AND THE PRICE IS...

I love my old clothes. Maybe too much. I have beautiful skirts that I bought at a store that hasn’t been in business for a while. But I get compliments on them anyway, old as they are. Older may define my style. I just recently divested myself of a beloved denim dress that I bought when we moved into our house in 1984. It was roomy and easy and the epitome of summer. Though for about 6 years, it sat sadly, waiting for me to wear it. But I didn’t—too baggy. Loath to get rid of it, I took it to the tailor, who took out the lumpy pockets and made it more form fitting. I wore it for a few more years. After a while, I tried to continue loving it, but I couldn’t. Sadly, I put it in the “give away” bag. It was in great condition, having aged better than I did. I hope that someone else is loving it as much as I loved it. And Howard also holds onto things pretty much as I do. He found himself searching his closet for a Hawaiian shirt to wear to a themed party. He found one with a John Wanamaker’s label. Sadly, Wanamaker’s had closed 25 years ago. But the shirt lives on.

Vintage is my love. We have so many vintage items. I’m especially in love with the mirrors—cobalt blue, peach, beveled, not beveled. My mother held onto old friends, too. She had a lipstick brush for as long as I can remember.  It was bright red and she used it regularly. At the end of her life, she told me that she had bought it right after WWII for 10 cents. I bought my go-to lipstick brush when we moved into our first house in 1978. I rarely use it now, but I hold onto it. When I’ve gone to look for a replacement, there just isn’t the same level of quality.

But I have also come to realize that there’s a need to update my holdings—especially clothes. And so every season, I look around at retail, which is my preference. Seeing items in person is so much more revealing than buying online. Though as I age, I’m really shrinking and petite sizes are rare in brick and mortar. Over the past month, I bought several skirts and tops. Combining the old with the new creates my own special style. Now, fast forward from the easy old days to the stragegies necessary to find new things at reasonable prices.

Yes, understanding pricing and playing the pricing game is a challenge. I just don’t get it. When an item is full priced and then reduced in price, is the vendor gauging on the full priced items or taking a hit on the discounted ones? Especially when I buy online, the vendor emails me relentlessly, not realizing that I already bought an item and telling me that it’s still out there. And often, the price has gone down. Just this week Athleta sent an email about a 40% off sale on select items. I had just placed an order a few days earlier and received the 2 shirts on the day that the sale was advertised. Lucky for me that I looked at the email and checked on my items. With all of the exclusions, the two that I had bought were in the special section of 40% off pieces. While the email said “no price adjustments” and had other disclaimers, why shouldn’t I receive the discount in this short time frame? When I called Athleta, the representative explained the policy, but was nice enough to make the adjustment. Not to mention that if Athleta wouldn’t make the adjustment, I would have re-ordered my items and returned the original items to the local store. But I do hate playing games. And Bloomingdale’s—I ordered a skirt one day, and the next day it went on sale. Aside from which I had a discount email for one day only that arrived in my Inbox the day after it expired. What the hell—I called and asked for the price adjustment using the sale price and the expired coupon, explaining the time frame issue on the purchase and the late receipt of the coupon. They adjusted the price. So, over the course of just a couple of days, I saved about $50. Yeah me! Now, I hope that the style and quality of my new clothes keep me going for as long as my old favorites lasted.

I know that I’ve talked about savings strategies in past posts. But a reminder never hurts.

HOLD ONTO OLD FAVORITES. THEY CAN BE TIMELESS AND MIX WELL WITH NEW SOON-TO-BE-FAVORITES

AND

KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR SALES, FIND LOGICAL ARGUMENTS FOR PRICE ADJUSTMENTS AND SAVE, SAVE, SAVE!