The Chronic Consumer

Even though I no longer live in the town where I went to high school, I still like to support my alma mater whenever possible. This usually takes the form of donating money to the athletic program or making contributions for various causes such as field trips.

But I also enjoy showing my support by doing something as simple as wearing my school colors when I attend sporting events. Although the school sells some apparel at their booster store, their selection is pretty limited, which is why I usually end up buying stuff from PrepSportsWear.com. They have everything from golf shirts to messenger bags to scrubs, and offer their products for pretty reasonable prices. You can get stuff personalized with the sport or club you are/were in and/or you class year. (I typically just buy products marked “alumni”).

Anyway, I recommend checking out that site if you want apparel and accessories featuring your school logo!

One of my cousins is full-figured and has a hard time finding nice clothes to wear. She can’t buy anything off the rack at the mall because the stores there seem to think that everyone falls in between sizes 2 and 12. So she has to try to find stores that specialize in plus size clothing — but there aren’t too many of those in the area. And when she does find the right kind of store, she quickly discovers that the apparel they sell isn’t exactly trendy, making it even harder for her to dress the way she likes.

I told her that she needs to start shopping online for this stuff. I’m sure there are plenty of websites that cater to the full-figured crowd, and they’re bound to have a better selection than what she’s seeing locally. Once she finds a few websites with attractive plus size clothing, all she has to do is bookmark the pages so she can go back whenever she needs something new. Sounds simple, right?!

Is it just me, or are product labels becoming increasingly difficult to read because of the extremely small print size the manufacturers use? I like to read about products before I buy them, whether we’re talking about nutrition info on food packages or fabric care instructions on apparel, so this trend towards smaller print really bugs me.

On second thought, maybe it’s not even the manufacturer’s fault… maybe it’s just a case of my eyesight getting worse as I age.

In any event, I am now thinking of buying one of those portable reading magnifiers to carry around in my purse. That way, I can just pull it out and use it whenever I come across some small print that I want to read. Hopefully that will solve my problems!

I was browsing around at Amazon.com this morning and noticed that they’re having a DVD blowout sale right now, which means you can get savings of 40% or more on your favorite movies or TV shows. I wasn’t planning on buying anything until I saw some of the prices. For example, they’re offering all seasons of Seinfeld for $22.99 each — 54% off the regular list price.

I also saw a deal on The O.C. that was simply too good to pass up: Each season is being sold for a mere $16.99 — a whopping 72% off the list price of $59.98 per season. I promptly ordered all four seasons at that rate before the notoriously fast Amazon price changes went into effect. What a great deal!

If you’re looking to add to your DVD collection, I recommend heading over to Amazon.com today. I have no idea when the sale will end, but it could be very soon so take advantage of these prices now!!

I’m still looking for a couple pairs of shoes to get me through the summer. Obviously, I want something that I can slip on and off easily, without having to fuss with straps, buckles, or laces. At the same time, however, I don’t want shoes that will go flying off my feet if I have to run a few steps to catch the subway or bus, so that’s another thing I have to consider.

Anyway, as I was browsing around today, I came across a site that sells discount Dansko clogs and found a pair that I really like. These shoes are great because they’re so versatile: not too casual, not too formal. I’d be able to wear them in lots of different situations, from shopping outings to dinner parties, which is exactly what I’m looking for in shoes.

These are going on my Wish List for now!

Even though I haven’t worked outside the home in more than three years, I like to keep a couple of nice business suits on hand just in case I need to meet with prospective clients for my freelancing biz or go on a job interview.

Anyway, as I was straightening out my closet this morning, I noticed my business suits for the first time in ages and decided to try them on. Imagine my horror when I realized that they no longer fit! I couldn’t get the pants to zip up all the way on either pair, and since the jackets are tailored, there’s no way to hide the fact that my pants aren’t fastened.

I guess I have two choices here. One, I can either go out and spend several hundred dollars on new business suits that I might or might not wear in the next year. Or two, I can crank up the intensity of my workouts, cut out all junk food, and buy some weight loss pills in an effort to slim down enough to fit back into my clothes.

Hmm, I’ll probably go with the second option for a few months to see if that helps.

I was looking through the One Industries 2008 Spring Catalog this morning when I saw this Rockstar hoody that I know my husband would love. Jerry had previously expressed interest in buying a Monster Energy hoody, but since everyone and his brother seems to be wearing those now, he would rather go with Rockstar.

I think it looks pretty good, and though it’s a bit steep at $58, I’m going to buy it for Jerry soon. He hasn’t gotten anything for himself in a long time, so it’ll be nice to splurge a bit on something completely unnecessary like this!

We currently live in a townhouse, but are saving up to buy a single-family home someday. Of course, with how bad things are in the real estate market right now, we will likely end up having to hold onto our current home longer than expected, otherwise we’ll surely suffer a loss if we try to sell.

Since we’ve been living here for eight years, with two dogs and a 5-year-old boy, the house is definitely starting to show serious signs of wear and tear. That’s why we’re thinking of making home improvements beginning this summer and continuing as we find money to spare. That way, we can fix the house up bit by bit, making it both more comfortable for us to live in now and more appealing for potential buyers whenever the market picks up again.

Towards this end, we’ve been shopping at various discount home centers looking for affordable products to use for our DIY projects. We’re going to start in the bathroom by repainting the walls and replacing the flooring. If we get really ambitious, we might even swap out the tiles in the tub area — but that would probably require more skill and know-how than we possess.

Then once the weather warms up, we’ll do some touching up to the exterior: fresh paint all around, some minor landscaping, and maybe even new concrete in the driveway. My head is spinning just from thinking about all this work!