Budget Girl: saving money on shoes

Another place that I always never pay full price on, but I want to buy quality items with is shoes. So, and these are a little dirty because I've been using them. I used to spend so much money on shoes and I would always go to Dirt Cheap and I'd buy like the discounted Target brand shoes and I'd buy a ton of Payless shoes and they always hurt my feet halfway through the day and they'd wear out like crazy. And about last year, I decided I just wasn't gonna do that anymore and I finally decided that I was going to come hell or high water, figure out a more expensive brand that I could wear that wouldn't hurt my feet. Now, this sucks obviously because you don't really, I don't really find out if shoes are gonna hurt my feet until I've been wearing them for a day. And at that point, you can't really return them. However, I looked at a bunch of online websites, Clark's, the name Clark's kept coming up, once again, not an affiliate, but I ordered these shoes and they're looking a little, right now, but they were, well, the price online at the time was $100 and they've got a little bit of a heel, a lot of internal support and they're leather and they are what I consider the perfect work flats. They match pretty much everything I own and I wear them to work essentially every day and I can run around town all day long and not be in pain, which is amazing. So they were $100 online. I am not willing to pay that. I will pay $50 for shoes and only shoes that I know will last forever. So what I did and I did the exact same, well, I did something similar. I looked on eBay and on Amazon and I found these for $50. So since I knew I wasn't going to be able to return them either way because I can't tell if shoes are gonna hurt until I walk in them for a day, I just decided to go ahead and find them discounted somewhere. And eBay and Amazon always have people reselling shoes that on the official website, it's less cost. They also do sell shoes for at the same cost of the website or more. So you definitely have to watch that. You have to know what you're looking for. However, the, by the way, it's very hot in here. There's no air conditioning in this room. I have the door open to outside, but it's like 90 degrees. So I apologize for the sweating. However, I think these were absolutely worth the 50 bucks. If I could find another pair in a different color in like a nude or something, I would buy them in an absolute heartbeat. And they have certainly replaced any of the flats that I have. I'll tell you, my shoe wardrobe is four pairs of shoes at the moment, and I'm perfectly happy with it. And during the winter, I decided that I needed some boots. And so I was looking online at Clark's website since I knew that their shoes had been working for me for quite a while. And I decided I wanted to get a pair of Clark's boots because they probably wouldn't destroy my feet. However, the boots like this, the little low heeled shorty boots that they had online at the time were about $120. And that's not gonna cut it for me. So I looked on eBay, once again, eBay and Amazon, and I found these shoes, which are nearly exactly the same. I mean, the footprint, the heel, everything except this buckle was the exact same as because this is last year's model. This year's model was this exact same shoe, the same pebbled leather, the same exact silhouette, but it didn't have the straps. And there was a little divide at the heel where there was a little brown kind of panel. Other than that, they were exactly the same. I have absolutely no problem wearing last year's boots. That kind of style does not bother me at all. And these were 50. So I saved an absolute ton of money and these got me through the winter when I was freezing my little butt off here in Arkansas and it did snow here and that always scares me. So yeah, absolutely be willing to go for last year's model. And this is another instance of if you know the style and the size that you need in something, if you've kind of figured out what brands that you like, you can always do online shopping to get them for less and never ever pay full price. Final example, and then I will let you guys go. All right, my running sneakers. These are Adidas Duramo 7s with super cloud technology. These cost about $140. Guess if I paid that or not. And if you've been around for any amount of time at all, you know I did not pay that. I paid $19 and 88 cents for these because they were not a popular print. Like they weren't popular colors. I actually found these on Amazon in the size I needed, everything like that. And they're real branded Adidas and everything. And you could select about 15 different color combinations all the others were 70, 80, $100. These were 1988. I don't particularly care what my exercise sneakers look like. And I actually think these look fine. I think they're kind of cute actually, but there was no way I was gonna spend a hundred plus dollars on exercise sneakers. Now I know a lot of people have like shoe issues and I certainly need to keep my feet in good condition because I'm a big one. And, but for, you know, for less than $20 I was willing to take a chance on these shoes and they're absolutely amazing. And the great thing about Amazon is there are all those reviews there. And you can just with the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of reviews, you can basically see, oh, I'm kind of, I feel like I'm kind of similar to that person. If they aren't having a problem, if they really like the shoes, then I certainly will. And I knew the quality on these would be good because they're a brand name. Same with these because it just doesn't matter if you pay cheaper, if they're the same brand, they're gonna last the same as if you paid 140 for them. So that is kind of my tutorial on how to dress well and wear high quality pieces that will last you a long time without spending the amount of money that it would cost to do that if you just went out and spent kind of aimlessly. So this is how I have a small wardrobe of high quality things that I know will last me. And I only have to kind of replace a couple of things each season and I'm able to keep it up. So tell me if you think I'm completely wrong in all of this below. Once again, not a fashionista. It is not important to me to keep up with current trends. I just have kind of found my style that I like and I feel like it's a little, I hope, it's kind of a classic style and it'll work with me as I grow. I don't know, I usually get compliments on my clothes to tell you the truth, not like a brag, but I feel like the way I present myself to the world is professional and good and I feel good about myself. And I feel even better when I can be like, ha ha, I spent $20 on these shoes or I spent $9 on this shirt and I know it looks good because I know the brand and I know it's high quality and I know it'll last. So talk to me about this below. Tell me the best deal that you've gotten on a high quality piece of clothing before and do you tell everyone or do you keep it like your little secret? Because the world is torn on that. I'm the one that'll be like, I got such a good deal on this, you'd never believe. So yeah, that's what I wanted to talk about today. Never, ever, ever pay full price. There's no need, especially when it comes to your wardrobe. So I will see you all very soon and goodbye.