On a Budget

Once upon a time, in a little cottage in the woods, there lived a mother and her two children. The mother was On A Budget, and her daughters were the fruit of her labors. Their names were Frugal and Frumpy, and they went everywhere together . . .

Wait, wait, wait. That’s not right at all. Just because you’re on a budget doesn’t mean you can’t look terrific. You just need to think carefully about what you have, and what you need, and what you’re wearing.

Frugal and frumpy are not synonyms (or sisters, either). Stupid fairy tales. Let’s see what On A Budget really COULD do to dress herself up.

What’s In YOUR Closet?

Sometimes, the hardest thing I do all day is get dressed. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating, but don’t tell me that you haven’t stood in front of the closet in your underwear, weighing the weather (cold? really cold? cold now but warmer later?) and your schedule (work at home, lunch with friends, meet with teacher of kid who is in trouble AGAIN) and your overflowing laundry basket (seriously, who wore all those clothes???) and thought “I just wish I didn’t have to THINK so hard about this!”

Wish granted.

All You Need is a Plan

Confession: this e-mail has been in my in box since October. OCTOBER! Good lord.

I am in my fifties, a plus size 18-20, (down from 24), trying to lose more weight. I teach high school English. I hate to shop. I’m on a limited budget. Most of my current wardrobe consists of hand-me-downs from my sister-in-law, which is very nice for my pocket book, but….she is 5′8″ tall, with long legs. I am 5′3″ with short legs. She is a natural redhead. I am a dishwater blonde.

And I hate to shop.

Did I mention I hate to shop?

Please tell me an easy way to update my look, without spending an arm and a leg, or having to spend days roaming the mall. Thanks!

Jan

Dress to Impress

Recently, the lovely Kelly raised an excellent point. She wrote, “Another piece of my wardrobe that I’ve found to be lacking is the business/interview outfit. I’ve had to attend the occasional business meeting since I became a stay-at-homer, because of my freelance work, and I have no workplace-appropriate clothes left in my closet. So that’s another piece to add to my wardrobe shopping list.”

Did someone say shopping? I love shopping.

The Little Black Dress

I’ve been cleaning out closets, which has resulted in a mountain of Stuff To Get Rid Of in our guest room (I met my housekeeper at the door last week and said, “TAKE IT ALL!”). When I cleaned out the guest room closet, I found a beautiful silk Ann Taylor suit that I had totally forgotten I owned.

I haven’t worn it in, oh, five years, mostly because it’s too big. I pulled it out and initially put it in the giveaway pile, but then I took my also-too-big black cocktail dress to the tailor and as he was pinning the sides and I was starting to see how lovely that dress will be once it’s altered, I started to think about the suit and about how for all this time I’ve had these two perfectly beautiful and classic and FUNCTIONAL dresses in my closet and I haven’t worn them because I just couldn’t get it together to have them tailored.