July 8, 2008
I was vaguely enjoying this article about people who look at buying designer jeans, on their quest to find the “perfect jeans,” as an investment, or as a perfectly justifiable expense. Some price tags almost make the already unfathomable $200-300 jeans seem less ridiculous:
Roberto Cavalli’s bejeweled jeans, a celeb favorite: They’ll dent your wallet by $1,445.
And that’s nothing compared with a pair from Dolce & Gabbana. Those could run you $3,950. And if you really want to shoot the moon, a pair of Escada Couture jeans encrusted with Swarovski crystals cost $10,000. By the way, Swarovski more or less equates to Baccarat; both are Madison Avenue names.
The most expensive jeans on record are a pair of vintage Levi’s that sold for $60,000 on eBay on June 15, 2005, according to Guinness World Records.
Honestly, it wasn’t anything I hadn’t already heard and dismissed as run-of-the-mill spending insanity before. After all, I’m the girl who snagged one of her three working pairs of jeans (by “working” I mean there are no holes and none are threatening) for $12. (They fit wonderfully, even though they are a little long.) I think $60 is too much to pay, so really, any more than that is just someone’s eccentricity; I’m not your average jeans consumer. I know girls who own more jeans than I do t-shirts, and that scares me. Seriously, can you imagine the laundry? Actually, having more than three pairs of jeans would probably make separating out a jeans load a heck of a lot easier….
Anyway, when I got to the end of the article, my jaw dropped:
Here’s the ultimate: Pregnant women are a key market for denim designers. Of 20 mothers and mothers-to-be I surveyed, 65% said they had bought designer maternity jeans — to be worn for just a few months.
Only seven women didn’t.
“They were too expensive for too short of a usage period. My maternal practicality set in,” said Katharine Eaton, a human resources specialist from Glen Mills, Pa. “In retrospect, I wish I had and would do so if I was going through it again.”
I have never heard of such a thing!! Not that I think a 20 person survey is worth diddly in terms of a representative sample, but the fact that they could find enough people who like the idea of maternity designer jeans? For a few months of pregnancy? *faint*
July 7, 2008
The sales waiting game, that is. Meritline has the iPhone earphone/headphone set with microphone for $10.99.
Combined with a 60% off coupon code [SHEAI60POFF] and free shipping, my replacement headset will cost $4.76. And I’ll get 1% Fatcash, and another 2% back from my CC rewards.
Perfect! It’s a shade below my previous price point, so I’m happy.
June 27, 2008
Seriously, in a day, these pants went on Final Sale for $19.98 which I could completely afford …… and all the khaki, not size 16 petite, pants are GONE.
I guess we weren’t meant to be.
🙁
Ough, I’ve been eyeing these cropped pants from Ann Taylor for what seems like an age. It’s probably been about a month since I tried the 00P, and found that they fit a treat.
I’d been wanting to replace my old capris for a few years now, having gotten rid of them long before I ever found a substitute pair, because they were really stretchy, formfitting, and too casual for work. Heck, sometimes I felt like they were just too casual at all.
As usual, they fit, but the price didn’t. On sale, they were $50. Nuh-uh, that’s way too expensive! I do have a gift card (heh, of course) but only for $30 and I’m not willing to spend that much on a pair of pants.
Just checked on them again today, and they’re still $50. Looks like AT’s will is still stronger than mine. Or is that the other way ’round since I still refused to buy them? Actually, it’s a draw right now. Le sigh. Oh well. I’ll just keep checking back. If the price drops to a gift cardable level and they still have my size, we were meant for each other. If not, I’ll live.
May 24, 2008
I’m going to Ikea for the best ergonomic pillow ever. For *fingers crossed* less than $10. Ikea’s a dangerous place, and my willpower’s low, I’m going to need some luck avoiding unnecessary purchases.
May 22, 2008
As part of my All-About-Me day earlier this week, I took myself to see Iron Man! (Is that very strange sentence construction? I felt like I took myself on a date, so that’s how I’m phrasing it.) I’m usually very skeptical of comic movies because I’m convinced that they’re going to ruin the story, but I really enjoyed the movie. Robert Downey, Jr., surprised me, pleasantly, as did the dialogue. Yes, they did take some liberties with his history for the sake of building the storyline, but in the context of the movie, it worked.
Other than driving way too much, I spent very little all day. I ate a light breakfast at home, went to a different mall to find my bag but didn’t, and watched a movie using my cheap AMC pass from months ago.
I spent some time browsing stores at another mall while waiting for my Genius Bar appointment, browsing at Borders, and searching futilely for a Nine West so I could do something about my broken flats. No luck on the Nine West, but I did get my iPhone replaced.
Made another grocery run, picked up oh-so-healthy Jeno’s pizzas, and some fruit for my lunches this week. They also had sharp cheddar cheese and multi-grain bread on sale, plus with peel-off coupons, so I ended up spending $19 on groceries. The Jeno’s pizzas are a complete guilty pleasure, but at 69 cents a pop, I’m not feeling TOO guilty.
As my head hit the pillow late that night, I found myself thinking, “That was awfully nice … I really need to do that more often.”
March 24, 2008
I’m sure BoyDucky thought I was nuts, but we didn’t have any plans for Saturday evening, so I abruptly decided that I wanted to replace my hoop earrings that were accidentally left behind at the hair school several months ago, and I wanted to go to Macy’s to do it. Given the spending fiascos of the past month, you’d think I’d lost all taste for spending by now.
I dunno. I have a gift card, and an 11% off coupon that expired at the end of the month. Easter weekend sales. Terrific luck with the last holiday weekend sales at Macy’s, and really didn’t want to pay much money, real or gift card, on replacing a frivolous item. Made sense.
It was rather strange because when we got to the mall, I’d forgotten why I was there. BoyDucky had some work to do, so I left him at Starbucks to do it, and wandered through the Banana Republic on my way out to Macy’s. There were sale signs all over the dang place, so I got distracted thinking I could find a suit deal, but no go. The next 30 minutes of wandering through Macy’s junior department was just boring and frustrating.
When I decided that this recreational shopping business was for the birds and decided to leave, I caught sight of some dresses and thought hey! Maybe…….? Nope. Nothing.
After nearly an hour, I remembered that I was there for earrings and moseyed on over to the jewelry counters in search of the sales and clearance racks. Grown-up jewelry is expensive! They wanted anywhere from $10-$30 for a single pair of hoops. Are they crazy? Those hoops had better double as spy cameras or something if they’re charging $30 a pair! Finally found two pairs of silver hoops, small and medium, for $12, and stacked with my coupon, came out to $11 after tax.
I was satisfied with a good deal, until C2 offhandedly remarked today that her new hoop earrings were 3 for $2. !!! My brain ticked all day: That’s WAY better than my deal! I should see if I can do better. But, these required no cash. Her deal required money out of pocket. Hmm…..
Make no mistake: I’m totally obsessive. I went to the mall after work, on a Monday night no less, and quickly got over my guilt about returning jewelry that C2 had picked for me on behalf of the office last September. My logic was that if American Eagle had a good enough sale, and the gifts were still worth anything, I could avoid paying real money for the new earrings. So that I don’t come off a complete ogre: the birthday gifts of necklace and earrings from American Eagle were nothing I would have picked for myself, nor were they something I would want to wear. I’m usually open to trying new things, but an ostentatious silver ribbon & bow necklace just isn’t me. For the longest time, I kept seeing C2’s face, full of surprise and disappointment when I first opened the jewelry box and didn’t manage to hide my “uh ……” face. Of course I lied and said that I liked it, and had kept it ever since out of sheer guilt. Until now.
Not only did AE not have a sale of any kind on their jewelry, the two pieces that I returned netted a gift card for $15.01. No spending and coming home with more money than I left with. I’ll take it!
I realized that I’m not always going to get the best deal ever, but I can get the best deal for me, for now. I don’t own tons of jewelry, and wear pretty basic, classic stuff. And I’m getting too old to be buying the cheapie, shiny plastic, jewelry from Claire’s anymore.
