Men v. women: differing perspectives on money

Really, it must be a Mr. B thing.

Hubby was really upset when I bought a suit for SonofEva for his 5th grade graduation. He knew the boy would only wear it once, and he was right. But I still like looking at the pictures. (I didn't have any idea you could RENT until I read this thread. Live & learn.)

What Olga said.

Or maybe he doesn't like the idea of wearing something that somebody else has put on already?

Women be shoppin'!

Perhaps, the word rental is/was biting at the ego of a man who is about to present his family in a light where "to rent" does not fit the gentry.

My take: Mr. B considers buying the suit a "deal" based on the alternative of renting one. Some people love a deal and think that makes over-buying better than buying what you wanted to begin with. I went into a shoe store to get a pair of dress shoes. For me, this is a once in a decade event. The cashier told me I could get a second pair for half cost and was stunned when I said "no thanks." She asked why not. I said "I only need one pair."

I see this as a gender discrimination issue.*

If Mo was a little girl, there'd likely be no question of a rental. It'd be a nice party dress, and new shoes and tights, and a girl purse, and maybe a coat or jacket to wear over the party dress. And the family might take the opportunity for a couple of other nice events where the little girl could wear her party outfit - family dinner at a fancy restaurant, that sort of thing.




* ok, so not full-on discrimination, but some little boys like to dress up and they get ripped off big time in this area

I'm with boom on this one; rental was a smart move based on cost and need.

I own about ten suits, and the need for them are almost nil after I retired. If I had the foresight, I wouldn't have purchased all those suits, because most are still in pretty good shape, but my waist size has changed. The use for suits in today's world isn't even expected at weddings or funerals, and surely not even at symphony halls.

The only other option I would have considered would have been a sports coat.

**** 2Packs. That's it! I'm married to a man so shallow and stupid that he thinks the Army is the gentry and he's worried about impressing a man who has been family for 25 years. Jeez, how could I have missed that?

I said that renting the outfit was not inexpensive, not that it was very expensive. It cost $90.

We went to a semi-fancy wedding last spring and I spent about $70 on a shirt, pants and shoes for Mo to wear. The next time he tried them on, about a month later, they didn't fit. He's seven. If you look hard you can actually see him growing.

That's funny, engineer. I was just talking to my mom about just such things. Sometimes I'll find myself on the cusp of buying something just because it seems like a bargain or getting a good coupon and wondering what I should go buy.

Then I kick myself!

I did this recently as a matter of fact but it turned out to be okay. I was shopping for Thanksgiving dinner and had a coupon for a free turkey if I spent $150. We wanted a specific kind of turkey that wasn't covered by the coupon. I asked the cashier if I got the turkey anyway would the store donate it somewhere. He said "no" but suggested a place that would be more than happy to have it -- the Meals on Wheels people. I drove the 30 pound turkey he found me over there that afternoon.

Anyway.... sometimes a good deal can be a good deal for someone else!

I've done that - used my coupon/deal to get something for someone else/charity. I used to do it very very occasionally, but a post of Chai's a year or more ago made me pay more attention to some of the coupons that I'd let go by because I didn't need whatever it was for.

Chai is the frikken grand master of the couponed product donation. I bow before her. She opened my eyes to the possibilities, too.

I'm so lucky that I have a boy. I'm sure I would have ended up with a girly girl and I would have no idea how to deal with it.

I do agree that clothing a girl for such an event would have called for a much larger cash outlay.

C.I., Mr. B is the same way which is one of the reasons I'm so surprised by his reaction. He has a closet full of suits -- a few of them still sort of fit. He has rare ocassion to wear them. He would be better off renting in my opinion.

I was so glad I had been digging through my closet over the last few days. I had volunteered for a school thing and found out at the very, very, very last minute that I was supposed to sort of dress up for it. I was able to pull something together in 10 minutes!

Success!

I decided to hit the consignment store I'd spotted in my neighborhood. Great clothes, insanely low prices. I got 2 jackets, a sweater, a blouse, 2 pair of slacks for $140. They all mix in with my current wardrobe, they're all very classic; I've done all my shopping for the next couple of years.

Meanwhile Mr. B learned his lesson at the men's wear store when the nice dress shirts were $70.

None of us are into clothes so we don't really shop except for jeans and T-shirts and sneakers. It is easy to be appalled at the prices when you haven't shopped for nice clothing in a while.

I have a feeling the consignment shop and I are going to be very good friends. Apparently someone who sells their clothes there is just the same size as me so the slacks had all been hemmed for my height. It's like having a personal shopper and a tailor!

You wanna vote on what I should wear? I was just taking photos so I can see it all put together without trying it all on.

Sure...

Yeah! I need some help!

I'm uploading them so it'll be a second. The photos are kind of crappy but I think you can get the idea....

Okay....

This is a silk printed skirt that I usually wear with a blue/white shell or a ivory turtleneck -- the jacket is a three button, no color, small lapel thinging:



This is the same jacket with floaty grey pants and a paisley print blouse with grey, cream, red an black:



This is the same outfit with the fab red jacket I found today:



This is my "standby jacket" -- it is really pretty, kind of a pinky tan with pinky tan embrodery and pinky tan shell buttons. These pants I found today are perfect with it -- kind of has an Asian vibe wich I really like:



I usually wear this white satiny peacoat when dressing up. It doesn't look that nice here but it really is cool.



I also have a knee lenth black kind of floaty wrap skirt but it just seemed like a cooler weather outfit.... Still, it could be put into play.

I'm pretty sure that each of these outfits would be appropriate for the style of the event.

mmmmm

no to any of that mixy-matchy approach for the event you're going to do. it's all a bit too business casual

you need to think more suit - a bit more formal

is the color and weight of your black flirty skirt at all related to the black jacket? if so, you could use them with a simple, unpatterned shell (definitely try to stay away from patterns for this sort of situation) with pearls or a low-key pendant necklace. neutral stockings, black pumps, the white peacoat over top, a good scarf - and you'd be set to go.

~~~

We ran into those $70 dress shirts when we were outfitting Set to go to a formal wedding about a year ago. I took careful note of the sizes as they were fitting him, rejected the shirts for some brilliant reason, then headed off to the best second-hand shop I know - found the same brand and size in a couple of colors - washed 'em up. He looked better at that wedding than I did.

See? I am clueless!

But I am going to have to go with seperates as I don't have a suit and couldn't find one in two days of shopping. I have a hard time finding dresses that fit since I have broad shoulders and boobs - they end up looking baggy and awful.

I did dig out the photos from the last promotion and it was not formal but dressy.

I'll go dig around in my closet a bit more. I'll figure something out.

Thanks for the feedback.

Try to get a suit effect from the separates you have. Just stay away from something that looks mix and match.

At some point (after the event), go back to the consignment shop to try and find a shift dress that you can have tailored. It's worth it to have one simple, perfect piece - buy it inexpensively, have it tailored.

A shift dress under a matching/co-ordinating (not mix and match) jacket almost automatically 'reads' as dressy/formal.

the basic shift shape

http://simplicity.com/dv1_v4.cfm?design=3744

(the sleeveless versions)

a D & G shift

- the modified bubble bottom on this one is a pretty good boob balancer - esp. if you have a jacket/shawl for it