by my own bootstraps

I’m a fan of the skinny jeans tucked into boots look.  In the summer I’m all about skirts and dresses with bare legs and ballet flats, but in the winter I don’t want even one inch of ankle to feel a bit of a chill.  (Hell, I don’t want one inch of anything to feel one bit of chill, and so you’ll see me bundled from head to toe out at the bus stop in the mornings, though that didn’t stop THREE people from honking at me this morning!)  It’s hard to find any shoes that look cute with socks, so the solution is to just wear boots over pants, preventing anyone from seeing my socks, and preventing frigid air from making its way up my pantlegs.  Not to mention, you get to show off your cute boots, and I definitely want to show off my boots if I’ve made the investment.  The problem is that the pants scootch their way up inside the boots and I end up with baggy knees and annoying bunches around my ankles.

I thought one solution might be tighter jeans, and for a minute, I contemplated some jeggings (jean leggings), but was assured by my friends that there’d be an intervention if I dared to make the purchase. Then, via Consumerist, I learned that people are making little straps for turning normal pants into stirrup pants, keeping them from riding up when tucked into boots.  However, these straps cost from $9.99 (jeanstraps) to $25 (stirrupz). (Seriously? $25? INSANE!) And I could have a whole pair of jeggings for that cost…

I mentioned my problem to my sister, and she said she uses those straps made to keep sheets on beds to keep her pants in her boots. GENIUS.  They’re only around $5, and I found a set of four in the bedding section at Target. Way cheap and no shipping.  They’re a little too long for my purposes, and if I weren’t so low class I’d probably cut and sew them properly, but instead I shortened them using folding and safety pins.  I tried out my new style tool with skinny jeans and a pair of Frye boots I scored for the unheard of price of $70 while on Christmas break, and THEY WORKED.

So there ya go kids. This durn librul is telling you to pull yourself up by your homemade bootstraps.

Edited to include: I also found these jodhpur clips (for horseback riders) for around $3 on Amazon if you can’t find the sheet straps at Target or Walmart.