I will be the first to tell you I love fashion.  Adore it?  Nah.  Completely hooked on the idea that I can play paper dolls in my own closet no matter how old I am?  BINGO!  I am smitten with all things creative.  I find strength in multi-purposing and recycling just the same.  Thus sisters, I am coming at you with a whole new frugal fashion flippity-flip twist.  Skirt vs. shirt?  I’m dying to know your vote!

Budgeting and saving money for things like oh let me see, stinkin’ groceries is sooooo booooring.  I mean I get it.  Children need to eat.  Husbands like full bellies.  Yada. Yada. Yada.  But before you go all “I can’t believe she just said that” on me, hear.me.out.

I feed my people. Totes, I do. I mean, I live in a house FULL of males.  I am taking one for the female team on sooooo many levels, ladies.

But the creative Meg-a-doo just has to eek her ever lovin’ creative out somewhere.  So naturally, I choose fashion.  Oh, and I use the left over mashed potatoes from one meal to make potato soup for the next.  Fist bumps, y’all.

The above outfit is all from Goodwill minus the shoes.  I paid $12.97 for the entire ensemble.  PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THE BLACK AND WHITE STRIPED SKIRT. It’s pleated. It was $2.99. {insert drool here}.

And I so enjoy wearing it.  I am all kinds of fanatical about the stripes INSIDE the pleats.  I feel like a twisty-top from yesteryear.  And I might, I just might, spin a lil’ bit just to watch it twirl. Honesty is the best policy even in fashion, girls.  

And the absolute happy I feel when I wear it can most certainly go one louder.  My fellow paper doll lovers, I just pressed the tabs down ON.MY.CHEST. {total cost for this ensemble: $15.45. Goodwill for jacket and skirt shirt. Old Navy clearance for jeans, Ross clearance for shoes}

Dude, this skirt just became a shirt!  

And just like that I made proverbial potato soup from leftover striped skirt potatoes.  I think as Moms we own this snazzy trick in the overall scheme of life.  We can cope. We can problem solve.  And we can stretch.  That’s the beauty of perspective.  Be it a striped pleated skirt or a bowl of leftovers, the outside-of-the-boxedness that we bring to life is what only helps to encourage fresh looks and blooming there in the budget no matter how strict it may be.

Perspective paper dolls.  Skirt vs. shirt. Life & fashion is so.much.fun!