Grad plans #1

My outfit plan for graduation:

1. Orange linen dress from Salvation Army, altered from a long dress (for a less tall person) to a mid-knee dress, perfect for moi. I got the thumbs-up from the seamstress when I tried it on. She was super sweet. I love that I found a good eco-friendly dry cleaner next to a good shoe repair shop. An extra plus? There's a post office there too :)
2. Pearl earrings, a gift from my friends who traveled to India my first year at the seminary. They need to be fixed so I can wear them.
3. Turquoise beaded sandals, thrifted a few months ago when it was definitely not sandal weather. They're so awesome, I can't stand it.
4. My new red ring! I sold some Frye boots, so I had enough money to cover it. I didn't expect to do it before graduation, but then I got antsy when I found exactly what I wanted.
5. I'd like to have my hair done up. It's still pretty short, but I think that if I have enough bobby bins, I'll be fine. Here is something that resembles the look I'm going for. I don't know if I can make it work, but I'm gonna try.

I needed to make a plan to orient myself to a time of celebration. Now I need to figure out how to have a party, even though I'm not really a party girl. How can I incorporate recycling into a fun-for-all soiree?

It's so hard to be frugal.

 

Oh-mg. I was at the mall tonight, and there was a big (30-70% off everything) sale at a women's clothing store that has clothes that look nice on me (i.e. long pants), and I was so longing for new clothes. I had that moment, that I have sometimes, where I wished that buying new clothes didn't bother me so much.

I have been going through a bit of a shoe craze lately, though. I've bought Dansko clogs and galoshes in the past month on eBay. I've also completely lost my black slacks. Has anyone seen them? I have also been buying clothing for work even though I could wear the same thing every day and it wouldn't matter. It's a bit compulsive, in my opinion. I've been so hyped up about buying a new car, but when it comes right down to it, I can't do it. I want it so bad, but it just won't work. I can't afford to add that much money to my monthly budget. So I think I have to keep the Rabbit, the car with no working doors, no speedometer, no heater or air conditioner.

It's so sad to admit, but I can't afford more than what I have, and I have to live with what I have.

Ugly sweaters...again

So I walk into my favorite thrift store this afternoon to find lots of people looking for ugly Christmas sweaters. I determine that this is an excellent time to tell the group my funny story from a couple weeks ago (crickets in response).

For some odd reason, I am a little hyper, so while I'm doing my regular wandering, I shout out every time I find a Christmas sweater. People begin to leave without buying anything. I feel like a failure. A few minutes later in the cheap bin, I find an excellent one, but it needs to be washed (why it's cheap-so weird). I bring it up to the front later to give it to the cashier. There were so many people looking for them, so many.

I end up finding an excellent gift for my sister's boyfriend, and a whole stack of Celine Dion CDs, which I did not purchase, because I was uninspired. I did, however, find a whole tube of glow sticks. That was pretty awesome, but I didn't get them because I couldn't visualize myself on the corner during the fair selling them. I guess I could have found a concert or sporting event to sell them at, but it didn't seem worth the time and effort, dollar-wise.

Today at a staff lunch, someone brought a homemade popcorn cake. I didn't taste it because I wanted to have my dessert of pie. I only had one piece of pie! Go me!

A day in the life...

I am doing my daily thrifting, and see a man walking around with a wad of chewing tobacco in his lip, spitting on the floor of the store. I am filled with disgust, and it's all over my face, but I am trying to not walk around with an ugly face, so I open my eyes wide and lift my forehead (I can look really mad really easily).

Two young men, late teens or early twenties, walk in the front door, and say (very loudly) to the woman behind the counter, "Hey, do you have any ugly Christmas sweaters?" The woman points to the sweater section, turns to me and tells me that she's never been to a Halloween or Christmas party, then stares at me, awaiting a response. What do I say to that? "That's bizarre" was what I thought of saying, but what came out was an audible "Hm".

If you have ever been a person who has gone to a thrift store and asked for the "ugly sweater" section, you are probably not reading this blog.

The customer is always right.

I just completed a very large eBay purge session. I put most of my stuff up for auction, and all of the auctions began at $0.99. It was fun to watch the final twenty minutes or so. The numbers got higher a lot faster :)

I've just been getting bored of my eBay shop. I really don't know why. I think I need to do this every few months or so. It gets me excited to have space again, and just get rid of stuff. Ah...it's a good feeling.

I've decided to move all of my vintage stuff into my Etsy shop. I haven't quite figured out what specifically will be in the eBay shop when it's back to its normal volume, though.

One of the reasons for this "boredom" is the experience I've been having with eBay customers lately. I've had to suck up my pride so many times just because people want to complain. And I've learned that the only way I'm going to be successful with my business is to truly live the phrase, "The customer is always right". I never argue. I just submit. Even when the complaint is just asinine, I swallow my annoyance, and write a very nice email saying how sorry I am, and ask what I can do to make it right. Most of the time, I never receive a response.

The absolute worst is when someone never says anything, but just stews about it, then finally leaves snarky feedback months later. My new motto when I have a bad experience online is just to be honest about it, and accept what the other party has to give. For example, about a years ago, I bought a pair of pants on eBay, and they'd been hemmed very poorly and the bottom of the pants was puckered. I emailed the seller to let her know; I said I'd have to take them to have them re-altered and told her how much it would cost, and she refunded me that amount. We both thought it was fair resolution, and it was a positive experience.

Good online shopping experiences? Bad experiences? What do you do?