The Nifty Foodie's Life

Last week, I got some coupons from JCPenney. $10 off $10 or more. (I thought they didn’t do coupons anymore, but I guess I haven’t clothes shopped in a while…) Anyway, I decided that this would be a good opportunity to get some clothes on the cheap. I’m having an itch to get some bright, spring-y clothes, so I was pretty excited to see what they had.

I wasn’t sure what to expect though. This was my first time looking through the misses section in years. I’m talking since the 1990s, y’all.

Here’s a small vent I have about plus size sections in stores. The misses section of a store could have a whole darn floor in a department store, but the plus size section is usually 20ish racks within that floor. Oh, and within that plus size section, about half of it is for a more mature customer. So, the choices were very limited. Also, being a larger size in the plus sizes meant just automatically go to the back of the rack, hoping they had a 3X available. This is why I always hated shopping. It was seriously boring and depressing.

This past weekend, my husband and I went to the mall, and I was really excited to shop. This really never happens, y’all. I get excited to shop for gifts, but for me? HA! After we went to a couple of stores, it was time to face the misses section. My husband grabbed the first XL tee off the shelf, and recommended that I just try it on to even see if it fit. Not only did it fit, but the blue color looked awesome on me. It was a simple V neck fitted tee, which was only $6. Um…seriously? Simple tees in plus sizes are almost twice as much!

So, not only am I dealing with more choices…I’m also getting cheaper clothes? Awesome.

On the way to the fitting room, I also grabbed this bright, spring-y casual blouse. I’m a big fan of aqua/teals, so this one just called to me. This one fit as well. Gosh, I love the colors in this blouse SO much!

I wanted to grab one more top, and my husband saw this fitted polo type of shirt. I just grabbed the XL, and we were off to the register before I could cause more damage to my bank account LOL! We found these three tops in one small section of the misses department. As we were walking out of the store, I was just overwhelmed by all of the clothing choices and possibilities (as well as the prices….you mean a work top doesn’t have to cost $40??!). This is just crazy to me!

Here’s the new tops that I purchased. Don’t they just scream Spring?

Another purchase I made this weekend were these (my before size jeans are below these for a size comparison)…

Lane Bryant was having an additional 70% off clearance sale for one day (Friday). Since my work pants were getting droopy, I figured I’d try my luck. Not only did I find a pair of work pants (for just $12, too!), I also got some guts and purchased my first pair of skinny jeans. Not just any skinny jeans either….teal colored skinny jeans! I felt pretty gutsy with that purchase haha! And can I mention how awesome it is to shop in the 14/16 side of the rack vs. the 24/26? Just AWESOME!

Another great bonus right now is that I’m now fitting my little sister’s (before) clothes. My younger sister, Rachel, has lost 40 lbs. WHILE ATTENDING COLLEGE…yeah…she’s awesome. I asked my sister if she ever gave away any of her clothes, and luckily, her closet at home was still pretty full. So, I told her if there were any clothes she no longer fits in that she doesn’t want, I’d definitely appreciate them. While my sister is 8 years younger than me, she has a ton of professional type clothes, since she’s a music major and has recitals/auditions/etc. I seriously hit the jackpot with what her & Mom brought me this past week.

It seriously doubled my wardrobe, and made me realize I probably need to do another clean-out of clothes that are too big on me.

Oh, and this is what I wore to the mall on Saturday. The cardigan is one of those hand me ups. I love it…a simple grey cardigan with white polka dots! Thanks sis (and Mom, of course, since she probably purchased most of it.)!  Some of the clothes are a smidge too small (and some are really small, since they included some size L tops), but I’m sure once this DietBet is over in March, most of these pieces will be part of my daily wardrobe. So awesome…my wallet totally appreciates it!

I’m so motivated right now! By the way, if you follow my Instagram, I’m sorry that I post a lot of weight loss related pictures. I’m worrying that it may be coming across as braggy. It’s more out of disbelief, I swear. I still can’t believe that this is all happening.

As you may know, I hate HATE clothes shopping. It’s absolutely depressing for someone my size, not to mention, pricey.

There aren’t many choices out there for plus sized women. I can go into JCPenney and the choices for plus sizes are about 1/4 of the choices for women in misses. Is this a silent way to tell me that I need to lose weight to get more clothing choices? Most of the time, as well, the plus sized selection is very mature. Not a fan. I’m 26.

There are other reasons I rarely shop.

1. In my mind, I feel like I should be in misses. I want to boycott the plus sized aisle. I can lose this weight, right? No reason to waste money on new clothes when I won’t fit in them soon, right? WRONG..I’ve gained. Fattest I’ve ever been..agh.
2. The stares. Explained better here.
3. I feel like I ::never:: look good in anything. Why waste the money?

Well, it got to the point that most of the tops I wear at the workplace are from college. Some of the tops have recently started to get holes, and I have to just stop wearing them. So, I had no choice. Even the hubs pushed me to do this, because I needed new tops.

I’m REALLY hoping these tops won’t fit me next Fall/Winter season. I also REALLY hope they look decent on me, since I bought them online (Lane Bryant was having an early Cyber Monday sale yesterday).

1, 2, 3, 4

I’ll look ok, right? Can you believe that these sweaters/tops were regularly $40-$50? THIS is why I hate shopping plus size folks. Ridiculous. Thank God for a 50% off code yesterday. I just hope they are cute. :\

Hilariously, when I told my mother that I bought new clothes, she said “THANK GOD!” on the phone. Apparently, I was long overdue for new clothes, but she didn’t want to hurt my feelings.

And yes, I realize I have a bad self image of myself. Most plus sized women don’t have the highest self image, so please don’t tell me I need to love my body. No way folks…not a fan of this body..not.at.all.