Like Twice, Black Friday, AAHAUL?

Sorry, but not sorry for not posting much. School is killing all my time. I'm still on a procrastination mode from Thanksgiving trying to get things out of the way early, but I've already got homework yelling in my ear.

You know I don't shop a lot, right? For one thing, my fair trade mind limits me to: Mata Traders, American Apparel, Threads 4 Thought, and People Tree

Do I have other options? Yes. I'm sure, but time is not on my side.

American Apparel

You know I have a love-hate relationship with AA? Love their clothes, hate my lack of money. I came into some around my birthday and spent quite a while trying to figure out what to get. Fate intervened when my tire blew out in front of a Discount Tires and my money decided to go towards a new set of rubber accessories for my car.

Anyway, as someone who really likes American Apparel, this HAUL business seems to be quite the Black Friday gimick. In the days leading up to Black Friday, the 5-10-15 sale was going on. The second Black Friday hits, everything from that sale doubles in price. WTH? To be quite honest, the best AA sales are the ones not associated with a "big sale" day. I still have the 5-10-15 sale link on my computer's memory and when you see the items - with their brand spanking new and more expensive prices - and the categories they fell under...yep, I lost out. A $5 shirt is now $18 for sale purposes.

Black Friday

I recall being thoroughly disappointed in the American public last year for the...7 Black Friday related deaths? Yes. Well, no deaths this year, so that's a plus, the most I heard was a fight over a barbie.

Like Twice

I recall on countless occasions commenting on how I really need to get my selling on. I have a lot of clothes that I don't/didn't wear and I needed to either put them up on eBay or Etsy on something. A sad realization that I came to was that: 1) eBay really sucks to use these days. 2) Clothing resale values are really low. Why do I even buy new? Anyway an ad on Facebook for Twice came up. I watched the video and...it was delightfully easy. You sign up, get a selling kit in the mail. Look at the accepted brands, load up your clothes and send off. No real expense, just time.

This required a bit of a heart to heart with my clothes as I had some attachment issues. What sold me though, was trying on clothes and realizing that I had other things in my wardrobe that were just easier to wear. By that, I mean that if you have a sweater that makes you feel...alright, you have to squint and think more about how you wear it oppose to another sweater that you just throw on and feel great in. Sentimental value or "I paid this much" sentiments don't exactly translate to $$. After going through bits of that, it was easy to just chuck clothing.

About 2 weeks later, I get this:

It was a much better return than I expected. A sad truth is, it's probably a lot more than what I would get off of eBay. I wish I had known about it earlier since I lost a fair amount of clothing to consignment - it didn't amount to much. Either way, Twice is a good call for downsizing the closet.

Leather Jacket Lazy

Getting away from my issues of not wanting any attention for being girly, one thing I happen to like a lot is giving off a tougher vibe.

This is pretty easily achieved with waking up at...noon and throwing on a leather jacket - if you can recall the one the boyfriend got for me the Christmas before last.  

I generally like any opportunity to look like a greaser.

2014: 'ssues

First post of the year and it's near the end of March.

Been meaning to do a lot, but overall I haven't done as much as I had hoped for. As such, this blog has sort of fallen into the realm of a journal that I look at occasionally that a lot of people come across because their skirts are probably too tight (yep, still most viewed). I've been having some changing opinions about that posting.

I just haven't been buying clothes a lot. Part of it is that year I took off from buying clothes. That really curbed my impulse control with the realization that the only thing I will die if I do not get is food. Consequently, my cooking blog is pretty well maintained. The next thing is my shtick on buying fair trade, when you cut down your options you can only stay interested for so long, heck, you can only online window shop for so long. What struck a chord with me the most, was last year's Black Friday and the massive increase in deaths related to it. 2012 lesson not learned. The idea that clothes that cost relatively little to make, that people would literally go crazy for over in stores, could cost people their lives really did not sit well with me. I wouldn't want my life dictated in that way just like I wouldn't like arranging my life around a TV guide. I know it seems like whining, but I bet none of the people who died knew it was coming.

The last thing that gets to me, especially with the upcoming gubernatorial elections in Texas is the idea that feminists shouldn't care about clothes. It's tough being a woman and feeling that you shouldn't be judged for your clothing choices, but knowing that you are. I like watching What Not to Wear for the psychological element of it all, the idea of clothes being functional and a carrier for enjoyment. I do enjoy my clothes and I like playing dress up with my clothes and coming up with fun outfits, but I would prefer to not get any outside attention for them - I recognize the irony in having a blog that talks about clothing. Essentially, I'm my own dress up doll. I like being a dress up doll too, I just need to make more time for that kind of play and boy, is it time consuming.

I'm having trouble allocating my efforts on the issues I care about. I only have so much energy. I'm aiming to do a lot of figuring out this year.

Well, to everyone's health! Hopefully 2014 will be a productive year.