Bye Bye Shoes

I've been regularly selling on eBay over the past couple of years and although I don't find the experience 100% positive (I'm not a fan of the fees both eBay and Paypal take off (it usually means you don't make a profit) and buyers can really muck you around and as a seller there's not all that much you can do about it), however I do enjoy it...well maybe that's not the correct term. It 'works for me', most of the time. As you know, I buy a lot of shoes, more than the average person and my tastes can change, so it's a great opportunity for me to make a little money on items that would usually be chucked in a bag and given to the charity shop. It's not that I don't like giving it to charity, but I would feel really guilty giving away shoes that had been barely or not worn at all, which the shop would more than likely completely under-value. I still regularly make donations to local charity shops and anything that is too worn simply goes in the bin. I see some hideous looking shoes on eBay that I personally would've chucked!
At first obviously, I found it easy to gather together possible shoes for selling, but lately I've been really struggling. I'm down to those shoes I really like and because I have so many, it's not always easy to discard a pair purely because you've only worn them twice in a year. I'm absolutely at or actually beyond my maximum storage capacity for shoes though, so it's imperative I whittle down my collection once more. I spent this weekend, listing loads of new pairs and the auctions finish this Sunday. I would've put up more if I'd had the time, but this is certainly a good starting point for reducing my stash. It was actually really difficult to gather possible pairs together, I was trying to be strict but my head is always telling me one thing and my heart another! Several pairs have never been worn for various reasons, they either don't fit me all that well or I've never found the right outfit for them. I must say I felt like I was selling my soul with certain pairs, but I can't justify keeping a pair "just to look at".
There's several pairs from Irregular Choice. The Grace Lace (above) I'm re-listing due to non-payment, the Blythe Emi pair I must've considered selling for months and months, but each time I reconsider. They've never been worn though (plus I have other Blythe pairs), so it's silly isn't it? Too late to change my mind now though because they already have a bid in! The orange Audrina I bought ages ago and yet again have never worn, the black croc Florence lace-ups I like but rarely wear.
Then we have the Red or Dead Ettore ankle boots (below) which I've lusted after since they first came out. I finally got my hands on a pair last week (it wasn't easy) and they don't fit! I can only get the zip up halfway on one foot, but fully on the other. I'm gutted, totally gutted that they have to go but they cost a lot of money and what was I going to do? Stroke them and hope my feet shrink? I'm still searching and hoping for a bigger size.
There's loads of other pairs too, so I'll leave you with pics and you can find all my listings here. I ship everywhere and anywhere and the shoes are mostly 5/38's or 6/39's.
What about you, do you use eBay for selling unwanted items? Or do you prefer to buy rather than sell?

Matalan Haul + Returns

I went to Matalan today to return the dresses I'd ordered online that didn't fit. I should've taken the assistants advice and waited to see if there was anything I'd like to exchange them for rather than getting a refund and then buying more stuff! I didn't think there would be anything to buy, more because of the dresses not fitting rather than not seeing anything I fancied. In fact I think I said 'I want/like or love that' to everything in the Be Beau department, they have fabulous stuff right now. Lots of floral dresses and such like, but I knew they probably wouldn't fit.
Then I spotted two gorgeous frill jumpsuits, but the legs weren't wide and I wasn't sure how they would look on me. Then....I saw this vintage corsage jumpsuit that I had previously seen in previews and really wanted. My heart sank though because it was part of the BB range and I've decided their 18's are just too small for me. Then I turned and saw this other floral one and knew I had to try them! I left the ruched leg ones and took the two wide legged.
They actually seemed quite generous, the corsage one has an elasticated waist and a small button closure at the back, so it's a pull on job. The other had a side zip and the straps unbutton too. I tried that one first and it was squishing my boobs, but I have on a bra that makes my boobs really stick out and up, so I wouldn't wear that with it which would help! It wasn't uncomfortably tight. Then the elasticated one was actually a little roomy. So I got them both! They were £25 each and £50 seemed like a lot to splash out on a couple of jumpsuits when I'm just breaking myself into wearing trousers, but I loooove the colours and prints on them. Fyi, the corsage is wired, but I'd move it from the waist because it wasn't sitting correctly there and I think I'd wear a belt with that one. My Mum did have a £5 off voucher so that helped a little-both are available now online if you're interested.

Here's the images I took of the dresses I returned. I was tempted with the cherry jumpsuit like the dress...but Mum thought it looked a bit pyjama-ish! Now that I know the other two fit, I would've liked to try it.
The cherry dress has a centre back zip, piped waist and bow detail, lined and with net underneath too. There are also two heart buttons at the neckline. Even looking at these dresses on the hangers, they didn't look like 18's to me, they're tiny!
The floral bow dress came with a pink belt which if I'm honest felt a little cheap (I would change that to something else). There's lining and net underneath, a back zip and two bows on the front.
Finally the halterneck was boned in the bodice front and back, had a side zip and tied around the neck. The waist was piped and had a large bow and again it was lined with a little net underneath for fullness. The ruching detail around the neckline was a nice touch. They are all lovely dresses, just a shame they didn't fit.

My Tesco Obsession...

Eugh my computer keeps flashing up signs that there's a possible malware/phishing alert thing going on. It's when I'm trying to sign into eBay, when I went on the Boots website, Tesco, just anything really and it's annoying! I've spent the last couple of hours running scans, doing updates, defragmenting, just anything to try and sort it out. I'm already very vigilant with my computer though when it comes to anti-virus and updates etc and although it's removing the threat every time, I just don't like tempting fate by keeping clicking on possible problem sites. Anyway, hopefully it's a storm in a tea-cup (wow, haven't heard that saying for years)! Blogger is still pissing me off with this annoying spacing issue that I keep talking about, it's really deterring me from blogging (especially on The Shoe Girl Diaries) unless I know I have pictures to fill in the slots between each paragraph or line. Didn't realise quite what a neat freak I was about my blog until this happened! It certainly doesn't run into real life though-I spent 2 hours today trying to tidy up my room and I've made very little impression on it. I have a bag for the charity shop, a bag for the paper bin and a massive one of rubbish. I'm knackered now, so I've given up for today! I really wanted to get out for a walk because it's really warm and sunny, but I've kinda missed the boat now, oops! Anyway the pics throughout this post (in between my paragraphs, grr) are all the Tesco dresses I've bought recently! I said I was bored with my current wardrobe and this should revitalise it for now. I had to place another order at the weekend, because I spotted they had this floral bow dress (below) very like the Be Beau one which I'm taking back to Matalan tomorrow. If you recall that one was super small, so hopefully the Tesco will be a better fit-although I'm not quite as sold on the colours of the flowers, I preferred the Matalan. I think I ordered the pink spotty bow one with that-I can't quite remember because I was hurrying and couldn't make my mind up! Most of them are from the limited range which have a faster turnover than the rest of the range. The grey floral is probably the most different out of this lot in style because it's floaty, the navy floral in contrast is really thick, stiff twill. The black and white heart and orange floral are my most recent and they both have net underneath and the navy polka dot didn't if I remember rightly. I haven't had the chance to wear any yet, just quickly tried them on, but the fit seems to be true to size and they mostly go to my knee or just above (but again the memory is going..)! They've been dispatched along with my Peacocks/Pearl Lowe and MAC/Debenhams but I haven't received any parcels today (they'll wait until the two hours I'm out of the house tomorrow returning the Matalan stuff I'm sure, another thing to annoy me)!

The Best: Cheap Dresses

Who can resist some super cheap dresses? Not me, apparently! I've been dithering over which dresses to get from Tesco for weeks now and just when I'd made up my mind, they add a ton of new designs! I've placed an order for three so far and see how I get on with them, before ordering some more. Absolutely every dress in this post is £25 or less and they're all really wearable so that whole cost per wear thingy would be totally insane! So here's a rundown of the best you can buy right now, some you've seen before and some you haven't... Let's start with Tesco, the Florence & Fred dresses are mostly sized 6-22 which is great. You can also use these codes (some run out sooner than others, so I'll just give you them all to try), £10 off when you spend £40 (either SMSPRING, AFFSPRING or EMSPRING). Plus all deliveries over £50 are delivered for free. Above: £18, £25, £18 (I've ordered the 1st and 3rd), not sure if the middle one is cute or naff, Below: All £25 (want the 1st one but will it be too booby on me like the Matalan one?), still prefer the Peacocks cherry one, although this one is cute and the spotty is nice but not must-have for me. Below: £25, £25, £18, am managing to resist these for now, although the 1st one is pretty cute!Below: £18, £25, £18 (ordered the 1st one, love the colours and preferred that over the white one-yay for my willpower), neeed the middle one too! Below: £16, £25, £16, while I love the 1st one in theory I'm not sure how it would look on me, really want the heart one and gutted the polka dot isn't in my size anymore. Matalan, well you know my mishap with these dresses last week. The Be Beau range only goes up to an 18 (and the fit appears to be pretty small), you can find 20's in their other ranges though. Above: £25, £18, £20, I have the middle dress in 3 other colours and could be tempted to buy another! Below: £25, £25, £20 (playsuit), yes I'm still sobbing over these dresses! Below: £16 (playsuit), £16, £18 Below: £14, £25 (jumpsuit also available), £14. I'm still gutted that I missed out on the cherry prom dress and both of the lace collar tea dresses from Peacocks. Problem is with dresses this cheap, you need to move fast! Above: £22, £20, £20, I love the first two, will definitely try and get them. Below: £22, £24 (jumpsuit), £18. Below: £22, £20 (playsuit), £22, still would like these two dresses! Anything take your fancy? I'm so bored of my dresses currently, that I'll definitely be placing another order at Tesco and my wishlist is ever growing!