My First Time with Rent the Runway

If you read my last blog post, you know that I have continued my conscious consumption challenge into February instead of just shopping in January. I wanted to challenge myself to see if I could go two months without completely splurging my money on clothes. For the most part, it worked! Read more to see about my experience!

After not purchasing any clothes or make up for the entire month of January, I challenged myself to shop on a budget as well as participating in the Rent the Runway update shopping. This month, I was supposed to have a budget of $100 to spend outside of Rent the Runway, while my Rent the Runway subscription costs $69 for 4 pieces of clothing.

I tried to capture all of my outfits that I made with the Rent the Runway pieces. Sometimes it was hard because I had no one to take my picture at school, and when I did, I would wear the Rent the Runway pieces purposely on that day. In total, I had 7 outfits on my Instagram story that I made out of my Rent the Runway clothes. While that may not seem like a lot (because it really isn’t), I was distracted by being able to finally shop at my favorite stores again.

I loved being able to wear designer clothes from Rent the Runway, but I also loved seeing all of the new clothes that some of my favorite stores had in stock for this month. Since February is the time where retailers get their Spring clothes in, my favorite stores still had some sales left over from January, as well as new clothes. I specifically shopped a lot at Zara this month because they had such cute clothes on sale and I was able to get a lot of use out of them because Marist will be colder than NYC or New Jersey for longer.

During my city shopping trip with my mom, we went to many stores, but I got my clothes from Zara and Bershka. From Zara, I got a leopard top (similar to the Rent the Runway one) because it’s a simple top that I could pair with any bottom. I bought a pair of boyfriend jeans that were distressed at the bottom, which I thought would be a good transitional bottom to go into spring. I also bought a white oversized button down blouse to match the boyfriend jeans. There was also a jumpsuit that I was dying to get the entire month of January (no longer in stock) and when I found it, there was only one more left in my size so it was really meant to be. I also bought a basic black long sleeve turtleneck top because I already have one at school and I get so much use out of it that I wanted to have one at home and one at school. From Bershka, I got a pink blazer because I really wanted a blazer going into the spring. I also bought these funky sneakers because I thought they were so trendy and would look so good with my blazer and a pair of jeans for a business-sporty kind of look. Last, but not least, I bought myself a pair of nike sneakers because my old pair were too worn out from my daily gym workouts.

Although I spent a lot this month, around $160, it is much better than spending $300 like I did in December, so that’s progress! For the month of March, I am going to try to do the same thing, where I have 4 pieces to choose from Rent the Runway and spend only $100 of my own money on other clothes. This is going to be really tricky for me because for spring break I’m going to be traveling to California, and California has some good shopping for sure!