Hey party people ! I just did a whopping 15 minutes on my new elliptical and am a momentous 10 days away from my due date. I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything non-maternity/non-child related, but I’m almost feeling skinny (on the inside) right now.
This is for all of you who aren’t mega-pregnant and so cute you don’t feel the need to spend much on clothes - Everything listed below is under $40. Enjoy!
Casual outing in soft orange and blue by Amanda Gann
I just made my first purchase from zulily.com, after frequenting the site for a couple of months now. It’s a discount sale site for maternity, baby and kids clothing, toys, and gear. If you are an environmentally conscious person or only like to buy organic clothes, there are a lot of online sale options for you. Almost everything is designer and high end, marked down at relatively affordable prices. Shipping is a little pricey, but that’s normal for these kinds of sites.
Here are some items that were on sale today (they rotate daily):
If you are interested in signing up, here is a link: http://www.zulily.com/referafriend
I just discovered this method while shoe shopping for my family (Alex: my husband, Audrey: my 2 year old daughter, and myself).
Step 1: Find a pair of shoes that you really like on a site that is fun to browse and has a lot of user reviews like endless.com or zappos.com
Step 2: Copy the name of the pair of shoes and go to Like.com and paste it in the search box
Step 3: Look at the results and sort by stores that only offer free shipping both ways – a lot of times the same pair of shoes will come up offered at multiple stores for dramatically different prices.
Step 4: Thoroughly search the site of the stores that has the lowest prices for special offer codes or go to a site like retailmenot.com that will list out coupon codes that have success scores. Also take into account if you have cash back rewards from your credit card company when clicking through their site to get to an online store. If your credit card company doesn’t offer this kind of program, consider signing up for ebates.com. To join ebates.com and get cashback offers on online purchases, click here.
Step 5: If you still think the shoes that you want are overpriced, go back to Like.com and do a visual search and you’ll probably find something comparable that you like that is at a better price.
Here are some of my recent purchases, which, combined, were $20 cheaper than what they are listed for below with coupon codes. On top of that, I also got free shipping and 10% cash back by going through my credit card’s website to shop. Basically, I ended up with 3 pairs of shoes for around $62 total and if anyone doesn’t like them in my family, or they don’t fit well, I can send them back for free. I wish online clothing companies were so generous.
I recently wrote an email to Old Navy customer service, under my husband’s encouragement, because I ended up being very unhappy with a particular pair of denim capri pants I bought several months ago and even posted about on this blog. The email goes as follows -
“I bought these jeans a couple of months ago - http://oldnavy.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=56514&vid=1&pid=750745&scid=750745002. At first I liked them, because they look cute on, but after one extended wear I found them rather uncomfortable, and was never able to actually use the panel over my belly because of the seam and because of the way it was shaped [came across belly too low and sloped on sides]. I also had a hard time rolling it down, so I wasn’t quite sure how to wear them. I’m not sure if the jeans were cut too low before the panel starts, but I’ve ordered a lot of Old Navy and Gap items for both maternity and normal sizes and I know what my sizes are supposed to be when it comes to pants, and I think these fit very strangely. I ordered a pair of full panel maternity (long and lean) jeans from Gap around the same time and have had no issues with the panel and they feel great on. However, I’ve ripped the panel at the bottom seam of these capris, where it connects to the pants, in about 4 different places after about 4 wears and have had to sew them up, and then they just rip again. I’ve actually just decided they aren’t worth wearing any more and recently ordered another pair of maternity denim capris from Motherhood Maternity online (I have yet to receive these), as I still have 2 1/2 more months left in my pregnancy and don’t want to wear shorts for the rest of summer. I shop with both Gap and Old Navy quite a lot (almost relying on them exclusively for maternity items) and am really disappointed in this particular product. I don’t think that the panel material was strong enough because it ripped on me so many times. I would really appreciate it if I could send these back or get my money back somehow.”
Basically, their response was that I had to send them back on my own dime so that they could evaluate whether or not the item was defective. So I get to pay an extra $6 to send them back, just for them to possibly tell me that they think it was from normal wear and tear when I specifically explained the whole of the situation to them in my email. Funny thing is, I went back and looked at the reviews online (there are a lot more now than when I bought them originally) and there are a lot of unhappy women who think the panel fits weird and several have also complained about it ripping. What’s there to determine when your customers are repeatedly telling you the same thing? Do better next time, Old Navy, admit that you made a poorly designed maternity item, and reimburse unhappy customers when you screw up.
I’m truly sad.
If I hadn’t already spent way too much money at Old Navy and the Gap on maternity clothes. Here is what I’d be buying for myself.
For those of you who haven’t heard the “big” news (no pun intended) – I’m pregnant with baby 2.0. I’m getting eerily close to my last pair of fitting pants and a handful of tops that don’t feel/look akward as I head into the 2nd trimester.
What lies ahead? Well after sending back all the t-shirts I had such high hopes for from Bluenotes because the fit showed a little more than I cared to reveal, I’ve starting looking for my next purchase, which in this case, seems like it ought to be maternity-related. I did however, keep all of the sweatshirts and the scarf I bought from Bluenotes, which were soft as heaven, fit perfectly, and seemed to be of decent quality. Now I live in sweatshirts, but I’m trying to get away from that.
So I was pregnant before, and I was very much a fan of both Old Navy & Gap online because you could take the stuff back to the store instead of having to ship it back. I hope that’s still the case, because I just bought a ton of stuff. Old Navy had a sale on maternity clothes and I had a $20 off thing for the Gap. I’m not much for having miscellaneous store credit cards, but if you buy clothes from either of those places much, it really is worth getting one for the rewards and coupons. I bought this cobalt blue sweater from Gap maternity when I was pregnant last and I’ve worn it even when I wasn’t pregnant, to the point that the snap buttons are practically falling off. I also wore my maternity pants that I bought from Old Navy ragged. I’m really not sure how I could have survived on simply Motherhood Maternity. It would have been painful, to say the least.
Here are a few maternity clothing choices I’ve found that are both affordable and stylish.
For some reason, I love finding awesome stuff outside of the US, as unpatriotic as that sounds. And I love when that country’s currency is even ever-so-slightly more inflated than ours. And I love when they actually ship to our country, which only a few months ago, Bluenotes did not. If I had to compare Bluenotes to an American company, I’d say they are something between a Delia’s and an Aeropostale, targeted at a younger audience, but this doesn’t mean that you can’t find some sophisticated or down right awesome items when shopping with them. Finding better prices than those on this site is hard to come by, they even beat out Target (and I’m not gonna lie, I love Target). Recently, all of blnts.com went 50% off and I went on a shopping spree.
$117.49 (shipping included) got me 3 t-shirts, 1 jacket, 1 scarf, 1 cardigan, 1 belt, 1 hoodie, 1 sweater, and 2 pairs of socks. Can you really beat that? I’d like to see you try.
Here are some of the best Bluenotes has to offer, in my humble opinion:
The thing about Bluenotes is, they claim to be a jeans company, but I’ve never bought a pair of their jeans, so I can’t review them, and after buying jeans online and having bad experiences, I don’t feel like going through the hassle of sending them back unless it’s made super simple for me. So, Bluenotes, if you’d like to send me some samples of your jeans, I’d love to review them for you. *wink* Until then I’ll stick to my old favorite.
I’ve become a member of several “exclusive” sale sites (although some aren’t very exclusive at all, really) and have yet to make my first purchase from any of them, because, let’s face it, they are a little intimidating. Questions start popping up in your brain like – “Can I return this?” “I only have a day or sometimes, 15 minutes to think the purchase over – is it a good deal?” Make sure you read return policies before you buy anything, but usually, they are actually pretty good deals. The brands they are selling almost entirely designer and the markdown is usually at least 40% and can be all the way up to 90% at times.
The sale sites that I have been following most are – Hautelook.com, ideeli.com, and redtagcrazy.com. Out of those 3 I like ideeli the most because, most of the time, it’s actually affordable, has your size, and has a lot of options. (If you’d like to become a member of ideeli – click here.)
Hautelook can get too expensive, and the good stuff sells out within the first minute that the sale becomes available. My strategy with that is – be there at 11 am EST and whatever you see that you like, put it in your cart immediately, and then you a have a few minutes to think it over before they take it back out of your bag if you haven’t started the checkout process.
There is a certain appeal to redtagcrazy.com, in that the sellers only focus on one item at a time (in multiple sizes and colors) and it’s usually gone in about 15 minutes (whether they sell out or not). It creates a little excitement. The prices are decent, but I’ve not yet seen anything that has blown me away.
However, I found a super awesome site today and could barely believe my eyes at some of the awesome goodies that were on here at great prices. www.gomattagirls.com is a new favorite.
See for yourself…
Don’t want to blow your budget, but have rips and buttons falling off of your wretchedly made J Crew Outlet jacket from 3 seasons ago? No problem! One of these coats may be just for you!
Shoes I’d want…if I had nice legs.
Another reason to get back on the elliptical:
I think these brown heels are the essence of summer (albeit fading).
The black pumps are just classic and I think I need a pair, despite not having anywhere on my agenda to wear them.
The boots would make a nice addition to your fall wardrobe – can’t wait for cooler weather! I personally think they could look pretty fantastic with some Gap straight leg jeans.
Lauren by Ralph Lauren "Fayre" Woven Platform Sandals - $45.78 (ORIG $109)
Available at bloomingdales.com
Oh – btw, Famous Footwear has that very nice buy one, get one half price deal going on pretty much all the time, and they also have a 20% off coupon right now.