Jeans shopping post-kids a.k.a the road to hell!

Not what I was looking for ...

This morning I went jeans shopping.

There are a number of reasons this is a completely painful experience but the main one is that since I had kids I bulge in places that I never did before.

Yes I know stretch marks are battle scars and that my body has grown two amazing children blah blah blah.

However I got here, the end result is the same!

I was always one of those girls that had thighs and a bum, but a completely flat stomach and small waist. No more (thanks Wild Man and Princess!!)

So, while I used to walk into whichever shop, grab a size 10 and be pretty sure that all would be well, jeans shopping now involves trying to find something that I can wear almost every day, that will make me feel good about myself and as if I made even just a tiny amount of effort when getting dressed, that isn't too expensive (because when only one of you work expensive things are harder to justify), and that covers up my muffin top.

Challenging.

Add to that a one-year-old who needs to go home to bed and an overheated shopping centre and you are pretty much on the road to hell.

Lately, I've been pretty lazy about jeans shopping and have just grabbed something cheap and crappy, without trying it on, and hoped for the best.

But today I was determined to make an effort and buy something better than that.  Jeans thatb would make me feel good when I wore them.

So Princess and I wandered the shops.

We were ignored by unhelpful sales assistants, frowned at by other customers (yes I had a stroller in the aisle - what was I supposed to do, leave my baby at the door with the school bags??) and frankly I was a bit underwhelmed by what was on offer (given that I wasn't looking for purple, skinny jeans that showed off my butt cleveage).

I was just starting to 1) get very cross 2) look for a cafe and 3) think about leaving when ... we walked past, and then into, JAG.

Now, I tend to associate JAG with Christmas presents for my husband, father and stepsons because they have outstanding belts and wallets. But it turns out they also sell really nice jeans.

As we walked in a nice, friendly, not too skinny, well-dressed but not too posh sales assistant asked me "can I help?"

Yep that's right, she initiated the conversation instead of me having to interupt her gossiping with her colleague. And she really knew her stuff.

"I need jeans that I can wear all the time, I want them to be flattering and comfy, I want straight leg, NOT SKINNY, I don't want them to come up past my belly button or to show butt cleveage, and I like this kind of colour. What do you suggest?"

And she did the rest.

She had great suggestions about styles, played with Princess while I tried things on, brought the sizes that I needed (and started me with the biggest option so I got the joyous experience of announcing that I needed a smaller size!), talked knowledgeably about how much they would stretch, and where it was and wasn't OK for the material to wrinkle.

In short, she made the whole experience actually kind of fun, and certainly very easy.

And even better, she made me feel really good about myself, and my body and really, really good about the jeans I bought. So good that three hours later I am blogging about it (and no, I don't have a sponsorship deal with JAG ... in my dreams!)  

Oh, and the jeans were all on sale - 30% off!

Do you find jeans shopping to be a horrific experience? What are your best and worst sale assistant experiences?