A Day At The Mall

A Shopper’s Paradise? I Think Not!

I hate shopping!! I especially hate shopping malls. Wow it felt good getting that off my chest.

There are certain stores, that when I know ahead of time that I’ll be visiting them I need to prepare, and by prepare I mean I have to take ibuprofen for the inevitable headache that will emerge. Through the years I’ve tried to get over my mall phobia to no avail and here I am today a nervous wreck at the mere thought of having to set foot in a mall.

Since my boys know me well, or at least I thought they did, I was completely taken aback when my youngest son, who waited until we were well on our way into Pittsburgh the morning of New Year’s Eve I might add, announced that he had to stop by the mall. I’m thinking to myself “are you kidding me?” I mean, I had no medication on me which meant I would have to simply endure the unpleasant headache-inducing experience drug-free.

I should have prefaced this tale with my thought process on an intentional trip to the mall. It begins with careful planning. I know what I want, where I need to go to get it, I get in and get out, it’s just that simple. Since I always prepare for contingencies I typically have a backup plan and an addition backup plan to the backup plan because you never know.

Well anyway, as I was saying, my son and I end up at the mall and I’m thinking that he’s thinking like I think but Nooooooo. We get in there and he asks me, where (I can’t even remember what the name of the store was because I’m thinking “now you knew you wanted to come here so why don’t you know where you want to go,” but I say out loud “I don’t know, where’s the store directory?”

We went to, gee I lost count of the number of stores, and the only things he walks out of there with are headphones and diamond stud earrings. Now keep in mind, and I didn’t find this out till we got there, he was looking for a pair of pants. I must say though in spite of the dire circumstances I did pretty good, didn’t even hyperventilate or have a panic attack (I must be maturing).

So why the aversion to shopping and shopping malls in particular?

• I don’t like to spend money, especially in view of the fact that I have none
• Trying on clothes in a store fitting room is not my idea of a good time
• Unless there’s a firm plan in place I can’t do roaming aimlessly about in a mall
• I don’t like to spend to money

While I’m not crazy about malls if I can find some good deals online I’m in the zone. For example the week between Christmas and New Year’s there were a number of stackable discounts. In other words there were already discounted items and additional percentages off the sale prices.

Included in today’s post (1 pair of jeans equals 3 outfits) I’m wearing two of several tops I got for a fraction of the cost. The gray microfleece v-neck sweatshirt from Kohl’s ($6.00) and the double v-neck long sleeve tee from Express ($5.99). The way it worked at Express: the original cost was $19.90 and it was marked down to $9.99 with an additional 40 percent off which made the final cost $5.99.

By the way I liked the microfleece sweatshirts so much that I got 3 different colors totaling $18.00 and the original cost for one was $20.00.

One of the things I want to focus on this year is how to dress well while being on a fixed income. The jeans I’m wearing in the photos are one of three pair I bought last year after Christmas from Ann Taylor. The total for all three was under $100 because I took advantage of the year-end savings and stackable discounts.

1. So one of my first tips is to buy quality clothing off-season and if you can do it with multiple discounts it’ll save you even more money.
2. Taking proper care of your clothing by following the manufacturer’s instructions.
3. Maintaining an inventory and sticking to a budget to prevent buying things you don’t need.

Following are the descriptions of the 3 collages in which I’m wearing the same pair of skinny jeans:

• Outfit #1 Navy Blue Double V-Neck Long Sleeve Tee | Express
  Navy & white long paisley scarf (wrapped around the front of my neck, twisted at the back of my neck then brought the ends to the front to hang loosely), navy heeled ankle boots with a zipper in the front, silver dangling earrings, silver & turquoise bracelet and a silver rhinestone hinge bracelet.
• Outfit #2 Gray Microfleece V-Neck Sweatshirt | Kohl’s
  Black & white long polka dot scarf (tied the ends to make it an infinity scarf and double looped it around my neck), black suede knee-high boots, silver dangling earrings, and silver bracelets on each wrist.
• Outfit #3 Silver Sequin Cami (old) | Express
  Black faux shearling cardigan sweater, gray heeled ankle boots, black & silver dangling earrings and a silver rhinestone stretch bracelet.

Remember when you feel good, you look good. Wear what makes you feel good! Have a fabulous weekend!! ~Steph