So the story of the $150 shoes comes to an end. Kind of anticlimactic, too. Remember earlier this month when I went to Tysons and got those New Balance shoes? Those shoes are now back at the store in Tysons, and I got a refund. So after all of that buildup, and considering I did what my podiatrist told me to do, testing them in the store for ten minutes before buying, why did I never wear them, and ultimately return them?
Well, it’s twofold. First, those shoes cost $150. A hundred and fifty dollars. As I mentioned in the Journal entry linked above, that was more than I’ve ever paid for shoes by more than fifty bucks. That alone made me uncomfortable about wearing them. The fact that they were $150 shoes made me afraid to wear them. So there’s that.
Then secondly, and more importantly, I don’t think now is a good time to buy nice shoes. I have now lost almost 100 pounds since I began this journey a year ago (99 pounds lost as determined at a weigh-in this morning!). In that time, my feet have changed size. Shoes that fit me last year don’t fit so well anymore. I wore flip flops that I wore last summer to the pool recently, and they were too big on me. Likewise, Crocs that I bought during heavier days are now so loose on me to the point that they’re almost unusable. The lined Crocs that I have are also too big for me now, and I only bought those in December. So since I’m not at a stable size right now, it made me even less comfortable with having shoes that cost that much, since my fear was that I would size out of them before getting my money’s worth out of them. It’s happened to me several times already with jeans. First I sized down out of my original jeans, then the jeans I got in August, and now it’s starting to happen again with the jeans I’m currently wearing. Thankfully, though, next time I have to replace the jeans should put me into cheaper sizes – and out of the big and tall store.
Funny, though, is how it all ended up happening. I got them on a Saturday, and my intention was to wear them to work the following Monday. However, when Monday rolled around, I realized that I still had not yet had the chance to fix the laces the way I wanted them (I’m a real stickler for laces’ being exactly even). Therefore I passed on wearing them and kept on wearing my Crocs. The lazy period lasted the entire week. Maybe I was going to get a chance to do them over the weekend? Nah. I found more interesting things to do. Then I realized that I only had a 30-day return window to decide whether or not I liked the shoes, and wearing them outside meant committing to them. I considered how these shoes cost too much money, and how my weight and changing shoe sizes might shorten the useful life of these shoes on account of my own body’s changes. Considering those two things pretty much ensured that the shoes stayed in the box.
Eventually I realized that it didn’t make good financial sense to keep the shoes around, because even though they did fit perfectly right now, they likely wouldn’t fit for long. Plus considering that it was getting to be warm out and I would be wearing Crocs for much of the summer, it meant that by the time I came back to these shoes in the fall, that I would be back at square one with ill-fitting shoes. And the Crocs are approved. They fit my width, the length is within the acceptable range that my podiatrist gave, and yes, they have good arch support. And Crocs cost around $30. I can deal with that for now while my foot size is changing, since they fit properly and they’re cheap. I could buy five pairs of Crocs for the price of those New Balance shoes and have shoes that fit and be able to afford to replace them as I need to.
So I’m probably going to stick with Crocs for now while I’m still losing weight, and then revisit the shoe issue in the fall and see where I am weight-wise at that time and decide whether or not my foot size is going to be stable enough to get nicer shoes. I’m kind of disappointed that all that time that I spent at the store looking at shoe styles, testing the shoes in the store, and so on ended up being for nothing, but the whole experience taught me a few things. One of the things I learned is that I should never buy shoes that I feel are too expensive, because I won’t wear them. Witness the fact that the price was one big factor in giving me cold feet about the whole thing, and that wouldn’t have been an issue if the shoes had cost less. These felt more like an investment than a mere purchase – much like the way I’ve suddenly become a much more conservative driver now that I’m driving a brand new car, vs. the way I drove in the Sable, which had a few dings and scuffs on it from various things. And then the other thing is that my body is changing, and that while I’m wearing transitional clothes right now (most of my current shirts are from thrift stores), I need transitional shoes as well, and no sense splurging on nice shoes that won’t fit in a few months.
So there you go. Lesson learned, I suppose, and thankfully the only thing it cost me was the gas to go out and back to return them.