If you love fashion but have a conservative clothing budget,
do you feel as if you must forgo new styles and accessories? Does it take a lot
of money to look terrific or can you be frugal and still have fun?

Margaret speaks with Josephine Lawlan, fashion consultant and longtime fashion expert, as well as the owner of chicatanyage.com, a fashion website for older women, about how we can best take advantage of items we already have to create beautiful fashion statements.

Shopping Your Wardrobe

“This really is a passion of mine,” Josephine says, “I don’t
think we need to be buying new things all the time!” Josephine means what she
says; she has done a series regarding this subject on her blog and it is one of
her most popular subjects.

Josephine suggests that wardrobe items that are worth
spending money on for good quality are the basics, coats, jackets, shoes, and
pants or skirts (whichever you usually wear more of).

Pick a neutral color or two for your wardrobe basics, such
as tan and grey or navy and black, then you can have fun with inexpensive,
colorful accent pieces.

After the Basics

Bold necklaces, large earrings, and brightly colored scarves
are all accessories that bring attention up to the face. These don’t have to be
diamond studded or expensive gold items to be beautiful, either. You can find
very inexpensive items that bring fun and excitement to your outfit for just a
few dollars!

Hats are another item that can really pull an outfit
together and make a statement but don’t cost a great deal of money. Some women
don’t like hats and that’s fine, but if you do, you can find inexpensive hats,
especially seasonal hats, at the end of every season. Buy a few and save them
for the following year if you must!

Hats serve a double function, offering sun protection for
your face, scalp, and hair, as well as making a terrific statement about you.
Don’t be afraid to experiment and try a new hat, necklace, or earring style!

Everything Is Related

One lovely idea that Margaret and Josephine talk about is
how you should love every single thing in your wardrobe. “If you bought it and
you brought it into your home because you loved it, then it shares something in
common with everything else in your home” Josephine remarked.

Don’t think about what someone else might think about what
you are choosing to wear. If you love it, who cares what they think?! This is
one of the true pleasures of growing older. We have more freedom to please
ourselves and not worry about what others might be thinking or if we are
upsetting the corporate world.

When You Don’t Want to Spend More Money

When you just don’t have the money or you don’t want to
spend more money on clothing or accessories, turn to items you already have and
use them in new ways.

Sometimes referred to as upcycling, finding new uses for old
items is the hot new trend. Adding a bit of embroidery to the bottom of a pair
of jeans, using a decorative hair tie intended for a ponytail as a bracelet, or
allowing the lace from a camisole to peek out from under a blouse or t-shirt,
are all terrific ways you can upcycle your wardrobe items.

What You Wear Tells Everyone About You

One of the terrific things about clothing and accessory
choices is that you have the opportunity to tell people so much about you, even
if they have never met you, from one look at what you are wearing.

Wear clothing and accessories that tell the world what you
would like them to know about you! Love what you wear and find items that make
you feel good when you wear them. There is no need to purchase things you
already own; you just need to find new ways to use them!

Josephine and Margaret are such a dynamic pair of women, we
hope you watch the entire video so you can catch their vitality and excitement!

What are your favorite
ways to upcycle clothing items? Do you have other inexpensive ideas for dressing
up your wardrobe? What does your current wardrobe say about you? Let’s talk
about having fun with fashion for less! Join in the conversation!

The four Indonesian boys, all small but ranging in age from 12 to 14, led us along a tree-lined path. The fenceposts to either side of us as we left the island village were sprouting trees, a testament to the proliferating growth and superb soil of these many islands.

You simply cut off a branch, plunk it into the soil, and voila! Another tree leaps into life.

Just one of many wonders.

As we followed – and ‘we’ included mostly people in their 50s and 60s, we took in the crops, the streams, the constant laughter of the kids in front of us. Where to this time?

Finally, we rounded a bend to the right and were rewarded by the sight of a distant waterfall, a broad, rock-lined stream and plenty of huge overhanging trees.

The boys instantly shed their shirts and ran to the large rock over which the cool water rushed to splash into a large, deep pool below.

One boy grabbed a long, strong rope that had been secured to a thick branch overhead, and in seconds he was airborne. He swung twice, using the rock to give him height, then released the rope and plunged merrily into the cool water.

There wasn’t much of a current, so the kid easily made his way to the ladder on the far side to do it again. Hm. Are we watching, or playing? What would you do?

Take the Leap

I shed my shoes and shirt – I had on a workout top and shorts – and ran to the rock. One of the other men had already beaten me to the punch and was on his way, arcing above and then down into the pool.

Hell, here goes, I thought. I took a running leap, found my height and loosed the rope.

SPLASH! The water felt like heaven on this hot, sweaty day. The other women watched. Sat. Muddled.

Should we? Can I? Oh… I don’t know.

By the time I’d taken my sixth or seventh leap, one woman from Seattle had taken the plunge. She was giddy.

As we should be when we play.

The kids continued to encourage us. Roger, in his 70s, from England, shed his shirt and was soon splashing alongside us.

Southern Summers and Cooling Off

As someone who grew up in the Deep South, I have an intimate relationship with fresh water, rope swings and pool play.

The South has wicked-hot summers. Those of us fortunate to have grown up on or around a lake or a pool spent endless hours hurling ourselves with great and joyous abandon into the cool, and sometimes damned cold waters.

Others, whose parents delivered them for a day at the community pool, had much the same experience, minus the tree ropes, leaping off diving boards and daring each other to do backflips.

We laughed ourselves silly.

As did those of us who were playing with the kids, this marvelous day in paradise.

The Katharina took us to islands where tourists didn’t go. That means we got to play alongside the villagers, bask in the freedom of crowdless spots of wondrous beauty, and revisit the pleasure of play.

That is, if we allowed ourselves.

Revisiting Playfulness

While there was no pressure to use the rope, the cool pool remained big and inviting, with plenty of space for us to simply soak, swim and dog paddle. Yet some never did.

One of the best aspects of the eight-day cruise I was on with SeaTrekBali was this kind of play time. When we give ourselves permission to play, we revisit the best and most creative parts of ourselves. We tickle our funny bones. We relax. Above all, we remember what it’s like to be care free.

Carefree.

Oh, Grow Up!

We were often told to grow up, and we did. All of us. However, at 65, I regularly opt for any opportunity to find my inner kid, laugh like a banshee and poke fun at my adult self.

Being child-like is not child-ish.

It’s a journey to joy all over again in that way, as children, we found daily, regularly, and with utter abandon. Never worrying about looking silly. If anything, silliness is the whole point of play.

Part of the wonder of being alive is giving yourself permission to play. Adulthood doesn’t need to be defined by seriousness. If anything, a serious dash of splash every once in a while makes us more effective, inventive and productive.

To say nothing of adding sheer happiness.

We don’t stop playing as we get old. We get old when we stop playing. Giving ourselves permission to experience real play is part of what keeps us young.

When was the last time you took time to play? What did you do? How does being playful add value to your life? Please share your favorite ways to play!