The style for the budget savvy - Part 2

After finding a bright yellow shirt on clearance at my local Meijer, I was inspired to write a post about creating a style for Zumba class, without necessarily having to shell out a lot of money. In part one of my "style for less" post, I visited Sears and TJ Maxx. In part two, I visited Walmart, and I'm also going talk about my experiences with Old Navy. I forgot to say so in the previous post, but I am not affiliated with or compensated by any of these stores. I'm just a shopper with opinions.

Walmart:

These tops by Danskin are only $8.96. There are the four colors that you see here in the photo and they have the same side drawstring feature as my new yellow top. What I don't like about these necessarily is that they are long sleeved, but that's a personal preference. I have seen ladies at class wearing long sleeved shirts and doing just fine...somehow... Anyways, no long sleeves for me. The pink top from Zumba is the Air-Glow Slashed Sleeve Top and it is currently selling for $30.50 (originally $38). It is also available in black. The purple top from Zumba is the Edgy Long Sleeved Top and it is currently selling for $21.50 (originally $42), also available in green and black. So as you can see, Zumba does make and sell long sleeved tops. If I ever bought one, it wouldn't be to actually wear in class, it'd be an every-day wear kind of purchase. If I tried to wear a long sleeved shirt to class, I think Jae would ultimately need to call the paramedics for me.

I thought these shorts by Danskin were cute, even if I'm not much for shorts; they are $6.96. The black shorts from Zumba are the Escape Running Shorts (also in pink) and are currently on sale for $12.50 (originally $30). Some ladies like shorts, but I'm pretty sure that I'll always be a cargoes girl. I do own some some plain generic (think grey...blah) shorts in this style but I use them for practice rather than class.

These racerback tanks from Walmart have some lace edging on the straps which I thought was kind of fun, but what I really liked was how many colors this style was available in. These are selling at $5.88, and I tried to get a couple of good shots of the tags, but they're hard to read in the photo.








One thing I was really surprised to find at Walmart were dance shoes. Apparently, Danskin makes a shoe suitable for dance fitness.Which I suppose makes sense given the brand's name... There were three pairs for sale. The pink and yellow, the grey and pink, and the black and pink. At only $19.74, these things are a real bargain...assuming they do the job they're supposed to do. I have never tried them, so I can't give an opinion as to their quality one way or another. What I can say is that they are very light, which in my book is a must for a dance shoe. Also, their tread is very shallow, and there is a pivot area on the ball of the shoe; both are important aspects. In a purely aesthetic way, they are nice to look at. The grey pair and the black pair would go really well with just about anything, but I quite like the pink pair.  
The color combination is unique, and I like how the tread is jazzed up a little, not just one single color. I did flip a shoe over to get a picture of the tread. The pivot area is that square. It, along with the shallow tread, make thing easier on your joints when you twist or turn. My Zumba brand shoes still have a ways to go before they wear out, and when they do, I have a pair of Pumas waiting already. But, perhaps after both of those pairs are "retired", I may venture out to the Walmart once more and buy a pair of these to try. Both the price and the weight are very appealing.

I wandered through two more departments before heading out. One was intimates, because that's where they keep the sports bras apparently... And the other was accessories because... Well, you all know I loves me some bracelets...

Okay, so sports bras... Walmart has a very colorful selection as you can see, and the price was only $9.94. I'll admit that I was tempted, most especially by that orange in the top right corner. But...I restrained myself, after all, I'd just bought the red one from TJ Maxx two days earlier.




Lastly, accessories.

I love looking at this stuff. Even if I don't buy any of it, I still enjoy it. Of course, I'm in the kids' and teens' section, but the fact is, that's where they hide all the neon stuff! What else am I to do? Unabashedly buy stuff for Zumba originally created for girls! That's what. See that red circle on the picture to the right? That's what I bought. It's hard to see but they are those fold-over elastic style hair ties. There are three of them, each with a piece of coordinating lace. The bottom one is blue and green, the middle one is pink and orange, and the top one is pink and pink. The orange and pink one is what caught my eye; it reminded me of my Rhythm Rocker shirt.

Walmart is well known for having very low prices, and a wide variety of sizes (including plus sizes). Also, they do sell some things in their active wear department online, that are not in stores so it's worth checking out their website too.

Old Navy:
Old Navy has been my reliable source for well-priced active wear since my second class. Before I started buying Zumba brand tops, Old Navy was my number one go-to store for racerbacks. They always have a table full of ribbed tank tops from XS to XL in about ten different colors. This is true no matter what the season is, the only thing that changes is what the colors are. About a month ago, the whole family needed jeans and Old Navy was having a denim sale. Lucky us! So we all trooped over there one afternoon to take advantage of the low prices. Of course, as long as we were already there, we I may as well scour the clearance racks. I hadn't gone there with the idea of buying more tank tops since I already have...a lot (understatement...) of tank tops, but I saw one for 85% off so... Yeah...
I saw this (at the left) on the rack, and my very first thought was, "St. Patrick's Day!". I think the idea of a theme shirt is pretty fun to begin with, but at 85% off, this was a winner. There was a red/pink/white one too that just screamed Valentine's Day to me, but they didn't have my size... Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

So my family and I took all the jeans and this tank top to the check out line. The line was long because of the sale so as we waited we I perused the wall of impulse buys. Now, usually I bypass all that because it's pretty much all useless junk. However, on this particular day, at this particular store, I saw some bracelets for sale, only $1 each.

So I bought three! These have sparkles and water inside, how cool is that? The top one is a rainbow of colors and reminded my of my tie-dye shirt. The middle one is pink and white and made me think of my Party In Pink shirt. And the bottom one is green/yellow/pink and I just liked it. I have shirts in all those colors so it'll for sure go with something... I would not have expected to find bracelets like these at Old Navy. I've never seen them there before. I have a feeling they're intended for kids, but meh, I don't care. They're fun, inexpensive, lightweight, and made of a plastic that's sturdy enough to make it through a Zumba class.

Old Navy has quality clothes at decent prices, and you can count on them to have tanks year-round.

Best advice: Check out Walmart if you're looking for something but don't want to spend very much. Along with their usual low prices, they typically have a lot of inventory so if you need something in a hurry, chances are you can pick it up there.

Second best advice: Don't overlook the impulse aisle in Old Navy. Now I wonder what all I've missed...