Budget Thursday: Hoop-Disc Drop Earrings
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Sales of note for 5/14/25
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – Beauty Deals up to 25% off (ends 5/17)
- Ann Taylor – Suit Yourself! 30% off suiting (ends 5/16) + 25% off your full price purchase (ends 5/18) + extra 60% off sale (ends 5/14)
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 25% off
- Eloquii – Up to 60% off everything + extra 60% off sale + $1 shipping on all orders
- J.Crew – Up to 50% off long-weekend styles + 50% off select swim and coverups
- J.Crew Factory – Extra 50% off clearance + extra 15% off $100+ + extra 20% off $125+
- M.M.LaFleur – Lots of twill suiting on sale! Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – 40% off all markdowns (ends 5/18) + 30% off dresses, skirts, accessories, and shoes
And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!!
- The concept of “backup care” is so stupid…
- I need tips on managing employees in BigLaw who have to leave for daycare pickup…
- I’m thinking of leaning out to spend more time with my family – how can I find the perfect job for that?
- I’m now a SAHM and my husband needs to step up…
- How can I change my thinking to better recognize some of my husband’s contributions as important, like organizing the shed?
- What are your tips to having a good weekend with kids, especially with little kids? Do you have a set routine or plan?
Any suggestions for board books about dads? We have lots of mama-focused books that my daughter is very into reading but no equivalent Dad books.
For those of you who send your kids to daycares that provide food, do you ever send it backup food for your kid to eat if they don’t like the meals? And how does that work – do you send non-perishable things that can keep to the next day if your kid ends up eating the school’s meal? I have a fairly picky toddler and she’s quite unpredictable in her pickiness, so I don’t think we’ve reached the point where I can say “oh it’s turkey wraps for lunch, she’ll eat that so I don’t need to send a lunch.” I don’t want her to go hungry if she randomly decides not to eat the school food, but I also hate food waste.
Someone in the office ordered a pizza and I can smell it. The fancy salad I made myself for lunch now seems like a sad desk salad. I want pizza.
My kid turns 3 at the end of July. I’m looking at a couple party options and one is at our local children’s museum. There’s 45 minutes in the party room, then the kids can go off an explore the museum. We’ve been to a couple of these parties and it seems like the reverse of a typical party where you, say, go to a gymnastics thing, do some activities, then have pizza and cake and everyone goes home. Has much less of a “party” feel, but my kid always likes them because she likes the museum itself.
But with the kids being 3, maybe the 45 minutes in the party room (30 minutes for some organized activity, 15 for cake?) is enough? What kind of activity would work well for 3 year olds in a relatively small party space?
Or, I can do it at a gymnastics place. Maybe that’s my answer.
Two nights a week, every week, DH and I have to work late enough that we both miss bedtime and our nanny puts DS to bed. He is 10 months now and much more aware of what is going on, so I’m starting to feel guilty about this arrangement. Is this just mom guilt or something we should do our best to avoid?
I’ve got a week off between jobs the first week of July. My husband is also off that week and with the exception of July 4th, the kids will still be going to daycare. What would be on your to-do list? I’m thinking one or two movie matinees, unpacking the final few boxes from our move last year, a few hours at the pool, and (at least) a solid day of binging a tv show. I’d like a good balance of productivity and relaxation, but the new job will be three days a week (for the same pay, yay!) so maybe a little lighter on the productivity. Other ideas I’m not thinking of?
I’m the poster who wrote a few weeks ago about finding an amazing job opportunity that would come with a commute that I would, frankly, find pretty awful. (It would be 60-75 minutes one way, all car commuting. Part city driving, part highway, no mass transport available.) Well, I decided to apply for it anyway, just to see what happens. It’s that good of an opportunity. I have a phone interview today. I’m still as ambivalent as ever about the commute part. Should I get an offer, I would try to negotiate for a partial WFH arrangement, but my sources at this organization tell me that’s fairly unprecedented. :(
I don’t know whether to psych myself up for the interview, or hope they pass on me, just so I don’t have a difficult decision to make.
Tell me about your successful toddler (winter) vacations, please! We’re looking to take our two year-old somewhere for a few days this winter. Ideally a direct (not-too-long) flight or reasonable drive from the East Coast. We’re not big skiers (and I think two is a little young for skis), so we’re currently considering London, Lisbon, or maybe one of the Western national parks – would love to hear other suggestions!
Tell me about your kids and cell phones. My 9yo came home the other day with an old iPhone a friend gave him, and he is utterly devastated that I am (of course) making him give it back. He insists all his friends have phones (not true at all), and he’s jealous (true). I know that’s not a good reason to give him a phone, but I do start to think that he’s reaching an age I can leave him home alone for short stints (and we have no land line) and have wished a couple times when he’s been away with friends for long periods that he could communicate where he is and when he’s coming home. Not a lot, though. He’s a pretty responsible (mostly) rising 4th grader. Do I look for a flip phone for home use? Get an echo dot? Find him a basic smart phone and lock it down so he can basically call mom and play solitare on it? Tell him tough cookies, I walked uphill in the snow to school and got my first phone in college?
If your kid has a phone, what apps and controls and rules go with it?
Would you guys mind sharing How you guys split chores with partner / what you outsource? Husband and I just moved and we are trying to be mindful about how we split things since in the last year he was working out of town M-F so we are starting fresh. This is what we have in mind so far:
Outsourced: grocery shopping, laundry, weekly cleaning, kid pick up and drop off, kid am stuff, kid lunches
Me: cooking, kid evening routine / bath, daily picking up (dishwasher, wipe counters, etc), ordering groceries online, kid schedules (doctor, birthday party)
Husband: cleanup if he’s home for the cooking, trash, bill payment, dry cleaning, buying presents for kids parties, making our bed
I could use the opinions of other moms on this one – DH wasn’t so helpful and feels like it’s up to me (not in the obnoxious way, but I just don’t think he had the answer).
I’m friends with another mom who has a daughter close in age to mine plus a baby. We’re pretty good friends by this point and we see each other (with our kids) at least once a week. Kids are 2. Her child is very high energy, but within the realm of normal 2 to me. Mine is less high energy but they still like being together. Lately, friend has been yelling at her daughter a lot. Now seriously, the kid is very high energy and has trouble learning about personal boundaries, but again, she’s 2. Friend yells about every 3-5 mins throughout every interaction we have. And the other day she shamed her child which I HATE “You’re acting like a baby. Do you need me to hold you like a baby”?? Understandably, this puts me on edge AND my DD sometimes thinks she’s the one getting in trouble. To be clear – if this were the 80s no one would bat an eye at her parenting, but this doesn’t make it OK to me. As a parent I try to limit yelling to dangerous situations (like don’t touch a hot stove) and we don’t spank.
I guess my question is – should I limit the time we spend together so my daughter isn’t exposed to this stress? At what point do you pull back from a friendship because your parenting styles don’t match? Seeing this friend without kids would be tricky and our kids do enjoy each other. To be clear – I would never say anything to her, or other moms we know, about her parenting style because it is her child and her business.