15 NEW Pairs of Pants: An Insanely Great Bargain Shopping Day!

For the last few couple of months I have been searching for affordable pants in my size.  I'm on a strict budget AND a plus size woman AND I'm picky on the fabric and style of pants I want to wear AND spending any money on something I can actually live without is a difficult decision to make.

I have visited Wal-Mart in person and online to look for pants.  That was a bust.  Sure the prices were semi-decent ($15+) though I would only have been able to buy two or three pairs but I hated every single pair because they had this wide elastic waist band which I find uncomfortable so, no pants from them.

I have searched every plus size store online; Woman Within, Roamans, Catherines, Avenue, One Stop Plus, Fashion Bug and so many others.   I've even hit eBay. 

I have two pairs of pants now that I like but I've had them for four years and there's only just so many repairs you can make to the seams before the fabric gets threadbare in spots that get the most wear. 

The pants that I like are sort of a legging type, no strap at the foot, and made from a blend of fabrics so it is soft to the touch.  Some scratchy polyester fabrics I just can't wear because I hate the way they feel on my skin (my daughter is the same way).

I have found pants that I like online but the problem is the price.  Oh my gosh, I am so spoiled by being poor and thrift store shopping (rarely find any plus sizes at thrift stores though) because I was horrified at the prices on the pants that will 1) fit me and 2) in fabric I like.  The prices are running about $24.99 each and a lot of them even higher.

I have been so frustrated by this entire search for pants that I had pretty much decided to try to sew a pair for myself.  I mean, I can sew, not professionally but enough to get by and even to wear some of the things that I sew (usually).

And then....

Today my adult daughter went over to K-Mart because she'd heard they were having some clearance sales right now.  She came home with three plus size pants for herself and wanted me to try them on.  She said if they fit and I liked them that she would go back to K-Mart right then and pick some up for me if I still had the money saved for them.

Well, well, well, what a very wonderful daughter I have and what very wonderful sales K-Mart is having right now!  I tried on the pants she had bought for herself and they definitely fit me and the colors were somewhat okay but it was the price that was amazing!  The price was $4.99 for sweat pants and only $4.79 for the every day stretch pants. 

Now, I admit that the pants are not EXACTLY what I wanted.  The stretch pants are actually men's pants with the drawstring but they have the thin elastic at the waist and the material is soft.  The pants are all too big and way too long but guess what, I can take them in and I think fairly easily and they will still be cheaper than making a pair from scratch! 

So now I have 15 NEW pairs of pants because I had just enough money to have her buy every pair they had left. 

5 new sweat pants in colors that I actually like a lot!

10 stretch pants in mostly tolerable colors though I think I am going to try to dye a few pairs of the gray pants to black and see if that works out.

Hopefully, this many pants will last me for the next ten years which is actually do-able for me because I don't wear pants all the time.  But I'm pretty excited to have so many new pants, even if I do have to alter 10 of them, (not the sweat pants though).

Yay for clearance sales!!!