Price Per Wear

When I first moved to Minneapolis, I was unprepared for winter. I mean, I had a winter coat, but I had honestly always lived somewhere in which the primary form of transportation was a car and I just didn't have clothes for waiting for the bus in below zero weather. I bought some cheap long underwear and stocked up on hats and scarves, but then I had to bite the bullet and buy some winter boots. I scored a pair of Timerlands on sale at DSW at the Mall of America for a fraction of their original price.  They were not pretty, but they were comfortable, warm, and functional. I think I paid around $40 for them. I think this was around 15 years ago.

I wore them to walk around Minneapolis in the cold. I wore them to walk around the chain of lakes when my husband and I were newly dating. I wore them in the spring when it was too cold for sandals, but still slushy and wet. I wore these things countless times. Their price per wear has to be in the pennies. 

But in November I noticed that they had started to leak.  The glue holding the uppers to the rubber soles was coming undone and some cold November rain was getting into my boots. I stared in amazement and almost cried because these boots were my old reliable.  My Old Faithful. My trusty companions.  And then I snapped out of it.

My job situation is complicated right now, and because of this, I have been trying to pinch pennies on all things non-Hannah related.*  But Hannah is a big reason I needed new boots. That dog is tireless and we walk endlessly, every day.  I need functional, warm winter boots. 

So on a recent trip to Minneapolis, I repeated my pilgrimage to the Mall of America and bought a new pair of winter boots.

I went to DSW first, but the prices were astonishing and the quality of the boots was suspect. They had some Sorrels that might have worked, but the sale price wasn't that great. I walked into the Columbia store not expecting a whole lot when I found that the President's Day sale included winter boots anywhere from 40-60% off. I jumped on a pair of Women's Bugaboot Plus IV Omni-Heat Boots.

They provide my ankle its much-needed ankle support. They have this weird omni-heat technology that make them so warm that today in single-digit temps I didn't have a single concern about cold toes. They have Michelin rubber on the bottom and have pretty good traction on the ice that surrounds our house. 

I'm just hoping that it's another 15 years before I have to buy another pair of winter boots.
*I don't pinch pennies with regard to the dog because she deserves every privilege a dog has ever had.