Day 12: Something you don’t leave the house without

This is a VERY short list:

Shoes. (That is TOTALLY because of FlyLady. And it is GREAT!! My feet are much better--no gross callouses, not freezing all the time, don't hurt. Except for the baby-toe I broke last week when I stubbed it on the corner of the bed at 4:50am. Mutter-mutter.)

That's about it.

I suppose Pants, too (and FlyLady is the reason for THAT, too) In fact, any shreds of organization and/or smoothness in my life pretty much ALL come from FlyLady).

However, I have to run out chasing SmallDaughter whenever the mood to escape strikes her, so it is in my best interest to be clothed at all times.


I almost always leave the house without makeup on. I don't always carry a purse. Even in the old days when I HAD a cellphone, I always forgot to carry it (or I had it, but it wasn't charged!).

But I do have chapstick, diapers & wipes & tape (both medical and cheap adhesive) stashed in my purse, all cars, church bag, etc.

Thrift Store Karma

I have several reasons for my firm belief in shopping for my families clothing at Thrift Shops. First and foremost, of course, is the fact that I am thrifty (that is the nice way of putting it!). I really hate to pay retail prices for clothes, which brings us to the second point--paying that much for clothes that they are going to (in BigGirl and LargeBoy's cases) outgrow in 4 seconds or (in LargeBoy and SmallDaughter's cases) blow the knees right out of!

There is also the very valid point of what happened to my blood pressure the time I bought new retail clothes and they fell apart in 1 washing. At least with thrift clothes I know they can hold up to a trip through the washer and dryer! PLUS it is really hard to find nice, modest clothes for a pre-adolescent girl--especially pants. Everything in the store is remarkably trashy looking! No Thanks!

That said, it is always a gamble--sometimes you score big, and sometimes you come up empty! On my last trip, LargeBoy got nothing, and the girls got great stuff! SmallDaughter got 4 really cute new shirts (so I can rotate some of the grosser ones out of her wardrobe!)--Long sleeve, of course!

BigGirl got 3 new pairs of jeans. She is (gasp, pant, sigh, faint!) in ladies size 7! WHOA! I suppose that is right for someone who is 5' 6', but still!

AND

In the big win of the day, I found her white, shiny satin, opera length* gloves (Which she has coveted forever). Fabulous!

Even better, they were on super sale, and cost 59 cents!YAY! How can you fight that much glamor for that little cash outlay! WIN!!

*Opera length gloves come to the upper arm (bicep area). The rule for gloves was: the lower the neckline, the higher the gloves! (how is that for your costume-geek trivia of the day?)