How Low can I Go? (And I'm Not Talking Weight)

So I've got my own little industry going now, posting my clothes on craigslist that are getting too big for me. I've sold a few bags of them 3 different times now, and every time that I post them, within an hour I have like 20 emails from people wanting to take them. I've sold them in lots (each lot is like 2 or 3 bags full) and each lot for $25. It's definitely a great deal for the women buying them, because they're super cute clothes, but it's great for me too, to clean out my closet. And to make room for more! I have one woman who has bought from me two times, because she loved the first batch so much, so when she saw my next posting she was thrilled and wrote me right away.

If you have never discovered www.craigslist.org, by the way, it's awesome. It's better than ebay to me because it's local. Ebay is wonderful, and I do kind of have an unhealthy addiction to it. :) But with craigslist you can have someone just pick up what you're selling and not have to deal with shipping it and all that crap. We just sold most of the furniture in our garage that we weren't using - I listed it all on Craigslist and in one day we had someone here buying it all. So I guess craigslist is the eBay for immediate gratification junkies.

So let's talk about clothes now. I am having so much fun buying smaller and smaller sizes. I've gone from a size 26 to a size 18 pants, and in tops and dresses from a 22/24 to just a regular L or XL. I bought a dress at Kohl's this weekend that was a large!! Not a plus size. Not even an extra-large. Just a regular old size large. Like a normal sized person. You have no idea how thrilling that was to me.

But when I buy something - especially pants and skirts - they only fit me for a few weeks. So I don't want to - and can't afford - to buy expensive clothes right now. I don't want to bond with a new favorite skirt or something and then have to kiss it goodbye and hand it off to one of my craigslist customers.

So my new kick is to find the cheapest place to buy clothes. A couple of months ago I discovered Dots, a store where everything is like $5, $10, or at the most $15. And the stuff is really cute for the most part! There are several stores in the Orlando area - they are one of those places you might have never noticed but I'm telling you, it's great!

And good ol' Old Navy and Target (pronounced the French way, of course) are always great for some reasonably priced stylin' clothes.

But I wanted to take it to a new level of cheapness. Someplace I would never have dreamed of buying clothes before. Reach a new personal best. Outdo myself with how cheaply I can buy cute clothes. But I have to remain stylish and trendy.

So I'm going to "out" myself and admit that I've found a new source. I'm gonna come right out and say it. Walmart. Yes, I have bought 2 pieces of clothing at the ultimate ugly corporate giant.

It happened by accident. My husband and I were at Walmart one night to buy a beach chair. And as we were passing by the women's clothing, I said to Rudy, "Oooh, that's actually a cute top." It was a long, empire waist tunic in red, with a really cute cut to it, nice material and I'd just seen one like it in Lucky magazine. :) And it was like $14.99. So after getting the beach chair, my husband had to go buy something in hardware, and I wandered over to the clothing section. And I found myself WANTING that top. And I noticed there were a few other cute tops there too. So I bought the red tunic and I felt kinda naughty.

Then the next day I went back and bought a pair of pinstriped black and white crop pants. From Walmart. For $16.99. And right now, writing this, I'm finding myself wondering whether I should go back and see what's the latest in Walmart fashion.

Don't you judge me.

http://orlando.craigslist.org/
www.dots.com
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5645865

So then, the next week, I went to Kmart. I figured if Walmart had cute clothes, then its ugly cousin Kmart must have adorable stuff too. Yeah, well .... not so much. Tacky, tacky, tacky. Very Your-55-year-old-Aunt-from-Indiana looking stuff. Even the Jacklyn Smith line (have you seen her lately? She's 61 and still gorgeous!!) looked like old-lady stuff. I did, however, find a couple of cute cotton nighties by Joe Boxer and got them. For like $7.99 each.

Even my nighties and underwear are way too big for me now. Yesssss!

I'll let you know about other bargains I find. And if you know of any, please, please let me know. I love online shopping too, so please post a comment and give me the website!

I need to set a new personal best in cheapness. And where can I really go down from Walmart???

Okay, new update - at just 3 months post-surgery:

Original pounds to lose: 140
Pounds lost so far: 64
Pounds left to lose: 76

Plus the 15 lbs. before the surgery, so 79 total!