Budget Thursday: Sweater Polo
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One of my favorite lines from the show How I Met Your Mother is when (a pre-#metoo) Barney Stinson calls a plain-looking secretary “eye broccoli.” I use it myself all the time now, but of course never referring to a human being. Today’s pick for Budget Thursday is pure eye broccoli. Not to contradict Marie Kondo, but not everything in your closet needs to “spark joy.” Sometimes you just need to put work-appropriate clothing on your body and not have to put too much thought into it. I like that this sweater is plain but comes in a variety of colors, and looks thin enough to throw a blazer over if need be. Throw it on, match it with pants, you’re done. It is $29.99–$35.99 at Banana Republic Factory, depending on the color selection, and comes in regular (XS-XXL) and petite (XXS-L) sizes. Sweater Polo
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Sales of note for 3/15/25
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – Spring sale, up to 50% off
- Ann Taylor – 40% off everything + free shipping
- Banana Republic Factory – 40% off everything + 20% off
- Eloquii – 50% off select styles + extra 50% off sale
- J.Crew – Extra 30% off women’s styles + spring break styles on sale
- J.Crew Factory – 40% off everything + extra 20% off 3 styles + 50% off clearance
- M.M.LaFleur – Friends and family sale, 20% off with code; use code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – 40% off 1 item + 30% off everything else (includes markdowns, already 25% off)
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?
at what age can kids actually learn to swim? i know you can often enroll your kid in swim classes as a baby/toddler, but at what age do kids really get anything out of the classes?
Does anyone do a lot of international travel with your babies and can tell me what you did about MMR vaccination? My ped says baby should just have a dose at 12 months and then another dose in elementary school, but the CDC says babies that travel internationally should get 1 dose between 6-11 months and then vaccinated again after the first birthday with two doses. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/diseases/measles
I know the MMR is a good vaccine for immunity even after a single dose (compared to say flu or something where a very large percentage of vaccinated people will still get sick) but I’m still uncomfortable not following the CDC recommendations. My ped said we didn’t need to worry about it unless we were traveling to the developing world (which we don’t) but we do go to Europe, which still has endemic measles. The CDC doesn’t seem to distinguish between Europe and less developed regions in terms of preventative measures (of course survival rates if you do get sick are better in more developed places). So I think my ped is kind of confused/misinformed and am wondering how hard I should push this.
Hi. I’m looking for advice on either reframing this issue, or how to best manage it, or something. Not quite sure yet but please bear with me. My husband and I have worked relatively opposite schedules for the past 6-7 years (he often works evenings into late night, while I have a more standard schedule). We’ve always managed to make it work, but about two years ago we had our first child. I realized that as our baby grew up, if the trend continued, we would basically never have family meals together. I broached the topic and was basically told that this was his industry and his choice, and I was being a bit too traditional and white picket fence about the future. About five months ago, he accepted a much more demanding role. He currently averages 65-70 hours a week at work–we knew going in that it would be demanding but it came with a pretty big pay and title increase that we thought would justify it in the short term. Now, there seem to be constant emergencies that keep his schedule in flux so I’m not even sure what days of the week I can expect to see him. I’ve slowly started taking over the majority of daycare duties, in addition to doing solo evenings and morning wake-ups about 5/7 days a week. This is wearing on me – a lot. I’m also 6 months pregnant and pretty emotional! I know we need to have a discussion but I’m leery about starting one because he’s likely to immediately say: well, I’ll quit (he’s legitimately pretty miserable) and for the moment, we really need the money he’s bringing in. He’s had job instability in the past and quitting without anything lined up, after being let go from his last job after less than a year, seems very risky to me. I’m also, if I’ll be honest, scared that he is going to reiterate – this is the industry. And it is, he’s not wrong. I don’t feel like I can demand he consider other career paths because I’d be furious if he did the same to me. So I feel stuck. And sad when I consider what a great father he is and how little he gets to spend time with our lovely toddler. And nervous when thinking about the second baby. It’s pretty clear that he would switch jobs after I return from maternity leave because this is unsustainable for us – so should I just stick it out for the next 6 months (3 months of work then maternity leave)? How do I avoid being so angry all the time when I feel like he doesn’t even see how much I’m carrying our family, when I know that he’s exhausted and stressed and sleep deprived too?
Ok this is petty because I know the answer is, “This doesn’t affect you; just look away” but one of my friends has been posting on FB “Your weekly [Baby]/week [number]” with a set of 4-5 pictures of her kid every week since her baby was born. Baby turned 1 last week and I assumed that these postings would end. But this morning I see she has posted a new crop of pics of her kid, week 53. When will it end?!?!
Ever since I weaned, I noticed my hair is super dry and frizzy. Query whether it was like that pre-weaning and I just didn’t have the time to notice it. I’m now 18 months post-partum. I blow dry my hair maaaybe once a month – it used to airdry nicely (i.e., no frizz and be soft) with a light wave. I’ve switched off of my 10+ year staple Biolage Conditioner (the deep conditioning balm) to the Living Proof no frizz conditioner and I add a smidge of the living proof no frizz leave-in conditioner post-shower to help cut down on frizz, but I am not seeing a lot of improvement. I’m taking prenatals (and have been for 2 months) because we’re TTC again. Is this just mid-30s hair (I’m 32)? Is it post-partum? What is going on? Particularly grating because my hair is the one part of my body I have always been consistently happy with.
I schedule time on my calendar for “community” type events and highlight them in orange (I highlight my workouts in green). That way I can flip through and see what I have scheduled that’s not an obligation – it’s something “enriching” I’m doing for myself. Some examples are: church, a mom’s group, volunteering, networking, alumni events. I also like the reward of highlighting the item on my calendar but maybe that’s just my organization OCD – its like, Look! I did something! For fun and happiness!
This is probably a really stupid question, but how do daycare waiting waitlists work for non-infants? My 11 month old is on a bunch of waitlists, hoping to start this summer. But the daycares in our area move babies to a toddler room when they start walking, it’s not a strict age cutoff. My daughter is not walking yet and could walk any time between now and the early fall (based on her general physical development and family history, I’d guess it will be on the later side of that but you never know). Basically I guess I’m confused about how the daycare is counting her – is she on infant waitlists? Toddler waitlists? Both? Will they give us an infant spot and she won’t be able to move to a toddler room until another spot opens up? Will we lose a spot in the toddler room if they offer us one when she’s not yet walking and we can’t accept it?
Silly question but how worried should I be about new baby waking our toddler? DD will be 2.5 when DS is born (though I expect DS will stay in our room for 6-8 weeks), and we’re debating how to set up rooms. We have two extra rooms right now so there will be one spare room left after DS is born. Should we move DD so that the spare room is in between their two rooms in hopes it will minimize noise? I’m not that concerned about it (I know lots of kids share rooms without this being an issue) but my DH is paranoid about it.
Just a cute story I wanted to share: getting ready this morning I was doing my makeup and my 2.5 yr old asked “Mama what that called?” I replied “Mascara” and he got VERY excited. He said “we have that at school!!” I was like “um, you do?” after a little back and forth showing my confusion he (still very excitedly) said “yes we have 2 MISS SARAHS at my school!”
it just cracked me up. Then I brought his brother and him to school and realized I forgot his shoes and had to go home (thank you snow boots). Then I got to work and realized my cell phone was at home and had to go get that. so that’s the kind of day i’m having now…..
Daycare question in DC — what happens after you pay $$ to put your name on a waitlist? I put my name on three waitlists and paid for each one two months ago and have heard nothing back. Since I won’t need care for at least 9 more months, I’m not that concerned yet, but wanted to know what I should expect. Thanks!
Gift ideas for an 8 year old girl? She is not local to us so I have no idea what she is into. Bonus points for prime-able. Thanks!
Toddler potty training question – my 3.5 year old daughter is completely pee-trained, even at night. But the girl just will not poop on the potty. She’s always used our adult sized potties, doesn’t say she’s scared to poop, but holds it in for days and then expels a softball at night, which wakes her up and she’s angry about it. (I would be too in her shoes)
We’ve watched Daniel Tiger ad nauseum. We’ve talked about how everyone poops on the potty, her family, her idols, even real life princesses. No dice. We’ve spiked her food with mineral oil on the advice of her pediatrician, which made the nighttime stools softer but didn’t solve the problem. Putting her feet up on a stool has no effect. Asking her to poop on the potty leads to hysterical tears and shrieking “but I don’t have to! I don’t need to! I don’t want to!”
Please help. Her brother was nothing like this and I am so tired of cleaning up human poo.
For those of you who work 40 hours and have a nanny how do you handle hours? Do you stagger hand-off with a partner? Pay the nanny for overtime? My driving commute is normally only 15 minutes but it can be up to 30 minutes door to door. With a nanny working 9-5, I would only be in the office from about 9:20 to 4:30. I don’t see how this works without nanny overtime, but that seems ridiculous given that I “only” work 40 hours.
does anyone else ever lust for the pre-kid days when they could just spend the evening or weekend watching tv in their pjs cuddled up on the couch? i’ve always wanted to be a mom. i have 8 month old twins and often feel like i’m not really enjoying this parenting thing as much as i thought i would or as much as other people seem to. i definitely enjoy it more when i’m not alone with the kids (but would often still rather be curled up on the couch), but i do dinner and bedtime solo at least 4 nights a week. i’m already being treated for ppd/ppa. sometimes i just miss that pre-kid life and can’t believe i signed up to do this for the rest of my life!
Pardon the cross-post:
I have A Date coming up. Husband is planning a night out for us with dinner and drinks. We have two little kids and I cannot remember the last time we did this. So, what.do.i.wear?? I want to look nice but also comfortable. The usual guidance is jeans and a nice top, but I have no idea what is a nice going out top. Its cold, so I’d like to wear sleeves. Any advice? Links would be super helpful!