Adhering Badly to the No-Shopping Statute

I am supposed to be saving to remodel my condo and throw a fun wedding reception. So why can I not I keep myself out of the stores!? Mother's Day was spent at the mall, because the winds were too high and dangerous for the original plan of a lovely walk in the historic, amazingly-landscaped Mt. Auburn Cemetery (tree limbs crashing down on my head are not my idea of a relaxing afternoon). I did spend far more than I should have but a) my tax return just came and b) I am practicing the one-in, two-or-three-out rule and paring my wardrobe down to a smaller number of items I adore rather than many that are just OK. A rundown of my spree (pardon the cell phone pics):

EXPRESS: (This is one store where I head straight for the clearance rack and pause only to fondle the expensive loveliness on the regular displays). In place of two black skirts that were never quite perfectly flattering (one from Raspberry Beret, one unknown), I purchased a sleek, structured pencil skirt in a soft, stretchy light black denim fabric, half off, for $29.99. I also snagged a cute watercolor-print cardigan there for $19.99.

(With previously owned light blue cami)

OLD NAVY: I suppose I didn't need another pair of jeans, but most of the ones that currently fit me are of too light a wash in which to leave the house (I'd rather not talk about the stacks of Rubbermaid containers with sizes 8, 10, etc. inside which taunt me from my basement storage). So, being sadly unable to find my length on the sale rack, sprang for the full-cost "Sweetheart" cut jeans in a nice dark wash for $29.50. They'll work with anything, obviously, but I'm a big fan of how they look with the new sweater (more on the shoes shortly!):



I also snagged a cobalt blue henley tee because I somehow have, like, no blue clothes. What?! I love blue! How did this happen?! Oh, right, I was busy being drawn to purple, pink and turquoise... Here are the jeans with it, and my new flower clip from Etsy, and my Rampage jeweled ballet flats (a year or two old).


FAMOUS FOOTWEAR: My 20% off rewards coupon came in the mail recently, so I scurried to the clearance section and scored these incredible Madden Girl platform peep-toes for about $16 (also pictured above):

I can now give away all of my other purple pumps, and die happy.

...and it's espadrille season again so I also bought some cushy Naturalizer wedge ones in a pretty metallic-and-bright stripe pattern with a bow, $27. They go quite nicely with that blue henley and a floaty crepe skirt I found at Goodwill a while back:




MARSHALLS: Just one minor purchase here- a $15 leopard pencil skirt in stretch twill:

(with previously owned black short-sleeved sweater)

Leopard is hot again for fall, according to the powers that be (I've seen mentions of mixed leopard, too- as in two or more mismatched pieces?). It's bombshell, it's punk rock, and it's classic all at the same time, and never really goes "out" per se (I certainly wouldn't buy it just because it's "in"). Some people don't think of animal print as a neutral, but it can be; paired with just about any color, it works, unlike most patterns. Witness:

(with aubergine silk button-down by Dana Buchman, Goodwill Fall '09)



(with hot pink sateen Talbots blazer, Goodwill Winter '10)

(with teal silk ruffle-front Victoria's Secret blouse, Winter '10)

See?!
(Oh, and those cute little flats are canvas, American Eagle from Payless, $12.99 last week)

I definitely have a shopping problem. But I'm trying to tame it and only buy things I adore and those that fill holes in my wardrobe while getting rid of plenty of the old stuff that doesn't follow those rules-- the duplicates, the too-revealing-for-work, and the just-not-flattering are gone! Have you endeavored to make any changes in your closet recently?

Happy outfit-planning!

What We Wore: Scarf Experiment

We had originally planned to wear the purple jeans, but it was just too much going on. The dark-wash trouser jeans worked out much better. The scarf was an afterthought when the sweater, tee and jeans were too boring, and instead of looping around the neck we decided to try the Kasmira-suggested approach of using a brooch to secure a scarf. We really used a hair elastic underneath, but to cover it we used our purple hair clip/brooch silk flower from Claire's ($2.99). We loved it! What do you think?

Raspberry crew-neck sweater, Victoria's Secret clearance, $12.99. Scarf, free with tee from Marshalls. Black tee underneath, $7.99 from Marshalls (also came with free, different, scarf :P)

Shoes are black boots (big surprise) from Famous Footwear (big surprise):

leather and suede boots, "Extreme" made in Brazil, under $30

Jeans are from Old Navy, The Diva cut, $30.

We felt pretty cute all day, even without any cleavage (trying to get people to take us more seriously at work?), even fighting the muffin top (sigh, can no one sell a jean that doesn't ride down in back?).

Happy experimentation!

Cute and Cheap: Old Navy Clearance

We love clearance (in case you hadn't noticed). In-store clearance, online clearance-- it doesn't matter, as long as we're getting something for close to its actual fabric cost, or 90% off original price, or anything else brag-worthy (we want people to know we didn't spend a lot to look so awesome ;) ). We were not aware that Old Navy had online-only deals, nor that they offered expanded sizing there (hello, petites and talls!), so we were excited to see (after a fellow blogger recommended them) these cardigans, normally $26.50 , on clearance in the petite length for only $9.99!

4 colors! 5 sizes! Just make sure you click "petite." In a sweater, surely you could get away with pretending it was made to be cropped and elbow-length, if you're taller?

We can't help but love this non-clearance front-page offering (does that mean everyone will have it like that lavender haphazard-tier Target skirt we have that we see all of the time? Ack) of a tiered, smocked -waistband prairie skirt with lovely white embroidery (although 'twould be nice if one could be confident said embroidery was done by someone who was compensated fairly for their work... :worried face: - they don't give country of origin online.)


Someone on Etsy makes something just as cute or way cuter, but probably not for $26.50. Ah, the perpetual juxtaposition of conscience and wallet...

Maybe something vintage instead? There is this cool vintage ribbon-trim one from PastandPresents for $25...


But back to the clearance... the maxi dresses are starting to go on sale so even though people are starting to talk about fall (heaven forbid), you might want a hot pink or black one in a tie-tube-top style at $19.99 before the dog days of summer.

We love lace-trim camis for layering and these (below) come in an astoundingly terrific 10 colors (all of which we adore); they're 2/$15, and in tall and petite several (other!) colors are discounted even further! They're jersey knit with 6% spandex, so they probably feel totally fantastic against your skin. (We hope, 'cause we're grabbing a bunch if they're still around come next pay cycle).

They've also got 6 colors of Hawaiian-y floral burnout-pattern scarves for $10:

Or if you're more of a solids kind of a girl, this one is also $10 (down from $12.50) and in 12 colors:



$6 for shelf bra camis (15 colors!) isn't bad at all- Vicky's and Express' are usually $15 or so.


Who knew ON carried yoga mats? Guess we haven't been in for a while. These hibiscus-print mats in 3 colors are on sale (slightly) for $12
We think this flower-print fabric hobo bag is pretty adorable, for only $10 too (also available in some stripey-preppy situations that are... "NOS" [not our style], shall we say):


We didn't even know they had shoes that weren't flip-flops, so imagine our surprise at encountering these covet-worthy espadrilles, shown here in our favorite color combo of course but also in neutrals, black & white stripe- $12.99- and then black, and yellow stripes, $15.99.

Hope we found some steals you might not have otherwise. Happy shopping!

Saturday: The Thrifty Stylist Wears Jeans

You may have noticed a lot of skirt action in our posts up until now, and it's true that we wear skirts nearly all of the time when we're not hiking or camping (and even then sometimes a nice hippie skirt and some flip-flops are perfect fire-tending gear... No?) but we do occasionally foray into denim territory.


This is our running-around-doing-errands outfit. We bought these dark-wash bootcuts at Old Navy a few weeks ago for about $30 (oh, it hurts. We miss AmVets!). They're unfortunately large in the waist which is causing a good deal of "gapping"in the back and makes our belt go all wonky. Why is it that they can't make jeans for girls with big hips who aren't necessarily big all over? Sigh. (Side tangent: what is up with their sizing these days? We swear every shirt was a tent, although a friend claimed the opposite problem last time she went. Bizarre.) However, we do like the wash and we're glad at least someone still makes a petite length under 30" (have you noticed how they've all been creeping up?)

The aforementioned wonky belt is from a pair of cropped pants we bought ages ago and has out-survived them in our wardrobe (apparently us shorties cannot rock the capri). We love it for how it doesn't add bulk to a fitted silhouette like a leather belt would. And when half of it ends up on our lower back, failing mightily to contain the extra fabric of the waistband, it doesn't chafe. ("Get thee to a tailor, Thrifty!"-- we agree that this would be advantageous.)

We have to admit here, dear readers, that we have an addiction to (a collection of, really) butterfly t-shirts. Having just passed out of our twenties this year, we're fairly sure we should never, ever be drawn to sparkly butterflies in the juniors section, but quite honestly we can't help ourselves. Granted, on a day like this when we are out and about with our almost-teenage son and people assume we're siblings, we do question our own judgment ;) We did get a shouted compliment from an older lady while crossing the street... Hmm... Besides the butterfly, we love the layered look of the tie-dye patterned sleeves. The bottom band of purple is a heathered bra top cami from Vicky's, of course (we probably have 15 of the things).


The shoes are American Eagle or somethingorrather from Payless. Love the little skulls and heart crossbones! We hope girly punk continues to dominate the teenage retail landscape. We don't really do sneakers or flats (it's so difficult to find sneakers that aren't hideous and flats that don't make us look stumpy), but fake Vans, we can handle.

What do you wear to do your errands? We can't abide sweatpants or pajamas in public... how has that suddenly become completely acceptable? The Thrifty Stylist needs some smelling salts.