The Birthday Week

The whole week leading up to my birthday for the past several years has been known as “Birthday Week.” In the past, I have grossly abused this week for my own personal gain. This year, the celebration will be a little bit more meaningful and have a more positive impact on those around me.

As an adult, I know it seems completely ridiculous to have a Birthday Week. However, let me explain. I was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, which means I did not get to celebrate my birthday. An entire childhood of no birthday (or Christmas or Halloween or Easter or Thanksgiving, etc.) celebrations leaves a girl antsy for festivity. Once I was able to choose to abandon that lifestyle, I was really excited about celebrating! That is when the Birthday Week came into play. I had to make up for lost time! It was only fair, right?! 😉

Well now that I am an adult, graduating college, and entering into the “real world,” I know that the tradition of Birthday Week will not be honored to its fullest extent. However, I will attempt to revel in it as much as possible. To celebrate my week, I have decided that this year I will celebrate me and everything that makes me happy, and I am going to attempt to spread my happiness as far as I can. To do this, I am dedicating my week to doing things that make me happy and setting up my week as a way to ring in a brand new year of life and happiness.

My plan is to do a little something every day that makes me happy, that honors my body and my mind, prepares me for my new exciting year and something that spreads this sort of happiness. Every day I will:

• Do a cleaning project
• Get in a refreshing workout
• Complete any homework and resume/application work
• Complete a Do It Yourself project
• Read and Write for relaxation and pleasure
• Do a Random Act of Kindness to help spread my happiness

I also vow to spend this week banishing negative thoughts, spreading smiles to strangers, and doing everything I can to make each day positive!

I am determined to make this Birthday Week count! I want it to set the stage for a year’s worth of happiness, love, positivity, and giving.

Tomorrow the Festivities Begin! 

Buying Business Clothes on a Student’s Budget: My 6 Tips

I am broke. I have a degree. I need a job. I need clothes. But I am broke.

As I am graduating, I am also attempting to apply for some big girl jobs! Do not get me wrong, I like love serving and bartending. I know it seems crazy, but I like it. It is a good job, it pays the bills, I get to interact with some pretty awesome people, and I get to work with some of my best friends. However, I did not go to school for four and half years to not use my degree at all.

I was looking at jobs, and I was thinking about job interviews. While I was thinking and getting nervous about these hypothetical interviews, I realized I had  nothing to wear! And not in the, I have a full closet, but I feel bloated today, “nothing to wear” mentality. This was real. I did not have skirts or “editor’s pants” or a crisp white button up or a sleek pair of heels. None of it.

So naturally, I started to do some online shopping, and I was shocked. Hundreds of dollars for ONE outfit. What?! No… they must have misplaced a decimal point. Nope, that really says $298 for a suit jacket. Yikes! So, I set out on a mission. I WILL find clothes that are professional-looking, office-appropriate, and within my budget. Here is what I learned:

1. There are trends in sales, so sign up for the e-mails. I know it is annoying to get e-mails from a million different stores, but when it comes to saving money, it is the way to go.
2. The sales items are usually still fashionable, and they are half the price! These are usually items that there are in limited availability or they are in less popular sizes or they are “last season’s.” However, fall clothes are put out while it is still summer outside, so don’t get hung up on the fact it was located in Clearance.
3. Items you buy with coupons, are the same. Just cheaper. I don’t know why there is some weird connotation with the word “coupon,” but it is ridiculous! There should be no shame in coupons, there should be pride and gloating when you buy a $198 dollar suit jacket for $49.00 (Which I was able to do! Bam!).
4. Steer clear of “trends,” and focus on the basics. With the cost alone of office clothes, it is better to have those classic/basic items to use and mix and match than a few trendy items that you won’t be able to wear after a year. Think more along the lines of a few button ups, cardigans, a few pairs of well fitting pants, a pencil skirt, an A-line skirt, and one or two great blazers. Stick with classic colors, then you can play up your look with jewelry and accessories.
5. A basic cardigan from JCrew = $89.00. A basic cardigan from Target= $22.99. While there are definitely items that are worth the extra cash, there are items that are not. Stick to buying camis, V-neck tees, cardigans, belts, etc. from places like Target and Kohl’s. They both now have some really nice, fashionable, and decent quality clothing that you can afford even without coupons.
6. Use Pinterest for inspiration and then RAID your closet. Once I had some of the basics, I realized that I actually DID have items that, when paired with some great pants and a blazer are office appropriate. It is all about context. Your tiered cami might not seem office appropriate, but throw it on under a blazer, and suddenly you have a work outfit!
7. Some great stores that also tend to have great sales include: The Limited, Express, Ann Taylor Loft, New York & Co., Gap, and Macy’s. With some degree of frequency, these all have amazing sales such as 40%/50% off everything, BOGO, $10 off $50, and/or rewards programs for shopping there. You can save a bundle of money when you just wait around for a great sale.

The lesson learned: I like to make imaginary “Shopping Bags” at the stores I really like, that way when they have sales or I have extra cash, I can just log on and buy. Using my little hints, I found out that The Limited (one of my favorite stores for office clothing) was having a Buy One Get One 50% off sale for the whole site. And I just happened to have some Virtual Dollar coupons that saved me $25 for every $50. I rummaged through the site and made up my shopping bag. My pre-sale/pre-discount/pre-coupon total was a whooping $534!! Ouch! But, I used their discount code, found some awesome things in their sale section, and used my Virtual Dollars.

My new total… (drum roll please!)… $198.

For under $200, I bought:

2 Skirts

1 Pair of Pants

1 LBD

2 Shirts

2 Jackets

1 Pair of Earrings, 1 Necklace, and 1 Scarf.

Yupp, feeling pretty proud of myself.

Okay, gloating over. It has been a learning experience, and I am still working on it. However, there is no better motivator to apply for jobs than the possibility of getting to wear my pretty new clothes! Let the job hunt continue!

Ashley