Discount Clothing Retailers

Day 29

I love discount clothing retailers like Ross, Marshalls, and TJ Maxx. It is fun to fish around in there and see what you come up with. But I rarely go to these stores when I need something to wear for a specific occasion. This is because it takes a LOT of looking to find what you are looking for, and there is no one employed to help you find the right outfit/shoes/accessories combination. And I am not very good at “putting it together.” I really rely on fashion magazines, salespeople, and my cousins fashion blog for advise on how to use clothing and accessories to put together a look.

But today I had a banquet to go to. And since I have recently lost a lot of the weight I gained while I was pregnant, very few of my clothes are fitting well. I went to Dillard’s first, where they had an amazing sale on some beautiful cocktail dresses. But they all started two sizes too big for me. The salesman was so helpful looking around for my size, but it seems like the “smalls” were all gone. As I walked out of the store I looked all the way to the other end of the mall where I could see the Ross in the distance.

I jumped in my car and went to Ross. I was in there for over an hour sifting through disorganized racks of clothing. But I did find 2 dresses: one cocktail dress for this evening and one wrap dress suitable for work. The cocktail dress was 20.99 (and it was Calvin Klein!) and the wrap dress was on clearance for 9.99. I also bought a strapless bra for the evening dress: an additional 9.99. All together I spent $41.

I always struggle with how to document purchases like this in this blog. How can I compare what I spent when I am not sure how much I would have spent on an item in a retail store? But this time there is a direct comparison: I was ready to spend $80 on a cocktail dress at Dillard’s. And instead bought 3 items for half of that: so I am going to say that I saved $40.

$40 is a good way to look at what I saved for the purposes of this blog. Although I suspect that I really saved much more if I were to factor in what I got for the money.

SAVINGS TO DATE: - $ 485.69  (previous total + $40 saved off retail)

 TIME SPENT TODAY: - 1.5 hours (Sifting and trying on at least 9 dresses in order to find the two I ultimately purchased).