Just found
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/10/14/eliminate-your-dependence-on-foreign-and-domestic-clothing/
I know this is a very old post, but I'm new to the blog.
Right now my wife just finished her Masters in Elementary Ed with Teaching certificate. She is 100% Indian, was adopted to the US as an infant. She is around 85 lbs, very short and petite. (as an Aside, I know that MMM jokes about Mrs. MM being half Indian, and they have to keep the house temps higher... I should discuss this more in a separate thread..)
We've been really good about spending for a while, but our combined clothing spending has been about $85 a month for the past 6 months! I am a pretty average sized male, so I can find plenty of clothes for really cheap at our local Plato's Closet, but not so much for her. On the positive side, we have found a tailor in the area, and they modified the waist on a pair of dress pants on her for the unbelievable low cost of $10.
Our problem is twofold...
1) It is very hard to find things that fit her, so typically when we do, they are more expensive. Or really cheap (kids clothing) which wears out to fast.
2) She wants to 'look professional' so she can land a good teaching job.
She doesn't take rejection well (Already has one rejection letter from a school she didn't really want to teach at, but it still bummed her out). Most of the teaching jobs here are very closed, The school district is aligned with the university (she had to leave the area for 3 months right after our wedding to do her student teaching, which also meant leaving her job for that time). Lots of her clothes she has had for a long time, and are starting to wear out.
We recently got into a bit of an argument about a pair of boots she wanted to get.. She was being pretty complainypants about it, trying to appeal to my emotional side, saying that the shoes she has that look nice she could slip and fall if the parking lot was icy, and I said to just wear your grippy snow boots and change when you get into work.. She said that the aides (what she currently does) don't even have anyplace to put coats/purses/etc, they just sit on the floor, and every time she leaves the room she worries about someone stealing something of hers from her purse..
I tend to feel 'suck it up and deal with it' or 'don't take anything valuable with you', but that usually doesn't help my position on the matter...
How does a mustacheian go about finding professional looking clothes for someone who can't find clothes that fits her for a job she is trying to get?