Friday, July 3, 2015

What to Wear After Spilling Tea All Over Yourself

A Grumpy Face and Also Clothes--Friday, 7/3/15

No one is wanting to follow in my footsteps after my outfit debacle this morning.

I put on a new graphic T, but on our morning outing to three thrift stores, I managed (once again) to spill tea on myself, this time on the shirt.  Of course it was a white shirt.  When we got back from our shopping trip, I tried washing the stain out with soap and water but it didn't come out, so it's been sprayed with Shout and is waiting to be washed.  I really hope that does the trick because I'm going to be mad if I got a whole 3 hours of wear out of this thing.

So when I got home I changed into this outfit that I'd thought of when I bought the scarf at Goodwill last week while wearing this skirt.


Navy knit skirt with floral design (thrifted, Old Navy), $2.50/wear
*White T (thrifted, Rebeccca Malone), $4.00/wear+
*Blue/orchid leopard/floral scarf (thrifted), $7.00/wear+
Blue striped sneakers by Rocket Dog+

I think the two floral prints, with a side of leopard, look nice together. 


Our shopping trip today was really good (tea spillage aside).  We went to Goodwill and two other thrift stores (owned by the same company; their layout/signage was identical and they stamped the repeat-customer card we got at the first store at the second store too).  The prices at the other two thrift stores were higher than Goodwill and apparently more sensitive to brand names.

I found a lot of things that I liked, but as my wardrobe is already quite large, I'm getting pickier about what I buy.  It helps that I'm doing the Work the Wardrobe challenge because I start thinking about how well the item works with other things I already have and whether it fits a niche/need (or whether it just means I'd wear other things I like as well or better than the item less).  The higher prices at the second two thrift stores made it easier to resist some things--I'm at a point where my demand for many items could easily go as far as $2-$6 but not $6-$10+. 

For example, at the last store, I tried on a few pairs of light colored, lightweight cotton pants that fit well--orange ankle pants, mint pants, and white pants.  They were all in the range of $7-$10 a pair.  While they were cute, Snow City is not a place where spring/summer is a dominant season and I have to be wary of over-purchasing clothes that only work in warm weather.  The orange ones were a color and weight that I thought would work well in the fall as well but they were ankle pants and I didn't think they would expand my options a lot--I would probably just wear them when I could be wearing my green or blue/purple pants.  The mint ones looked fine but for the price, not worth it--given the things I already own, I might wear these pants once or twice a year, so it would take years for me to get the price down to $1/wear.

The white pants I came very close to buying because I have never tried a pair of white pants that fit very well and were opaque enough.  But as I looked at them, I realized that I'd almost always rather wear my white skirt than these white pants in the summer, so there really wasn't any point in owning them--my "white bottoms for wearing in warm weather" category was already complete with the one skirt.  I'd rather get another white skirt, in a heavier fabric and more of a "winter white" hue than a pair of white pants.

It's too bad that my mom and I, despite being a similar overall size, have such different lower body shapes because if these pants would fit her as well as they'd fit me, I would have bought her all three pairs.  They would be perfect for someone living through a long, hot spring/summer season who wears pants everyday to an active job at which jeans are not allowed (they would be cooler than jeans anyway).

Another item I debated about a bit was a lime green blazer for about $10.  I liked it but I found myself thinking, OK, I could wear it with denim, with my white skirt, with that one floral skirt with the watermelon colors...yeah, that's not really versatile enough. 

However, this is not to say that I didn't buy quite a few things.  It's just that it could have easily been even worse!

So what did we get?

Well, Robert is probably covered for shirts now.
-6 short sleeved shirts
-3 long sleeved shirts

I did very well, too.
-4 skirts
----A spring/summer compatible red skirt (cargo skort, actually, but it's long enough that I can wear it to work), which is something I've been wanting
----A red plaid skirt that would work year-round
----A black chambray pencil skirt, which I can extend into fall with tights
----A striped knit pencil skirt--I love these because they are more comfy than PJs but can be worn to work all year

-1 shirt
----I found a denim shirt with pearl snap buttons, which is exactly what I've been wanting.  It should be versatile with 3/4 length sleeves.

-5 blazers
----With appropriate layering, 4 of these can be worn all year.  The other one is a bright pink/tan Chanel style tweed jacket that I just could not resist for spring/summer.

-1 pair of shoes
----I debated with myself about several pairs but in the end, only the taupe suede smoking slippers from the Gap won out.  They are very soft and appear to have hardly been worn at all. 

3 comments:

mom said...

I wish I could find so many clothes when I shop at Goodwill and/or thrift stores.

Sally said...

When you come visit, we'll have to go thrifting Snow City style. I even have a 30% off coupon! :)

Sally said...

Oh, I should also mention, the denim shirt I bought? The size on the label was TWO sizes larger than I usually wear. I've learned to look at clothes with size labels that are too big because sometimes someone else's shrunken disaster is my hidden treasure.