This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, Avenue Sixty may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Shoe shopping can be tedious when your options are limited to what you can afford. All winter long I’ve been wearing my big old trusty faux suede 1-inch block heel Decree boots. They were $30 boots I bought at least 4 years ago. They’re beat up and battered and a little big for my feet; but they protected me from frost bite on my trips outdoors so to me they’re worth a million. Because there’s nothing more unpleasant than frost bite.
But now the weather is warming up I realize I don’t have a go-to pair of shoes for when I want to look and feel like I can still hold my own out there in our image obsessed society. So I am going to need to buy one or two new pairs of shoes to get me through spring summer 2015.
But can I afford new shoes?
It wasn’t that long ago that I purchased new shoes. What with household and business expenses, I really can’t afford to spend more money on shoes for a while. But I literally don’t have any options for spring and summer shoes outside of a couple pairs of old sneakers, my go-to flat sandals that are also years old and another pair of flat sandals that I purchased last year. The shoes I just bought are unlikely to ever get worn outside my living room. I’ll get some use out of them for my style practice photo shoots. But they’re too high for me and I get around mainly by walking and taking public transportation. Wearing them out and about is not an option.
So I need to do some more shoe shopping but…
On top of not really being able to afford it,
I hate shopping!
Whether it’s for clothes, shoes, furniture–shopping is frustrating when you have limited funds to spend. Trying to find nice things that aren’t over your budget is usually near to impossible. If money were no object I’d have no difficulty finding things to buy. My difficulty would be resisting the urge to put too many pairs of shoes in my shopping cart. There would be so many I would want. But when you’re working with next to no spending money, shopping can be a pain. There’s plenty to choose from but hardly any of it is worthy to be seen much less to be worn.
The wish list
Jil Sander Black Hammered Leather Loafer
Alexander Wang ‘Korie’ ankle boots
BURBERRY PRORSUM Colorblock Leather Sneakers
Band of Outsiders Strappy Multicolor Ankle-Tie Sandals
Marni Fussbett Embellished Sandals
I could go on with this wish list for hours. There are so many gorgeous shoes that I can’t afford. As for finding something nice that I can afford, that process also tends to use up many hours; but the hours are spent trying to find just one decent pair of shoes as opposed to finding so many things you just can’t pull yourself away. I’ve been trying for a few days to find something but have not yet had any luck. Part of the problem is that I am not willing to suffer to look good. Shoes that I’m actually going to be wearing out and about need to be comfortable. But I also want to look stylish. And it seems as if stylish and comfortable don’t typically go hand in hand when you’re shoe shopping on a limited budget.
So for now I still haven’t found any shoes to get me through Spring summer 2015…
