September 14: new espadrilles

What:  size 8 brown espadrilles with cute poofy bow on front
From:  NY and Co
Purchased:  mid summer 2011
Cost:  $10

Ok, well, first of all, since I've last written, I've purchased 11, not 10, pairs of shoes, bringing my total in 2011 to 17.  How is that possible?  Well, when you're under employed and bored and you wander into a store you normally never go into and see super cute, slightly dressier, super cheap brown espadrilles marked to $10, you snap them up.  I have espadrilles (am now wearing the replacement brown ones, as the originals went in the trash after shoe-maggedon), but they are kind of boring and utlitarian, more casual.  These are slightly dressier and perfect for skirts, or, today, a summer dress (with jacket) in the office.  Or to a 50th anniversary garden party in the middle of the summer.  Probably slightly better for garden parties than the office, as they make an annoying flip flop sound as I walk the halls here!

Bottom line:  great buy, super cute, comfy, nice low heel but looks fancy, total keeper

and so it goes

All right, well, I haven't covered shoe-mageddon, but let's just say I got rid of a LOT of shoes.  A LOT.  Like I think at least 35.  Before shoe-maggedon, I was holding at 169 pairs, having gotten rid of 31.  And that means now I had settled on about 130 pairs.  That is an unbelievable amount of shoes!  It's hard to do an accounting as it all happened so fast, and we got rid of so many, and then completely re-organized.  I have a good memory, and it's what I call a situational memory.  So I was able to remember prices of shoes or where I got them, or when I got them, based on what I remembered from the situation, or context, around the purchase or wearing.  But that means that by re-organizing the shoes completely, my memory that a particular shoe was in a particular stack has now gotten all jumbled.  In fact, just this past weekend I was rooting around in a stack and ran across a pair and realized I had forgotten I had them.  And I was going through the blog and am really wondering where the 2011 new black pumps are.  I have no idea.  Not a clue.  I have to go on a hunt to re-familiarize myself with my shoe holdings.

And do you know why I was looking at the post of the 2011 black pumps?  Well, you may recall I've spent a significant portion of 2011 un-employed, or seriously under-employed.

In 2010, I bought 22 pairs of shoes, a number that actually kind of stunned me.  I knew with a tighter budget in 2011, I wouldn't even get close to that purchase total.  Surely 2010 (another year when I was under-employed) was an anomaly.

Well, let's see, before I stopped tallying in April, I had purchased 6 pairs of shoes, helped by a mini-frenzy of 3 pairs in March.  The other day, after a shoe purchase, I jotted down what I knew I'd acquired since April.  And - what the heck.  Uh, that would be another 10 pairs.  TEN PAIRS of shoes in 4 months.  4 months in which I was unemployed!  How was it possible?  Well, 4 pairs came after I started working, but still!  Ok, 2 are $10 espadrilles, and another 2 are $10 flipflops (both once I started working).  So, looks like I might have to do an accounting of my new pairs.  (Some of which are awesome!)

Also, my house is cluttered.  Way, way way too cluttered.  I did the dreaded toy sort this past weekend, and threw out three bags of crap!  Three bags!  From just the main level of the house (toys + craft supplies) - the basement could probably generate another 3 bags, and Elizabeth's room.....I can't even think about it.

Anyway, bottom line - more shoes, and more sorting coming soon to AwwwClutter!