace undies on this challenge, and to replace worn out hosiery...and all of my tights were in rough shape!)

7)  It was kind of fun to play dress up! When I was in gradeschool, I wouldn't wear pants. I wore skirts and dresses every day. I even did this for awhile in highschool. Once I got to college, that kind of ended. So it was fun to revisit all of that and play dress up.

8)  I liked it so much that I may even continue to dress up with more frequency!

All-in-all, avoiding the pre-finals schlep was a very good move.  Having so many more outfit combos at my disposal now really has opened up some clothing doors and helped quell any new-clothes cravings (easy to get this time of year with all the awesome sales around). 

So tell me, how much do you dress up during the winter? What are your go-to stay-warm styles? Any other thoughts on avoiding the schlep and staying warm at the same time?

Well, as I enter finals I suspect I will be a lazy poster for a little while longer. However, I will be back with a vengeance when the semester is over!:) Hope your pre-holiday times are going swimmingly!