With a mother hauling me down I-75 to the nearest Nordstrom every year for back to school shopping, I had to fight with her to let me browse the racks of Forever 21. I complained because I couldn’t make sense of why I had to pick one thing to buy from Nordstrom instead of five potential items from Forever 21.

Although in high school the “quality over quantity” idea didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, I see the purpose behind it a lot more clearly as I clean out my closet and toss out almost everything with a “XXI” label.

My friends continue to make fun of my “mom” closet full of staple items from Gap and J. Crew as they continually fill their closets with one Tobi dress after another. Although my closet isn’t ideal for a night uptown– it sure will come in handy when I enter the real world or when crop tops go out of style (still waiting for that day).

And maybe it is my style, which tends to be more modest, that drives my purchasing decisions. Only after much convincing from my friends will I wear a crop top or ditch the cardigan on a chilly night. Also on that note, PSA to girls who wear strapless dresses when it's literally in the negatives: You just look silly.

With constantly evolving trends, it is hard to keep up--especially with our dwindling bank accounts. As we approach adulthood (ugh), it is important to train ourselves to think about the quality of products before we waste our money away.

In a survey of college-aged girls (18-22), it was literally a 50/50 split on choosing quality or quantity of clothing. That being said, many people said their shopping habits have changed since they came to college. Most people said they actually spend more money on clothes than they used to. Maybe it’s because they don’t have mom monitoring their bank accounts but the majority said it’s because they are tempted to buy more clothes for working out or "going out" as trends evolve by the week.

So, my solution is simple. Spend the big bucks on items you could wear in adult life. I suggest a quality pair of jeans, a nice jacket or two, a simple satchel, must-have shoes, and some classic but cute jewelry. All the rest (crop tops, trendy work out clothes, layered jewelry, overalls, extremely ripped jeans, funky purses…the list goes on) buy at a lower price point. An easy way to decide if something is worth spending your whole month’s pay check on is asking yourself this: Was this in style two years ago? Will it be in style two years from now? If the answer is “eh, maybe..?,” then consider looking else where.

Don’t think that I haven’t splurged on trendy items (hello statement handbag I’ve used once) but when I put on my favorite pair of jeans and they aren’t worn down or broken after four years, I feel like my money was well spent. Although we can agree that coming home from a day of shopping feels more fun when you have six new items vs two to show your friends, but you will feel much better when you are still wearing those two items six years later.

So thanks, Mom for forcing me to stay in Nordstrom as the unorganized racks in Forever 21 tempted me.