The Teaching Shoes, or How Being Frugal Causes Bad Fashion Decisions

Do you have an accessory that makes you feel more confident? Maybe a power suit, a scarf, or a watch? Something that makes you feel a little more secure when you're wearing it, a little more able to take on the world.

I found mine yesterday at TJ Maxx. I don't stop in often because I have enough clothes and accessories...and because (even at discount prices) many of their items are a little expensive for me. Yesterday's trip was mentally justified by my need for a new purse. Technically it's more of a want, as I could go without a purse, but the one I'm currently carrying is tearing irreparably at the straps and my pockets aren't big enough to carry around all the stuff in there. I spent at least 20 minutes carefully perusing all the bags, but came away empty handed. Since my mother is one of the slowest shoppers I know and was probably going to be in the store for at least another hour, I meandered over to the shoes section. I tried on a pair that looked like a sophisticated version of Dorothy's ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz. I laughed at a pair with a 7 inch heel that I'm certain I couldn't have stood up in. And then I saw them...the perfect teaching shoes.

Up until yesterday the only black shoes I owned were unadorned flip flops and "going-out" black sandals with a heel. Every time I taught and needed black shoes this left me with the choice of looking like I was kicking back near a pool or like I was trying to pick up an under grad. I'll admit to changing outfits a couple of times so I could wear a pair of pretty magenta flats, thus avoiding the black shoe dilemma altogether. That was not a sustainable solution though.

So when I tried on these shiny black kitten-heeled shoes I knew I'd found my perfect teaching accessory. They're comfortable, dressy, and smart without being sexy. I knew I would wear them all the time, with a variety of outfits, perhaps even for an interview or two.

                                                           Not too casual, not too sexy.

"That's great," you say. And it would've been great, except the shoes were $40. Now most of you might think that's a deal for the perfect pair of shoes. A year ago I was shopping with one of my best friends who purchased three pairs of the same shoe at $115 a pair (in different colors, of course). So from one perspective $40 sounds like a steal. That is not my perspective however. I'm frugal, and that's being nice about it. All I could think about were all the other things I really do "need" to spend $40 on, like bills and Brynn's horse camp and a graduation present for my niece. I put the shoes back on the shelf and went to browse through dresses.

Then I tried them on again in a different size. I put them back on the shelf and went to look at exercise capris.

Then I tried the first ones on again, just to admire them in the long mirror at the end of the aisle. This is when my mom caught me looking longingly at them. She did her best to talk me into buying them, but I was not to be swayed. Forty dollars was just too much. I did carry them around for awhile to appease her, but I knew that in the long run they were headed back to the shelf.

As our shopping excursion wound to a close and we prepared to check out (she'd found a pair of Jessica Simpson wedges that she was certain she could not live without) my mom plucked the teaching shoes out of my hands and told me she was buying them as an early Christmas present. I protested, but then realized that she generally buys my Christmas presents off of the home shopping network. I'm all stocked up on electronic bibles and $100 skillets, so the shoes were a no-brainer. Merry Christmas to me!

Now if I could just find a cute purse...