Back-to-school shopping on a $50 budget
Clothes are expensive — figuring that one out is not rocket science. I spent an embarrassingly large amount on clothes last year that I will not disclose, so I limited myself to $50 this time around. Budgeting is not fun, but it will prevent any crying in the future. I left my credit and debit card at home so there would be no slip-ups. I decided to hit up the Forever 21 at the East Brunswick Mall for this shopping excursion.
I walked in and was bombarded with sale signs. Seeing those signs already made me wish I would have brought my credit card. I scoured the store for some cheap, trendy items, but with no luck during my first scan around the store. I came across an ultra cool, khaki green coat, so of course I picked it up to have a peak. I was flabbergasted at the price I read. Sixty dollars for a coat at Forever 21. Since when did Forever 21 get so fancy?
After my jaw was done dropping, I found some rad striped sweaters, which just happens to be in style right now. I was peaking through all of the dark-hued, striped sweaters to find my size, but then I saw someone famous that distracted me. Who did I see you ask? I saw Laurie Hernandez, one of the “Final Five” gold medalists gymnasts from the Rio Olympics.
It was a pretty huge shock. I never in a million years would think I would bump into Laurie Hernandez shopping at Forever 21. I wanted to ask for an autograph, but there were two security guards blocking her. Gee, what a relaxing way to shop. Now back to sweaters, I found my size and tried to get away from all the screaming fans so I could go back to my shopping excursion.
I suddenly had an urge to find a turtleneck for some reason, so I did just that. There were turtleneck, sweater tank tops only one table down from where I picked up the sweater earlier — how convenient. This sweater was a medium-pink color with awesome written all over it. Nothing screams fall fashion quite like some good ole’ sweaters.
Okay, now I’m getting sick of sweaters, I want to find an intricate piece that no one will have. I looked through the store from top to bottom and the most “intricate” thing I could find was a satin bomber jacket with flowers on the front. I suppose Forever 21 was not the best choice to find an interesting piece of clothing. I should have went to H&M, but oh well. I’m going to stick to the basics and just find a denim skirt — they have to at least have that.
Believe it or not, it was actually pretty hard to find a skirt at this time of year. They are either all taken or Forever 21 just doesn’t believe in skirts during this time of year. Three piles of clothes and a few laps around the store later I finally found a simple blue denim skirt. I was out of breath from finding a damn blue denim skirt.
The dark-hued striped sweater was $17.50, the turtleneck medium pink sweater tank top was $14.50 and the blue denim skirt was $19.50, which means my $50 is all used up. Now, that is how you shop with a $50 bill.
