When you get what you paid for

You get what you pay for. At face value you would take that axiom to mean that if you want quality you have to pay a higher price & if you cheap out you get cheap goods. Most of the time I think that is the truth. Altho I tend to be a bargain shopper - love those 70 - 80% off sales woohoo! I do spend money on certain things. One of those things is shoes. Not meaning that I am one of those shoe girls that go out & buy a lot of fancy expensive shoes )not that there is anything wrong with that) I have hard to fit feet. I am a 10WW w/ a high arch. I can search endlessly for shoes that fit sometimes and most of the time when they do fit they aren't very fashionable. Plus w/ my hip problems I need to find shoes that are very supportive & well cushioned or I have joint pain. So I tend to spend more money on good shoes that fit well.

I have a pair of Doc Martens that I have had longer than I've had my husband. Best $100 I ever spent, they are nearly as dear to me as he is ;). I usually buy New Balance sneakers for work at about $80 - $100 a pop. I wear the heck out of them, 8-10 hours or more everyday & on my feet for most of them. They fit well & they hold up great but I usually wear them out in about a year.

Last week it was time for my annual shoe replacement & I decided to try something new. I have been wanting to try the Sketchers Shape-ups. Not b/c I think by wearing them I will walk my way into having a rockin' Linda Hamilton T2 bod or anything, altho wouldn't that be the bomb? But because everyone I have talked to that has them kept telling me how comfortable they are for working/standing all day.

So after many months of craving these shoes I finally ordered a pair. I had to get the "Work Slip Resistant" model b/c they were the only ones that were available in black & wide width, not as cute as some of the others but I figured the trade off would be that they would be more rugged for work. Um yeah, not so much. I got them a week ago today. They are comfortable & they do fit well but this morning, after one week of wear I went to tie me shoes and...RIP! Instead of holes for the laces to go thru these shoes have fabric flap/loop things (see pic above). I tightened my laces & the top one ripped right off! My first thought - Fuck me! I was so pissed.

Today's lesson is you do get what you paid for. In this case I paid over $100 bucks for trendiness & slick advertising which apparently does more for Sketchers than actually having quality product. Fortunately I also had followed another popular trend and ordered them from Zappos.com. I called them this morning and they are sending me new shoes tomorrow. The are black 10ww rocker bottoms from New Balance, not as trendy or cute as the Sketchers but hopefully with the quality I have always gotten from NB. I get free shipping coming & going & they are going to refund the $20 difference in price. They were also super nice & very customer service orientated. Yay!

So my advice is pay a little more when you really want something & you know it is worth the money spent. But make sure what you are paying for is worth the money spent, otherwise you will only be paying for your own foolishness.