I look in my closet and I\u2019m so uninspired. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the better part of the last two years I\u2019ve been\nunemployed. Ouch! That\u2019s so hard to hear, even if I\u2019m only hearing it in my\nhead because I\u2019m not talking out loud as I\u2019m writing this. But it was even\nharder to experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That time was filled with so much stress about when I was\ngoing to get another job, and how I was going to pay my bills, that buying new\nclothes and prioritizing self-expression through my outward appearance never\ncrossed my mind. I actually can\u2019t even remember the last time I went to the\nmall. Oh, yes, I can. It was a little\nover a year ago, to buy a belt to spiffy up a dress I was going to wear to an\ninterview. But, before that \u2013 beat\u2019s me. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I eventually landed a job last October, I did a little\nonline shopping and physically went to DSW. I ended up buying two pairs of\nshoes, which, by the way, I\u2019m still wearing to this day. I lost that job soon\nthereafter, and haven\u2019t gotten any more shoes since. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before all that went down, I used to flip through magazines,\ncheck out fashion blogs and scroll Instagram, looking for the latest styles, or\njust something cute and interesting that I could try to recreate. But even\nthen, I\u2019ve never had a lot of clothes. Show me the tiniest closet in your\nhouse, and I probably don\u2019t have enough clothes to fill it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Same story with my shoes. Right now, I have about 10 pairs\nof shoes, and I only wear four regularly: two flats, and two sneakers. Part of the reason my shoe count is so low is\nbecause of my shoe size. At size 11, cute and comfy shoes are so hard to find that when I do come\nacross a pair I like, I just wear them\nuntil they either look really bad, or fall apart \u2013 literally. I\u2019ve actually had\na couple of shoes fall apart while I was walking in them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now I have a job. It doesn\u2019t pay much, but it\u2019s enough to\ncover some bills, and, if I stretch it right, have some change left over for Jack\nN the Box curly fries. And therein lies\npart of my problem. Now that I have a paycheck again, I\u2019ve been buying the fast\nfood that I couldn\u2019t afford when I was out of a job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But when I get dressed to go somewhere on my days off, or\neven to work for that matter, most of the options in my closet just don\u2019t do it\nfor me anymore. Thankfully, I have a\ngood sense of style, so I\u2019ve been able to collect a few timeless pieces that\nhave allowed me to put together a few stylish outfits here and there, even though\nthey are years old. I think the oldest piece in my closet is a pair of denim\ntrousers that I got from the Gap back in 2007. The latest is a stripped-cotton\ntee that I got from TJMaxx about two months ago. I love them both. But overall, my wardrobe is a bore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s when it dawned on that my egg roll and ice cream\nmoney might be better served going towards new clothes. I mean, \u2018cause food is cheap until you keep\nbuying it. That $50 I spend, over five days, on Popeye\u2019s and pad thai could be\na totally new outfit from TJ Maxx. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don\u2019t get me wrong about food \u2013 I love food. Food is one of\nthe great joys of my life. But food is such a temporal experience. You spend\n$10 and within 10 minutes it\u2019s gone \u2013 well, at least the way I eat. But I have\na pair of camouflage pants I bought at the Gap seven years ago, on clearance\nfor $7, and they still look good today. Granted\nI don\u2019t come across deals like that too often, but even if I would have spent\n$200 on them, it\u2019s seven years later. That still would have been a better deal\nthan some of this fast food I\u2019ve been consuming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So lately, I\u2019ve been fancying cutting back on some of the\nfast food in favor of fashion. And not just fashion for fashion sake. I\u2019ve\nnever been one that\u2019s too big on trends. \nBut fashion for self-expression sake. Like, I want my clothes to say\nsomething about my personality other than I have little money and I like food. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To do this, I decided to give myself a clothes budget,\nbecause, well, I have little money and I like food. I challenged myself to buy nothing over $10.\nI figured I could find shirts and pants for that amount on the clearance rack\nor on final sale, but I was sorely wrong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While I did get the aforementioned stripped cotton tee at TJ\nMaxx for $9.99 before the tax, deals like that are hard to come by. Plus, the\namount of time it takes to go rummaging a sale rack and going through all the\nitems at a discount store, ultimately, for me, isn\u2019t worth the low price. Like the saying goes, time is money, and\nsaving $20 isn\u2019t worth it if it takes me five hours to do it. I ain\u2019t got time\nto be spending several hours going to multiple stores in hopes of something\nthat may not even be there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I guess that means I\u2019ve got to come up with another plan.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I can start with staying away from the drive-thrus and\nvending machines, and disciplining myself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because I think it\u2019s time I start putting a little more\neffort into how I present myself to the world, and more importantly, how I\npresent myself to me. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I look in my closet and I\u2019m so uninspired. For the better part of the last two years I\u2019ve been unemployed. Ouch! That\u2019s so hard to hear, even if I\u2019m only hearing it in my head because I\u2019m not talking…<\/p>\n