…and for less than $50?
I did.
Barely.
Last month I agreed to take on a challenge through The San Diego MOMfia but not just any challenge, a shopping challenge. Pretty sweet deal, huh? Well, let’s just say it was the most interesting 20 minutes of my life. Yes, I literally went shopping for 20 minutes. If you have a 17-month-old child, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
The challenge? Find something totally fab for under $50 as part of The Ross Dress for Less Challenge.
The goal? MY goal? two words– Maxi and Dress. oh, and stripes. I’m craving some serious stripes lately.
My son has an aversion to any store that doesn’t have the word: toys, food or shoes in the name so he was not all that thrilled from the moment we stepped in the door. That, and it was dangerously close to naptime. See what I do to myself?!
Anyway, I made a beeline for the dresses and quickly shuffled through the 5 racks. Half way through the quest, my kid started screeching and I immediately broke out in a cold sweat. I grabbed two dresses and ran to the toy section. See! There are toys here little guy I said as I ran by the shoe section scanning the aisles with my laser beam vision. Go figure the only toy he wanted to hold was a ball and what do toddlers do with balls? They throw them. Plan B; off to the kid’s shoe section we went. There I was able to find two pairs of shoes to keep him occupied for a little longer. I ran (good thing I had my jogging stroller) back to the dress section and started yelling out the different colors of the dresses as I shuffled through another rack. People probably thought I was a little nutty but my son was digging the singsong tone and lit up like a Christmas tree every time I found a blue dress. I ended up scanning the last rack for anything striped, and ah ha! at last a black and white striped little number. Done. Almost.
Then, I ran to the shoes. By this time my toddler had lost interest in his shoes, wanted to try on every pair of espadrilles and threw his matchbox fire truck so hard, it almost took out an old lady. She looked pretty annoyed with him after that. I wanted every shoe there, seriously, and it took a lot of willpower to keep moving (that and the screams were revving up). But I had to keep my head in the game, keep my eye on the prize focus and find a simple summery-ish pair of plain black sandals. I found a few pairs that I liked but settled on a super simple flat sandal that fit perfectly with the black and white maxi.
I then ran to the fitting room with three dresses, 5 pairs of shoes (ya know… just in case) and a super-pissed child. I felt bad for everyone in the store at that point. Just as I suspected, the striped sleeveless maxi ($11.99) with simple black flat sandals ($9.99) won and we were good to go. Or were we?
I still had money to spend! How is that possible? I didn’t care what my child was doing; I was not leaving that store with money left over.
I handed the toddler my iPhone and ran to the cover-up section. I knew exactly what I wanted so I scanned the aisles for the color, length and texture. I found the perfect little wrap to complete my new outfit! An August Silk wrap (yes, silk) for $21.99! The neckline is amazing, the 3/4 length sleeves make it a perfect summer evening essential and it hides my butt.
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Singing and dancing my way to the check out, the total came to $47.82 with tax. How’s that for an awesome summer outfit that is comfortable (think mom-friendly), stylish and versatile!? As the guy rang me up, I envisioned everything I could do with my three new wardrobe essentials. The dress can be a pool cover-up, the sandals and dress can be a daytime outfit, the wrap can dress it up a bit for a dinner and I can totally wear each item with other things. I smiled as I put all these thoughts together and headed home for a much-needed nap– for my toddler, not me.
So what do you think? Not bad for under $50 huh?
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Can you do the challenge? If you feel up for trying, learn from my mistakes (the same mistakes I apparently don’t learn from myself):
1. Never go shopping with your toddler when it’s close to naptime. (or go without your toddler all together).
2. Wear flip flops and yoga pants to make the dressing room experience quick and easy. (I wore tennis shoes that day).
3. Have a goal; do you want a dress? new workout clothes? something for your living room? Unless you have an hour or more to browse around (and do not have a child with you), you will need a plan of attack.
4. Basically, don’t bring your toddler.
Disclosure: Ross Dress for Less sent me a $50 gift card to complete this challenge. I was not paid to write this post and all my opinions are my own.
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