Shopping Tips For Men

Never Wear All Black: It is not slimming. It merely makes you look as if you have no other clothes. If you are wearing a black shirt, you should not be wearing black pants. If you think you look better this way, you are mistaken. In fact, do not wear any matching top and bottom at any time. This makes you look like you bought your wardrobe from Gymboree. The only exception is if you are wearing a suit or a tuxedo.  
Don’t Forget the Belts and Shoes
Do not wear a brown belt with black shoes, or vice versa. Men don’t get to wear lots of accessories, so make sure the ones you do wear look good. (And yes, a belt is an accessory, even if it has a function.) Every man should own a nice flat black leather belt (a continuous, single piece of leather, with no braiding or stamps or any other decoration) and a pair of nice black leather shoes. And learn to polish them! Wearing these with dark-wash jeans and a button-down is a great date look and will make you look like you know what you’re doing!

No Short Shorts
Please do not wear jean shorts to do anything more formal than changing your oil or unclogging a toilet. You should wear khaki shorts or cargo shorts for casual days, and you are prohibited from wearing shorts to work or anywhere else remotely non-casual, unless you work on a boat or in an ice cream shop. Your shorts should hit somewhere around the knee – if the hems are in your thigh area, they look silly, and you can probably see up the legs when you sit. No one wants that. Shorts can be baggy in the legs, but not the waist or butt. If you are appropriately jaunty, you may wear a polo shirt with your khaki shorts on summer weekends.

I See Paris, I See France…
No one cares what brand you wear, so buy whatever is comfortable and fits well and doesn’t stick out the top of your pants. The advantage to “tighty whiteys” or boxer briefs are that they don’t clump up inside your pants and show through. You should have white socks for your sneakers and black socks for your dress shoes. If you wish to purchase dress socks for your dress shoes, that’s entirely up to you, since no one will see them unless you are sitting down. You should always wear a white T-shirt under a white button-down; if you wear a printed shirt under it, we can tell.


A Guy’s Basic Wardrobe
Finally, here’s a handy summary of everything you need to dress well for any occasion, and not overspend on extraneous clothing:

• Jeans – preferably medium or dark wash, no rips or bleach please! Not too baggy and no unnecessary pockets.
• Khakis – flat front, any tint is fine.
• Khaki or cargo shorts for casual days.
• Button-down shirts – A white one is essential, and dark red, any blue, or a medium-to-dark green can dress up with khakis or dress down with jeans.
• Short-sleeved polos or heavyweight T-shirts for casual days or weekends – those white undershirts are not outerwear!
• Black leather belt and black leather shoes – You can get more mileage out of your casual cloths by dressing them up a little with these.

From suit-lates

Shopping Principles

Bethesda

Shopping Principles Will Help You Go Green (a guest blog by Diane MacEachern)

by bethesda, April 1, 2010 | Permalink

When should you spend your money to protect the planet – and when should you keep it in your purse?

Given the thousands of green products being introduced these days, and the vague marketing claims being used to sell them, you don’t want to blow your budget just to keep up with the newest “eco,” “herbal,” or “biodegradable” fad – especially if the claim turns out to be more greenwashing than green.

On the other hand, genuinely earth-friendly products do help minimize your environmental impact. Every organic cotton T-shirt you buy, for instance, helps reduce the use of toxic agricultural chemicals, protecting the air and water. Moreover, the same tee waves like a bright green flag in front of conventional cotton producers, reminding them that your money is filling their organic competitors’ coffers.

Using your Big Green Purse to favor companies whose goods protect the climate, eliminate toxins, keep the air and water clean, and safeguard forests and other natural places creates a powerful incentive for their rivals to do likewise. The challenge is in knowing how to avoid the “greenwash” so you can promote more green. A few clear principles will help you identify an ecobargain from a rip-off, while getting manufacturers to transition as quickly as possible to the most earth-friendly practices available.

The Big Green Purse Shopping Principles

1) Buy less.
2) Read the label.
3) Look for third-party verification.
4) Choose fewer ingredients.
5) Pick less packaging.
6) Buy local

Buy less. This should be a “no brainer.” Consumerism – buying what we don’t need, over and over again – drives unnecessary manufacturing that fuels climate change, pollutes the air and water, and destroys the places in Nature we love. Remember “reduce, reuse, recycle”? It still makes sense. Plus, when you’re not buying, you’re not getting fooled by dubious marketing claims. If you don’t trust the source, don’t buy it.

Read the label. We read food labels to avoid trans fats, sugar, salt and carbohydrates. We can read product labels to avoid greenwashing words like “natural” and “planet friendly” that aren’t backed up by standards or third-party verification (see below). When it comes to cleansers and other household goods, avoid products labeled “caution,” “warning,”, “danger,” and “poison,” all of which indicate the item is hazardous to you and the environment.

Look for third-party verification. In the absence of universal sustainable standards, if a company says its product is good for the earth, your first question should be, “Who else says so?” Reliable eco claims are backed up by an independent institution or nonprofit organization that has investigated the manufacturer’s claim so you don’t have to. Look for labels from groups like Forest Stewardship Council, Energy Star and the U.S. Department of Agriculture/Organic.

Choose fewer ingredients. A long list of ingredients often indicates the presence of questionable chemicals that may be harmful to you or the environment. This is especially true for personal care products, food, and cleansers. Simplify what you buy.

Pick less packaging. Regardless of the marketing claims a product makes, you can make an immediate impact by buying goods that come wrapped as simply as possible. For starters, buy in bulk, choose concentrates, and pick products in containers you can easily recycle (hint: glass and cans are more easily recycled than plastic). Carting home your packages in your own bags helps reduce packaging, too.

Buy local. Avoid the higher energy costs involved in transporting goods long distances. Supporting local farmers and businesses also increases the likelihood that U.S. environmental and health laws and regulations will be followed.

Bottom Line: Ignore boasts that a product is eco-chic, earth-safe, or planet-neutral. Stick to the principles above to ensure that your Big Green Purse has the kind of big green impact that will make a difference both in the marketplace and on the environment.

Leveraging Your Shopping On The Internet

How to go about getting the maximum leverage from the internet!

The internet is a wonderful way to explore the world today. From the relative comfort of your home, you can get information on every conceivable topic in existence. The internet makes connections possible that one could not even have dreamed of just a few years back. 

In addition to information gathering, online shopping is one of the most promising functions of the internet today. Online toy shopping in particular is very popular. It is now possible to compare prices on various toys, do research on new toys to hit the market, obtain toy safety information, get the best deals, and have your purchase delivered right to your doorstep, all with a few clicks of the mouse. In order to exploit the full shopping potential of the internet, it is necessary to take some precautionary measures and follow a few pointers and online shopping tips as listed below for a smooth online shopping experience. 

The power of search: Search the internet for the best toys. Use the net as a tool to make the right toy choice. For example, if you are shopping for toys for babies, you can use a search engine like Yahoo or Google to search for the phrase “best baby toys”. Look through the results obtained which will point you in the right direction. Vary the search phrase for example, instead of typing “best baby toys” you could try “popular baby toys” for a whole new set of results. 

Safe and Sound: Do your homework on the toy you have chosen. You can find safety information on the toy you want to get different sites like www.toysafety.net or www.cspc.gov which is the Consumer Safety Site to find out if your toy is included in the hazardous toy lists published there. 

Visit well known toy sites: Sites like Toys R US or KBToys, EToys, or Amazon.com are very popular choices for online shopping. Don’t forget the friendly neighborhood Walmart and Target online stores where you are more likely to get better deals. These sites also have lots of toy best seller lists to aid you in making the right decision. 

Compare prices: Search for the same toy on various different sites to find where you can get the lowest price. You’d be amazed as to how the same toy can sell for such a big price difference. Some of the smaller toy sellers also keep a lower profit margin, so their prices are lower. Walmart and Kmart are also great sites to find bargain deals. Keep in mind the shipping costs of different sites may differ, so take into account the shipping charges when you are comparing the prices. 

Validate site: Once you have found a website with lowest price in the toy you want to purchase, a good idea would be to call the telephone number listed on the site to find out whether they have the item in stock at that time. Sometimes websites do not update their day to day inventory, some pages on their site may be redundant and if by chance the toy is not available at that time, it would lead to a waste of your time and energy. 

Multiple Shipping Discount: Some sites offer a shipping discount in case you purchase multiple items. Once again, you can call the contact number and find out from the customer service of that website if they offer any such discount. 

Avoid Taxes: According to the law, you can only be charged sales tax if the seller or the chain of stores is located in the same State as you. It would help if you can find a seller located in a different state to avoid these extra charges. 

Lowest shipping charges: While shopping online, you do have to pay shipping charges on most sites which are calculated after you checkout. It would be prudent to check the shipping charges before you enter your credit card number on the seller’s website. Some sites have lower shipping charges than others. Another factor which influences shipping charges is distance. Some sellers offer flat shipping fees no matter where you are located. But some of them may offer distance based shipping. For example if you are located on the east coast and the seller is on the west coast, you may incur higher shipping charges. 

Discount Coupons: Keep an eye open for discount coupons either listed on the seller’s website itself, or elsewhere on the internet. Most coupons are highlighted on the seller’s homepage. In case you are looking for third party coupons for the seller, you can do a search online for coupons. Also, you can call the seller and ask customer service if they offer any discounts. 

Buy on Ebay: Online auction websites are gaining in popularity. Ebay is one such online marketplace which is a great way to get the lowest prices on almost anything under the sun. There are a lot of toy sellers on Ebay who are well reputed. Check the feedback of the seller you are interested in for an added safety measure to avoid any fraudulent sellers. In many cases, if the toy you are interested in is not available locally, you will find it on Ebay.