Shopping sites

When I worked full time, I vividly remember having nothing to wear most days.  I would lose precious minutes each/every morning staring into my closet, hoping that some cluster of hangers would shift, revealing a perfect ensemble.  That miracle never happened.  I amassed skirts, pants, suits and, finally, dresses.  Shoes were a weakness.  I have an idea of the total number, but I will only admit to 100 pairs. 

Then, about eight months after our twin girls were born, I started working part time, three days per week.  Suddenly, I had scads of clothing choices for the three days I went to the office.  Clothes!  Glorious clothes!  Later on, when our girls were three, I stopped working altogether.  Since that day, my closet has been mocking me.  The row of skirts, sorted by season, seems excessive.  The dresses are still in heavy rotation (only because of ease of wear), but the suits seem antiquated.  Mostly, I get heavy use of dresses in the summer and jeans/sweaters in the winter.  So... it's a good thing I have 40 sweaters from which to choose. 

Today, Kelly is discussing favorite online shopping sites.  I typically do not buy a lot of clothing online, unless I am extremely familiar with the brand.  Plus, the only clothing additions I have made since becoming a stay-at-home mom tend to be extremely casual, usually either shorts (because I had exactly two pair) or some type of work out wear.  For all of the excess in clothing, I had virtually nothing in the casual clothing department.  For the first time, I discovered fleece last year.  Why had no one told me about the comforts of fleece???

Anyhow, where I am going with this is that with the above-referenced surplus, I do very little clothing shopping for myself these days.  I have not purchased a single shoe since leaving the workforce 19 months ago.  From the look of things, I will not need to for another 19 years.  I will be the person wearing extremely dated footwear.  In conclusion, the only clothing purchases I have made recently involved some updated C9 clothing from Target, but all of the other things I need typically come from the following sites.       

1)  eBay

I am a shameless eBay shopper and will purchase most anything from that site.  I look for deals on OPI nail polish, perfume, cosmetics, clothing -- literally anything I need to purchase.  One caveat:  be sure to comparison shop. 

2)  Target

See above C9/fleece revelation.  (Really, why had no one told me about fleece?)  Also, I have been known to purchase simple dresses from Target, particularly for summer use.  Dresses, paired with flip flops or sandals, usually work better for me than shorts. 


3)  Diapers.com/Soap.com

This one is straightforward.   With three children under five, I love the convenience of having the UPS truck deliver many of our necessities right to our door.  In fact, he delivers frequently now, and my daughters peer out the window and yell, "MOM!  The 'PBS' man is here!!!!"

On re-read, I realized that I mention comparison shopping in the next enumerated item, and I am big on comparing costs.  However, the Diapers.com site is an exception (the unit price can sometimes be slightly higher) because I subscribe to the premise that a shopper can spend more overall when impulse purchases and/or non-list items are factored into the equation.  What works for me is to avoid being inside an actual store if/when possible. 


4)  Amazon

We comparison shop for practically every purchase, and Amazon has fantastic utility for that.  I almost always compare options between Amazon and eBay and go with the most economical route.  The "prime shipping" plan they have may not be for everyone (they charge a flat, annual fee for shipping), but we more than recoup the expense. 

5)  Piperlime/Banana Republic

When I want to window shop (screen shop?), I usually take a peak at Banana Republic for ideas about how to update/upcycle/re-style what I already own.... you know, when I need to update my fleece pull-overs. 

6)  Ralph Lauren

Finally, when I want to gaze dreamily about what I could be wearing a) if price were no object and b) if I were not subjected to adorable tiny handprints and sniffly noses, I peruse Ralph Lauren... and then I log back onto Target.