So, how did I become addicted to shoes? I mean really truly addicted to the point where I have no room in my closet and still want to buy more addicted. I've always liked shoes. Before I was married, I worked an office job for a very large and well-known publishing company and had a nice, albeit small, collection of shoes. I'm very tall (5'9" or 10" in flats) and am cursed with size 11 feet. I get that from my dad's side of the family. My mom and both sisters are between 5'5" and 5'6"; mom and one sister have size 7.5 feet, so they have no problem finding shoes they like. Though my other sister wears a size 10, finding shoes is not a problem (she owns a pair of sandals, a pair of sneakers, a pair of black flats, nursing shoes and a pair of lavender satin heels she wore to my wedding - that is the full extent of her shoe wardrobe).
So what does this have to do with anything? I love shoes, but I have big feet, so its impossible to find cute shoes in my size, so I had a few catalogs/websites where I could buy shoes within my budget and that was that. Fast-forward a couple of years...I met the love of my life while in between writing jobs (I filled those gaps in my professional writing career with retail jobs) when I was working at Macy's. I got my career back on track, got married and had two kids. Well, that writing job that I've had for the past 8 years is for a very laid-back company and I telecommute most days, so I don't need a ton of nice shoes and since my daughters are 6 and 4, I don't go out on tons of dates that require "going-out" shoes...but you know what? Buying shoes makes me happy. I worked very hard to lose 40 pounds of baby weight (that I had never lost due to stress-induced overeating because of our oldest daughter's heart condition and frequent surgeries), so in March of this year, my husband decided that I needed something for me.
That "me time" came in the form of a shoe club. One of my husband's female coworkers told him about ShoeDazzle. So I checked it out. I created a profile and took a fashion quiz so the stylists could determine the styles that were best for me. 24 hours later, I got my first showroom of 5 shoes, 5 purses and 5 jewelry sets. I wasn't impressed for the first couple of months and I didn't make a purchase, but by July, I was emailed a 50% promo and that was all it took to get me to take the plunge (I cannot resist sales). So I bought a pair of shoes and a matching purse and that was the beginning. Now, the thing about ShoeDazzle is that once you place your first order, it saves your credit card information and because it's a monthly CLUB, you have to log in every month and either buy something or skip the month before the 5th of the month or you will automatically get billed the $39.95 and get one store credit. Now some people freak out about this every month (just log onto Facebook and check out the SD page on the 6th of the month), but as a kid I was a member of Columbia House, so I get the whole "club" concept.
Regardless, I've purchased every month since July (I now have 25 pairs, plus 3 purses and two jewelry sets), so forgetting to skip the month and accidentally getting charged for a credit hasn't been an issue. The styles are fabulous and they carry more size 11s than most stores or clubs. Most of their styles have really high heels which can be an issue for someone of my stature, but I have found a few midheels and bought the high ones just because I couldn't pass them up.
Oh and I almost forgot to mention the best part - you can shop with your friends on Facebook - there is a whole community of shoe loving women just like me and customer service is beyond compare. The girls and guys of CrewDazzle make shoe shopping even more fun...how crazy is that?
No comments:
Post a Comment