Why I Shop Quantity Over Quality

 My husband took me on a shopping spree for my birthday and bought me a slew of new clothing items.  But before you think I was spoiled, with the exception of my fur vest at Marcy's (which I also got for a steal!),  everything was purchased from inexpensive stores like Forever 21, Charming Charlie's,  J.C. Penney,  SteinMart, and Rue 21.  I often hear women say "I prefer quality over quantity".  I think I'm the opposite.  I don't want something that lasts for years, (with the exception of a few staples like winter coats or boots) because I will get bored wearing it.  Most of the items in my closet I wear only a few times, then put them up for sale on my Poshmark Store or donate them.

I also think a lot of women equate expensive with quality, and I don't feel that is always the case.  I have purchased plenty of expensive items in my life, only to see them wear quite quickly.  Many times, you are paying an expensive price for the brand or store name, and not the quality of the product.  The reverse can also be true:  some times items can be inexpensive and still have a fabulous quality, such as the dress I'm wearing today.

Today's dress is from Rue 21.  Now, I rarely go into Rue 21 mostly because the store is so popular in my town and is therefore always messy.  I can't handle shopping in disorganized, busy stores.  But my husband likes this store (probably because it's so inexpensive) and the one we went to in Florida was very attractive, neat, and orderly (most likely because it is an affluent mall and no one who lived in the area shopped there).  I actually found several things in this store for great prices:  this dress for $21.99 (you can buy it HERE), a belt for $13.00 (not pictured), and a lace trimmed top on clearance for less than $5.00 (not pictured).  The last two items I will show you another time.

I love this dress because it is so versatile.  When I first purchased it, I wasn't sure if I would wear it as a tunic with leggings (since it is so short) or as a dress.  I decided to wear it first as a dress, but I wore colored tights underneath so the shortness of the dress wouldn't be too obvious.

We have been having such a lovely, warm December in Wisconsin so a winter coat was not necessary the day I wore this dress.  Instead, I wore a long, heavy knit black cardigan as my outer wear.  And guess what?  It's up for sale at my Poshmark Store HERE.  Although, I'm debating whether or not I should actually sell it, because I really like this sweater.  But I have to let go of some things, or there is no room for new things!

 Another decision I had to make was whether or not to wear the dress belted.  My husband preferred it belted.  Surprise, surprise!  Of course one's hubby wants to see his wife's shape!  But my daughter and I prefer it un-belted, as it was designed to be worn.

My belt was also part of my shopping spree from my husband.  It's an elastic waist belt with a silver buckle.  Sorry, but I don't remember the name of the store we purchased it from.

The black and gold bracelet and the gold ring was purchased from the same store as the belt.  The silver ring is from Pandora and was last year's Christmas gift from my husband.  And my hat is from J.C. Penney which is a Mary Kate and Ashley Olson hat design!  I was excited to see the label, because I don't own anything else by them.  But I was more excited  to see the price $7.97 and after my coupon came off I only paid $4.54 for this hat!  What a steal!

The dress has a lovely gold metallic bar at the yoke.  I just love it when designers put pretty little details into their items like this.  Because of the bar, I didn't wear a necklace but chose long, gold earrings (old) instead.

I chose flat, edgy black boots (old, J.C. Penney) to compliment the Bohemian design of the dress, and I carried my faithful, old, black bucket bag from Express.

 And here is the dress unbuckled.  To wear the dress buckled or unbuckled was such a  debate in my household, I told my husband that I would ask my readers which version they prefer.  He is very interested in learning the results, though it might be biased because the majority of my readers are women.

I just love the colors and print on this dress, and do you know what the best part was?  I wore this dress all day and I didn't get a single wrinkle!  Yes!  One can buy inexpensive items that don't wrinkle!

Another interesting detail about this dress was the tab sleeves.

I did want to mention that I bought this dress in a size large in case someone is interested in purchasing it.  Rue 21 is Juniors sizes, not Misses.  I also found the sleeves and shoulder area to be too tight for me.  Even the large was a bit tight on me in those areas;  it must be all the weight lifting I do!  I also have very long arms, so anytime a shirt has tab sleeves, I tend to have issues.  The reason being that the tabs hit me more at the elbow instead of the forearm.  But, if you have more slender arms you don't need to worry about this because the dress is loose everywhere else.

So what about you?  Do you like the dress better belted or unbelted?  And, do you prefer spending more on items and buying less, or spending less so you can have more?  I'd love to hear from you!

Have a great day!  Amy

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