Sunday, July 24, 2011

The Look for Less

I don't know what the weather is like where you are, but it is HOT here. I love living in SC, but it gets too hot to do anything outside unless you are in a body of water. So, when I was trying to figure out plans for the weekend, I thought shopping would be a good idea. My boyfriend mentioned going to some outlets earlier this summer, so it was a perfect time to do this.

Then my wheels started turning. Why not do a closet overhaul for him while we are at it? I mean, he hasn't cleaned out his closet in...well, a very long time. It was time. I clean my closet every year when I move home for the summer. But, once again, we aren't exactly a lot a like in that area. You might remember that from this post. I thought it would be a fun little activity for us to do together. You know, bonding time. And I would get to play Stacey London in real life.

We purged. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought. I realized he had way more t-shirts and collared shirts than he needed. We only got rid of a few collared shirts that had stains or didn't fit anymore. I talked him into getting rid of quite a few t-shirts. Did we really need to keep the homemade basketball jersey/undershirt that had the number "88" written on the back in Sharpie? I didn't think so. He thought so. We talked it over and agreed it could go.

He also has quite a few t-shirts that have shrunk up to where they are almost midriff shirts. Those needed to go too. The only way he let go of some of them is by me assuring him that his mom could make a t-shirt quilt out of them, that way they aren't really gone forever.

I also went through and made a list of what tops matched his pants. This may seem a little extreme/controlling, but I have gotten texts multiple times that say things like "I am wearing navy blue and black together today...does that match?" Hopefully you know the answer to that.

We hit the outlets Saturday morning. J. Crew was our first stop. Since he doesn't really love their clothes, we didn't find too much there. I should tell you that he is a man's man. He does not do anything artsy. That means no v-necks (although he surprised me by trying on a few), no skinny jeans, no cardigans, no skinny ties, no button-ups with fading or graphics, etc. He likes the plain and straightforward clothes.

 Gap was our next stop, and we hit the jack pot. Here's what we got:

  • 1 dress
  • 1 clutch
  • 1 button-up for him
  • 3 solid t-shirts that can be worn alone or as an undershirt
  • 1 pair of leather flip flops for him
Our grand total added up to a whopping $62! You can't beat that. After going in a few other stores, we found some more great deals at Banana Republic. Between the two of us we bought:
  • 2 dresses
  • White shorts for me
  • NICE gray dress pants for him
  • 3 pairs of boxers
Our combined total was $82. A little more expensive, but Banana Republic is more expensive than Gap to begin with. It was still a great deal. His dress pants alone would have normally cost that much. 

Bargain hunting pays off. We got some nice clothes at a great price. It helped that we knew what we were looking for before we went. Well, we knew what we were looking for for him. In my defense, I have been looking for some white shorts, and one of the dresses I bought is orange and will be perfect for those hot football games in September. 

Right now, a lot of retailers have their summer inventory marked way down. Even if you buy something and can't wear it much this year, it's always fun to pull something brand new out of your closet at the beginning of next year. 

We left happy campers. After our little "What Not to Wear" session, we both ended up with a few new things and hopefully I will not be receiving any more texts about navy blue and black combinations :)

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