I had a wonderful Christmas and we're still enjoying my husband's vacation time.  I hope your holiday was peaceful and joyful as well. I figured it was time for another post and I tried to kick my brain into a creative gear. 
Nothing happened. I thought, "But I want to post something profound and perfect."  Bupkis. 
Could it be that my 2 year old not sleeping in her travel bed AT ALL during this vacation has sapped me of all my zest for style?  Maybe.  I'm pretty sapped. 
Nothing percolated to the top of my conscience.   
Finally, when I couldn't come up with something "profound and perfect", I was inspired by my mother.  We were going through her closet.  She recently lost some weight and many things no longer fit her so we were clearing those items out and reorganizing her closet.  Pretty much heaven for me.  It's one of my favorite pastimes. 
During the shifting, shuffling, trying on and rehanging, I reminded her several times of the two cardinal criteria she is to apply to any future shopping trips:

Does this item fill a hole in my wardrobe or replace a worn out/ill fitting item? 
If the answer to those questions is no - she doesn't need it right now.  And the topic for this post was born.  Many of us were probably given cash/gift cards for Christmas that we are about to start shopping with.  Maybe for clothes. 
As we did with my mothers closet today, a smart way for you to go about any future shopping is to take a serious inventory of everything you have and make a little list of the holes in your wardrobe you would like to fill.  Take it with you when you shop. 
Just as a grocery list helps you focus your efforts and save money when shopping for food (avoiding those unnecessary impulse buys) a style list helps do the same when you're clothing shopping.  You probably won't need a list to spot the items similar to the ones you love to wear right now.  But if you already have five white t-shirts hanging in your closet... you don't need another one.  If you have one black t-shirt that is faded and pilled... replace it.  And by replace I mean REPLACE.  When you get home, you throw out (or donate) the old item. 
An overstuffed wardrobe does not a great wardrobe make.
I hope this little tip is useful and makes your shopping trips this year more successful, culminating in better style and happier dressing. 
And let's all repeat it again, just for good measure -
1.  Fill A Hole
2.  Replace