Overwhelming shopping difference..

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. 🙂