March 11, 2008
I started this a while ago, but am only just now posting it. Sorry!
E.C. has a dilemma: she needs a dress for a wedding, and would really like to look nice, but she definitely has a budget. I’m don’t know what the dollar amount is, but as I feel a tad bit guilty for posting about my American Apparel dress that was not on sale, and out of her price range, I’ve decided to put together a post to try to help her out.
What are my qualifications? Well, I’m no fashionista, but ever since graduating from college, I’ve needed at least six to twelve dresses per year for work events. They aren’t business dress, nor are they casual. I suppose you could call it a “posh-casual” style. While I can, and do, recycle dresses over the years, I still needed a baseline of about 12 dresses because I see the same people over and over as a representative of my company. Since I love the simplicity of a dress with no fuss, and really suck at accessorizing to make the same outfits look new, I’ve had to become a bit of a dress ninja.
The goal: I love a classy, low-CPW dress but since I’ve always had a restrictive clothing budget, I rarely spend up to $40 on a “casual” dress, even factoring in the extreme difficulty I have in finding any clothing that fits with only minor or no alterations. I define casual as anything that’s not a formal, bridesmaid dress. So these are my suggestions for where to hunt down a wedding appropriate dress under $30. Of course, this is no “look for less” post; I’m a proponent of paying as little as possible for a dress, not spending up to the budget! š
American Apparel: If you check out their sale section, they have that same bandeau jersey dress in what they call “sheer.” Since I don’t know what that means (if it’s … transparent? That wouldn’t be good.) I would call them and ask exactly how sheer is sheer. It’s only $15, but I think they only have XL left, and I don’t know what size you are, or how their sizes run.
If that doesn’t work for you, and you have the following options, I would go to: Ross, Marshall’s, Forever 21, Macy’s.
Ross: Comb through Ross, spend no more than 15 to 20 minutes and only look at dresses. Don’t look at anything else! They generally have a dress section for juniors, but range out of that area because the good stuff travels out.
My best bargain: I found what I call my “date dress.” A minor, amateur alteration to it later, voila! A lovely V-neck purple/red dress with a light pattern of flowers that looks painted on at the bottom, very subtle, for five dollars. That was a lucky find, but it’s worth the effort of checking their selections because I’ve worn it at least a dozen times to weddings and on dates.
Marshall’s: I actually have not personally found anything here, but I know Single Ma swears by their deals, so I had to include it on the list. Again, if you’re a more normal size than I, I guarantee that you’ll have better luck than I have.
Forever 21: Not knowing your sizes, I can’t be sure that this store won’t just frustrate you, but I’ve found that their sizes range quite a bit more now. I used to fit a small there, but now a lot of times I need the XS. It’s variable. Go straight to the dress section, and rifle through. As long as you have your focus directly on dress for wedding, you should be able to eliminate most of the inappropriate/trendy stuff very quickly.
My best bargain: a gold knee-length tube dress with a bit of a sweetheart neckline that I tried on just for kicks, and was shocked to find that I loved it. It ran a little higher than I liked at $27.80, but the almost tapestry fabric made it look very classy, and it’s been worn at least 6 times, also to wedding receptions and banquets. I suggest giving vibrant colors, or unique fabrics a try-on just to see, you might find that you like it a lot more than you expect.
Macy’s: Try prowling the junior’s dress sale section. Don’t waste your time on any of the regular price stuff, and keep a sharp eye out for coupons to combine with the sale. In fact, I should still have an extra 11% off coupon I can send you, if you think you’ll use it.
My best bargain: I found a white and blue halter dress, a very sundress sort of thing, for only $14.99 last summer. Again, it was just in the clearance/sale section, and I didn’t even have a coupon.
I would post pictures and deals from the website, but honestly I find that the selection and prices are always better in-store.
December 19, 2007
Ok, I knew I shouldn’t have flipped through the catalog, much less logged online to check the website for better clearance deals. And definitely shouldn’t have checked Fatwallet for coupons. I figured my willpower was stronger than their blandishments. But I did. And I did. And I did that, too. Oops. So much for only using my gift card.
So, the least I can do is share the coupon code spoils so that you, too, can get a Very Sexy bra and pair of underwear for $10.70, shipped, using an Angels card.
I ordered a bra that I’d been wanting, but refused to pay more than $20 for, from the Very Sexy line. It was on clearance in the catalog for $24.99, but I had to enter the product code from the catalog because it’s not searchable otherwise.
Then I added a pair of underwear at $3.99 because the order was a penny under the $25worth of coupons I was going to use.
I used the December birthday code since I never used my birthday code this year:
FA78017 for $10 off the order.
Second: PASS1207 for $15 off any Very Sexy bra.
Add the $6.95 shipping to that, and take out all the discounts, and you have one bra and panty set for $10.70, shipped!
October 15, 2007
My ride into work was in fog-shrouded this morning, and doesn’t seem to be clearing up anytime soon.
I’ve left my peacoat at BoyDucky’s apartment because I hate toting a heavy coat back and forth, but that leaves me with a plethora of not quite warm enough sweaters, a lightweight zip-up all seasons jacket from Eddie Bauer (gift from work), and my luxurious gift from self knee-length black coat from BCBG.
I found these two lovely midlength coats at New York and Co., a fairly nice business casual store, but of course their smallest sizes are sized for women at an average height of 5’6″! *sigh* They’re pretty to look at, anyway.
August 12, 2007
It’s not that BoyDucky was averse to a bargain before, but he was never what I’d call a bargain-hunter. I’d gently chastise him each time we went shopping and he encouraged me to buy something I liked just because it was 10-15% off because it wasn’t regular price.
Early on in our relationship, we took a few trips to Macy’s where I introduced him to the fine art of combining clearance sales and coupons for a respectable discount of 89% or more off the original prices. His dress trousers, originally $110 came out to $15. While duly impressed, he stubbornly persisted in calling jeans at $50 a “good price” and 25% off a “good deal.” Our shopping equilibrium has become a reversal of roles: he shops sales and shares the really *good* deals with me, but until we’re married and I control the pursestrings, I won’t ask about the deals he doesn’t share. Sometimes, it’s just better not to know. My frugal soul shivers at the upheavals to come when our shopping styles collide.
In the meantime, though, it turns out that my poorly disguised sighs and barely repressed admonitions of what a REAL sale looks like actually did sink in. Our trip to Banana Republic yielded a (yes, another) black dress, it fits far better than that $10 bargain dress from my cousin, discounted to $50 and a nice emerald green top for $30. It must have been the color of the top that initially seduced me, but without telling him, I decided that I’d just return the top later on. The dress, in a Petite Small, wasn’t available online nor had I ever seen it in the stores in my area so the 40% discount just had to do. I’ve already lost two dresses and a suit, all in my size, waiting for a discount that never came, so it was time to pony up the gift card. Didn’t you know? I also like to hoard gift cards in case of shopping. That also makes the spending hurt less. š
His comment to me later? “I liked that dress a lot, it looks good on you. But I don’t know about that top.”
“Why? What’s wrong with it?”
“Well, it’s not the color, it looks nice, but. I guess it’s just not as good a discount as I’m used to seeing you get. It was only $10 off.”
Hallalujah! Either my philosophy about paying far less than retail has finally become his, or my chickens have come home to roost. Or, my roosters. Whichever is more agriculturally correct š
July 8, 2007
I’m back from a very nice weekend with BoyDucky. We just hung out with friends and each other. All in all, it was Quite Relaxing.
This trip, I only took one backpack of clothing and few very necessary odds and ends like my book, an extra book, my iPod in case I ran out of reading material and my planner which is attached by umbilical cord. It was an effort to save my shoulders from the duffel-slump that’s caused by dragging a 40 pound duffel around the airport, and to prevent me from accidentally shopping. It worked, until I saw this beach towel (the middle one) and the 60% off headline in the ad at Mervyn’s:
Sadly, it was not at the lowest end of the sale price range (4.79) but neither was it at the high end (13.97). I’m ashamed to say I still wanted it. So, as penance, I’m going to return the pink flowery dress, and embroidered sleeveless shirt that I bought from Macy’s on sale last week. I don’t NEED them, I just really liked them. Still, they’ll go back so that I can indulge in this childish impulse buy instead. *tsk*
