Shopping and Closet Cleaning

It may (or may not) come as a surprise, but I hate shopping.  Absolutely hate it.  I'm not terribly into fashion, and  I shop like a guy.  I go, knowing that I need this one thing, and I do NOT want to search high and low to find it.

Shopping is torture.  Which is why I was happy to find CAbi.  Now, the first time I was invited to a CAbi party (like a Pampered Chef party for clothing), I thought "Who are they kidding? Do they think I'm into fashion?"  Then I realized, maybe they thought I should be.  But CAbi is great because of a few reasons:

1.  Limited selection.  There are two seasons/ two shows per year.  Several different styles of clothing and "lines".  But really, not very many pieces to look at, and when you factor in/out the colors and styles that do not flatter you, even fewer.

2.  Enough variety in styles to flatter different bodies.  This includes shirts great for the tiny-waisted (like me, usually), and shirts for those who have a tummy.  And "skinny jeans" vs. looser fit for those of us fuller in the hip.

3.  Good quality clothing.  It's not cheap (to me anyway), but it lasts.  And I love how it fits.

4.  No shopping.  The sales person shows you the clothing.  You try it on in the comfort of your friends' home with other women to critique.

After a few years, it's getting to be where 50% of my work clothing is CAbi.  But sadly, none of it fits.

If you want to be frugal and simple when it comes to your wardrobe, do NOT have a baby.  Not only do you have to buy maternity clothing, but shortly after giving birth, the mat wear doesn't work anymore.  The pants start falling down.  The Tshirts may fit now.  They cover the loose belly, but may not be large enough to cover the "girls" if you are nursing (and if, like me, you balloon from an A/B to a D cup.  Ugh.)

So in summary, after you have a baby, what of your pre-pregnancy clothing actually fits?  The answer: underwear, and socks.  That's it.

Alas, this means that I needed to shop today.  My frugal side really would prefer to go to thrift stores.  But thrift stores are for people with more time than I have and the desire for the "hunt", which I would have if I weren't so busy.

Instead, we headed off to Sears with a gift card given to the baby (who got nothing out of this deal, though hubby and son got clothing too.)  And it was torture.  Because it was so disorganized.  Most of the clothing was mixed on discount racks, not organized by size, style or color.  I hate digging through racks to look for clothing.  What I really wanted was a sundress to get me through the summer.  But it can't have spaghetti straps or be strapless (see the above comment about the girls), and I don't much care for empire waists, because they make me look pregnant.  And I'm not anymore.  For some reason, most of the patterns in the fabrics this year are also totally Fugly.

So I struck out on the dress.  I did, eventually, find about 6 shirts and two stretchy pairs of  knee length shorts.  But not without pain and suffering.  I found a nice flowy skirt that would be great in lieu of a dress, but it's orange, so I left it.

This meant I had to clean out my dresser and closet when I got home.  For some reason, all 3 of my drawers were stuffed full, even though I have only 10 items that fit.  So I dug through the bras, sports bras, exercise clothing, t-shirts, and capris, and tossed them in a pile to go into a bucket in the shed.  The "come check on me when you have lost about 25 lbs" bucket.  Aka, in a year or two.  I also went through the closet and chose a few items that I really don't like anymore anyway (after 8 years or so), and probably won't want to wear when I get to my goal weight, to donate to charity.

So, does anyone out there have several sets of clothing based on different weights?  I try to avoid it, but here, it's simply unavoidable.  And the bummer is, there is no guarantee that after I lose the baby weight that much of it will fit.  It all kind of shifts.