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Finally, I got some colorful accessories
By Meg | August 13, 2007
This weekend sales were in full force between “back to school” sales and just general end of season clearance. Add to that a tax free weekend here. The mall was packed despite temperatures in the high 90s. And it felt like 120 as I walked the entire length of the mall parking lot to get from the car to the mall door. It was worth it, though. Some how I managed to find the colorful accessories I had been looking for all season on clearance. Earrings and necklace sets for less than $3 at Sears, a leather purse for $9 at Kmart, Italian shoes for $25 at Steinmart… the list goes on and on. Oh yes, I was bad this weekend.
On the plus side, I found lots of items that I’ve been trying for months to find. My wardrobe has been full of black and white because that was the craze when I started replacing a lot of my wardrobe within the past year. Black and white does work well on me, but I’ve been craving color. I made a vow - no more neutrals (for now). Yet somehow I’ve found it really hard to find colorful clothes and accessories that I like - until this weekend.
First off, I admit that I’m turning into a bag lady. At present, I have easily over two dozen purses. Most of them, though, were in neutrals. About half a dozen or so are black. That’s sad. And yet as I shopped this weekend, I still had to stop and ask myself, “Do I really need another black bag?” The answer was no. So, I bought four - that’s right, four - brightly colored bags. That’s them to the left.
The green and pink bags I bought at Sears for less than $17 each. I bought the green one Saturday along with a green necklace and earrings set that goes great with it. The set cost about $4.50 and without it I might not have had the courage to get the green purse since it’s a new purse color for me. In fact, I saw the same color and brand of purse at Ross earlier that day for less than $10, put decided not to buy it partly because I didn’t know what I would wear it with. Now with the jewelry I made a great outfit with just a white shirt, brown skirt, and brown or blue shoes. (And fortunately, the Sears purse was a better shape than the Ross purse.) I also saw the pink purse, but being unsure about it I didn’t get it at first. I went back Sunday and got it, though - along with the same necklace and earrings set in pink.
The blue purse with the buckle was another Kmart find. I’ve started shopping at Kmart since I found my brown lambskin bag for $17 there. The blue purse was leather, too - but for $9.
As for that other, turqoise blue leather bag… I got it at Steinmart for $25. I couldn’t resist since it matched my blue shoes I bought there months ago. Then I saw another pair of blue shoes that matched for $25, and a headband for about $5.50. While accessories don’t have to match, it definitely can help make an outfit to have a couple of matching accessories. Seeing how hard it can be to find matching accessories after the fact, I was really happy to find three matching pieces all in one store and for great prices.
All in all, it was a great weekend, though I admit I spent more than I wanted to. It was great, though, to find a lot of pieces that were missing from my wardrobe and that are sure to be favorites. I was all ready to ground myself for a few months when I was reminded that purple is going to be this fall’s ‘it’ color. Guess what my favorite color is! Hopefully there will be plenty of great purple items on clearance in a few months.
If you haven’t already, get out and enjoy the clearance sales. Best of luck finding your own bargain favorites!
Tags: Bags, Fashion, Jewelry, Shoes, Spending Money
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August 14th, 2007 at 9:43 am
I think the malls were packed BECAUSE of the heat. I know our mall was much cooler than our own house. :) Plus, we were getting a bit stir crazy indoors.
Love your colorful purses!
August 14th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
Thanks Kasmira! And I love your colorful shoes :)
You’re probably right - the mall was nice and cool. I just wish I could have gotten from my house to the mall without ever stepping outside. I keep waiting for teleporters to be invented, but so far no luck.
August 15th, 2007 at 1:53 am
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