Building an "I mean business" wardrobe without going broke!

It has been several days since last I posted, but I promise I have good reason! Plus, this good reason is also the inspiration behind this post. I hope you enjoy it!

So, over the past week or so, I have been invited to several interviews for a job I'm very interested in. It is with a start-up company in this area, and I would be able to actually use my degree! I don't have any grand ideas of amazing pay, but I am so thrilled to be able to get my feet wet doing something related to my career and to just HAVE A JOB! I have been looking for a long time, y'all. I've already had two interviews, and they called me today to schedule an interview with the company owner. 

As a woman, when I'm faced with circumstances such as these, my almost immediate reaction is to worry over what outfit I'll wear. It has been a long time since I've needed anything "businessy" to wear. However, I knew the day would come when I would have to cave and purchase, at minimum, a few good staple pieces from which to build a business wardrobe. 

In a town as small and lacking in good shopping as the one we live in, I knew I would be in for a real treat (sarcasm, please note) when trying to find something I liked that fell within my modest budget (free??? No? Sigh).

I set off on Saturday and the first store I went to was Target. I have always loved some of their clothes for women. I can usually count on Target to have what I'm looking for at a reasonable price. By the way, did I mention my sweet hubs tagged along for this boring shopping trip? That's why he's my best friend. He knew I wanted the company. =)

So, we're strolling through Target - I didn't go under the impression that I would be leaving with clothes. I went thinking I would look at them, get some ideas, pick up my eye liner and fabric softener and that would be it. Nooope. 

They had racks and racks of 50-75% off women's clothes. So of course, I dove right in to see what I could find. After about 20 minutes of digging, I came up for air with two skirts. One was $11.48 and the other was $6.28. Tried them on... and to my astonishment, they fit! Here they are:

I couldn't pass up such a great deal!

I couldn't find any tops to match, but I have plenty here at home that will go really well with both skirts. After the Target venture, I thought, let's try Goodwill. It's been a long time since I've shopped there for clothes (I normally am scouring the furniture/housewares area) but I figured it might be worth a shot. 

After about an hour of hunting, I am very proud to say I found some true gems!

This lovely, brand new looking blazer was only $3.39! I examined each piece of clothing very closely and I still can't find anything wrong with this piece. Love it! 

This lovely sleeveless blouse had some issues but I saw past them and knew it could be perfect. There were some stains from what looked like deodorant (as though whoever gave it to Goodwill didn't wash it first... gross. Seriously, people) and a couple of the dangly embellishments needed to be fixed. So, I washed it (on the delicate cycle with Oxiclean and detergent) and dried it on the delicate cycle followed by a brief wrinkle release cycle. It came out sparklingly new looking! I quickly sewed some of the dangling bits back into place and voila! A beautiful top for only $3.39!

The only thing I knew I had to find was a good pair of khakis. I had a few other pair, but not this staple piece... until I found this pair of pristine khakis for $5.49! I didn't try anything on until I got home (mainly because I wanted to be able to shower straight afterward) but these fit like a glove. 

And then I found this piece, which is made by some company I've never heard of. Judging by the tag in the shirt, it seems to be a little older, but it's in great condition. It is a very manly looking style - especially the pale blue pin striped look - but I absolutely love button up shirts. I noticed very quickly that it had a stripe in it that was the exact same bright salmon color as the skirt I bought at Target! I put the skirt on with the shirt, tucked it in and threw on a pair of black patent leather pointed toe heels. Call me crazy, but I loved the look of it. 

So, I ended the day with a total of six new (to me) pieces of clothing for less than $35! I'd call that a good day!

So I thought I'd share about my previous post, in which I included my new weekly cleaning schedule. It's only been in effect one week, and I've barely kept up with it. For shame. I'm not saying the cleaning didn't get done - it did. Most of it. It just didn't all get done on the specific day to which it was assigned. We were unusually busy last week, and my hubs got to come home from work a lot earlier than he's been able to in months, so I sort of let it all go and enjoyed the time with him. =)

I still think it's a great idea and I'm going to do my best to stick to it. 

Still haven't finished the desk project either. Every time I step into the garage to do laundry or let Cammie outside, it sits there mocking me. I would say I plan to finish it by the weekend but I'm going to be honest and say it will hopefully be done in the next two weeks. I can't believe how ridiculously long I've taken to do it. Le sigh.

Who knows, maybe I'll get a burst of energy tomorrow and just conquer everything I've been meaning to do?

Or maybe not... ;)

We'll see!