Giving the Boots the Boot: My $400 Collection I Paid $110 For

I don't/won't post about fashion-related things very often, because it's not really in my nature to put that much attention into what I wear. It's not that I don't want to look good, but I've always been so frustrated with my financial situation that I could never justify getting new clothes, even though the majority of the items in my closet are legitimately from 2006-2008. I take really good care of my clothes and am really OCD about the way I wash them (I won't even mix yellow with green or brown with black). But recently, I been really feeling a push to update my wardrobe and simplify it. Although I can confidently say I do wear everything that I own (another OCD thing), I have a large number of items that I wear begrudgingly. I ultimately want less clothing, but a closet full of things I LIKE wearing and that suit my lifestyle, career goals, faith, and personality.


I've spent the last couple of months doing inventory on what I have and what I would like. I gathered pictures of people, celebrities, and TV show characters that I wish to model my style after, just to use as a guideline. I'll do a more thorough post on my exact process of closet-cleaning some other time, so today I'll just mentioned one of the things that came out of it. When I was going over my shoe and boot collection, I realized that many of my pieces were not Vancouver-appropriate.

My collection is small because of two main reasons: 1) Footwear is usually much more expensive than clothing. 2) I have trouble finding shoes that fit. My feet are size 4.5. Really. Many stores do not carry shoes in smaller than size 6. Some styles, like a boot, I can get away with a 5.5 by wearing thick socks or insoles, but pumps and flats I just walk right out of. You would not believe the amount of times that a shoe salesman has tried to talk me into purchasing a size 6 or even 7, that clearly didn't fit, by insisting they could fix it with insoles, which of course I have to pay for. Good grief... Nice try but give me a break!

We are all aware that Vancouver rains a lot, which means closed-toe footwear are needed much more often than open-toed. Whenever I go out, I always struggle with what to wear on my feet. It's usually too cold to wear one of my two pairs of open-toed heels, so I'm left with casual tennis shoes or boots. I had seven pairs of boots sitting in my mudhut - three of which were unwearable, two of which were very weather-specific, one very occasion-specific, and one pair of super casual Uggs. Since it's "boot-weather" 75% of the time here, I decided that was the first area of my wardrobe I needed to really address.

First things first - purge the clutter. I found an organization in Vancouver called the Quick Cobbler, who will repair old shoes and redistribute them to the less fortunate. The three pairs that I deemed unwearable are going there for examination. One might be worn beyond repair, but another are in great condition. They just have a tiny rip in the front because my calves are so large that it put too much stress on the front seam. The other pair are in perfect condition, but are way too small in the calves and cut off my circulation.

Goodbye Boots!

That left me with a pair of cowboy boots, a pair of Uggs, my rain boots, and my snow-boots. The rain boots are just cheap WalMart ones but they have served me well over the last six years of living on the West Coast. The Uggs come in handy for slipping on in the morning and evening when I am taking the dog out for a walk around the block - I rarely wear them beyond that. The snowboots and the cowboy boots went away into storage. I know cowboy boots are kind of trendy right now but mine are real riding boots from my horseback riding days. That means the heel is tapered, so it doesn't get caught in the stir-up, but it also means they are NOT meant for walking on pavement with. I have tried to wear them out but have slipped or almost slipped way too many times. Also, they chafe my legs SO bad if I wear them with skirts/dresses - they are really meant for jeans to be tucked in. They are in good condition and worth keeping, but not worth taking room on my shoe rack.

Next step was to decide what it was I wanted to accumulate. I knew black, flat-heeled boots were a must - they go with most of what I wear, but I also "need"  a lighter color to go with my pastel dresses. I could make due with those two colors, but if I found good deals, I also wanted to replace my gray ones as well as a pair of dark brown ones. I based my colors and shades off of my bottoms, jackets, and purses, since I most often will be seen with the three together. I also browsed around on websites to have an idea of what styles I liked and didn't like and what boots are going for nowadays. I knew I didn't want slouchy, because I know they make me look shorter and more bottom-heavy than I would like, and I didn't want anything stiletto or with a crazy heel - my life is way too busy for that.

My go-to store for footwear is, and probably always will be, Winners. They have a clearly-marked 5-5 1/2 section with the boxes and everything out in the open. That saves me a lot of time and disappointment. I can immediately see what they offer in my size and I don't have to deal with pushy salespeople trying to sell me something ill-fit. I set my budget of $50 per pair of boots. Since I planned to wear them a LOT and mostly likely often in damp weather, I didn't want them to be flimsy or cheap-feeling. I don't mind having to throw out $10 flip-flops after a month, but boots I want to last me several years. Every time I am by a Winners, I pop in to see what they have, and low and behold - I found a pair of black leather boots and a pair of light brown suede heeled boots each for $40. Score!

Between the two pairs, I knew I could get through the fall and winter seasons fashionably just fine, but I still wanted to replace my gray suede boots. So I waited until February when all the boots go on sale to make way for spring and summer stuff. Earlier this week my stepmother came to town. She offered to buy me something as a gift with a budget of $60, which is very kind of her. We went straight to Aldo. I found three styles of gray suede boots that I liked and only one of them came in a size 5. I tried them on and they fit perfectly. Shirley loved them too and insisted I get them. They were regular $110, but we paid $61.40 for them. I'm ecstatic.

So there you go. I didn't know it was possible to write such a long post on footwear, but y'all know I can be long-winded anyway. So that's how I accumulated a $400 boot collection for only $110.