ByKat Hours Updated
Comments 112 Comments

Coffee Break: Adjustable No-Show Flat-Buckle Belt

I was kind of psyched to see this inexpensive belt in our “most bought” roundup last month — I have one of these myself and have to say it’s great. No, it’s not fancy or an Hermès belt or anything like that — but it’s lightweight, low-profile, always comfortable, and always fits because it’s stretchy and adjustable. (In fact, numerous reviewers call it out as being a great belt if you’re in that 12–18 size range where regular belts might be uncomfortable but plus-size belts are a bit too big.)

It’s also known for its stay-flat, low-profile belt buckle, meaning it won’t be a prominent feature under shirts (or jab into your belly).

The belt is $16 at Amazon and comes in a bunch of different colors in two sizes, 0–14 and 16–4X.

Sales of note for 12.5

Sales of note for 12.5

And some of our latest threadjacks here at Corporette (reader questions and commentary) — see more here!

Some of our latest threadjacks include:

112 Comments

  1. Is there is a certain protocol in dealing with legal recruiters? There’s one big company that I’ve learned of recently that seems to have a lot of information regarding opportunities in an area I’m interested in (this isn’t NYC so opportunities aren’t constantly popping up). Spoke to one recruiter there, she seemed fine, but then didn’t get back to me on certain things — minor stuff like I’ll send comments on a resume etc. When I spoke to her 2-3 months ago I was just starting to contemplate a move. Now I feel like I want to actively start looking by the end of the summer, and I know it’ll take time because I’m past the usual associate track. Via Linkedin I’ve become connected to another recruiter at the same shop who seems to be saying they have unpublished opportunities in the region I’m interested in. Any harm in talking to recruiter #2 or is that a total faux pas? I do know I want to use this firm so I don’t want to be black listed in any way.

    2. My #1 tip for dealing with a recruiter–send your resume in PDF with a watermark DRAFT across the font, and say in your email that you do not consent to them sending your resume anywhere without your explicit consent.

      I would not work with a recruiter that’s flaky. There are good ones. There are less good ones. Move away from a less good one.

      If you are looking to go in-house, I would not use a recruiter at all–most jobs are posted unless you are very senior (DGC, GC, CLO).

  2. This belt is FUG but it is also 100% the best thing I bought in 2020. I have generous hips for my waist size and if I don’t belt, pants fall off. Even work pants. Nothing comes in curvy cut anymore and this is easier than tailoring in a pandemic. I wish someone could figure out how to make it really sharp-looking, but as long as I’m not tucking in shirts (or wearing a sweater), it is a necessity.

    2. Same body type here. I have started buying pants according to my real hip size (not what I think the size# should be) and then taking in the back waist. I usually have to take about 3″ out of the back waist — this is a straightforward change that I can do in about 30 minutes now that I’ve practiced it a few times (caveat, I am an experienced sewer)

      I’ve also had a tailor do it for about $20/pair.

      Total game changer to put on pants and actually have them fit right!

      1. Wow — with lined pants, I last paid significantly more than that (IMO totally worth it). I am the Dart Lady.

        1. Yes, Lined pants would definitely be more complicated, as would pants with top stitching along the seam (like you have on jeans). Ease of tailoring is one of the criteria I check for when buying pants.

    3. I have this belt and agree it’s fug. It also causes a sore spot on my belly after wearing it for a while, right where the top of the buckle kinds of digs into me. I never wear it for this reason.

    5. Yup. I’m wearing this belt right now. Even though I’m closer to an apple and not a pear, it’s a game changer.

    6. I just discovered Fjallraven canvas belts and love them. Not stretchy but super adjustable, and they lay flat, look nice, and come in narrower widths in multiple colors. They don’t dig in to my belly, either. I’m very happy with them.

  3. My go to vacation spot has always been Florida esp when it’s cold in the northeast. With a 2 hour flight I can escape to 60-80 degree weather in the winter, palm trees, beaches that are empty in the off season, and the small walkable cities/shopping so many Fla towns have. Normally I fly into PBI and then spend time in West Palm or Juipter, Delray etc

    Now though I’m reluctant to go to Florida — a state where vaccination is low, they weren’t really masking even at the height of the pandemic, and there are so many travelers. I feel like if there is significant variant spread, Florida will be ripe for it. Any alternatives to Fla for a winter vacation? I can’t think of any. I know this is dumb but palm trees are a must have; other than that just nice warm winter weather, some walkable city types of things, and a nice luxury type hotel. I know people will say fly to Hawaii but coming from the east coast I’m looking for places that I can go to by just adding 1-2 days to a weekend and Hawaii/west coast doesn’t lend itself to that.

    1. Do you have to go in the winter? If you check for hurricanes, you should be able to have a long weekend after Labor Day and before Thanksgiving anywhere in FLA you want. And the NEUS starts to be dreary around Halloween / the time change. And then again any time after NYE (excepting MLK and any college / school spreakbreaks). I went to Marco Island in September 2019 and practically had the beach to myself.

        1. I didn’t read it that way — worry re crowds, people not masked or vaxxed. No people –> no worries, it seemed to me.

    2. Well, I’m not sure about palm trees, but New Orleans is always a nice winter getaway. It helps that the vibe is SO different from the east coast – you totally feel like you’re in another country while you’re there. I can’t speak to NO’s vaccination rate though.

      1. New Orleans’ vaccination rate is around 45% of the total population (not sure about the eligible population). It’s a good place to vacation in the winter, but I suspect that, like in March 2020, it would be ground zero for any international variants. There are festivals planned for pretty much every weekend of October and November to make up for the spring festival season, Christmas always brings lots of tourists, and Mardi Gras is going to be insane. Tourists will be coming from all over the country to hang out in close proximity this fall and winter.

        If you’re worried about variants, I’d choose a beach in Florida over New Orleans this winter.

    4. Are you fully vaccinated? If so, I truly do not understand why you care (unless this hand wringing is all just performative to bash Florida, in which case the best place for you to stay is at home indefinitely).

      1. Because looking ahead to winter, I am assuming that some variant will come up that’ll break thru the vaccine and Florida hasn’t been great at handling that sort of thing. But you go ahead and accuse and blame without knowing the situation.

        1. The vaccine is not a cure. It will help you get less sick and prevent hospitalization. This is true of the variants as well. There’s never zero chance of getting COVID no matter where you travel to.

      2. I think it’s OK to bash FL. I’m from TX and this state should be bashed, at least from the leadership perspective, for multiple failures including those related to COVID. I think it’s OK to not spend your money in a place where you question the policies or won’t feel safe. Voting with your pocketbook and all.
        Do you have to have a beach? You may be hard pressed to find a suitable area in a southern state with vaccinations rate or safety protocols you’re comfortable with this year.

      3. Yeah, I also don’t want to give the state of Florida my money after the way they have behaved during the pandemic.

          1. Stop the what about isms that your group is so keen on. She’s probably from NY or similar area where she had not choice but to just live. Go away we don’t want you here.

          2. No one said anything about New York. I have money for travel and I’m not giving it to Florida.

    5. speaking as someone who spent 2 months in coastal Naples when vaccines were only available to healthcare workers, it matters a lot where in FL you would be going. Don’t write off the whole state.

      Anyway, is there a reason you need to stay within the US? Looks like most of the Caribbean will be open to vaxxed travelers, some with tests, some without. Like the Bahamas does not require tests for vaxxed tourists anymore…

      1. So is Naples better regarding vaccines/masks (if needed by that point)? What places are better in Fla. Passport is currently expired but will get that done in the next month or two so I could leave the country.

          1. Hawaii still has an indoor mask mandate. I think it’s the only state that does though.

        2. Can’t speak for the whole county but the Naples coastal area – brimming with educated retirees – was well behaved in the winter (masks worn while shopping, people being respectful of setting up spaced apart on the beach). Some people were indoor dining or drinking bc it was allowed, which isn’t the most cautious behavior, but it was easy to control your *own* behavior to avoid them.

          As far as masking now, I mean, that’s kind of… over for the most part, so not sure why FL would be any better or worse.

          1. Yeah, I agree that you just need to avoid the party cities like Miami. Old people in the US are almost all vaccinated, regardless of political affiliation (because they don’t want to die!). So if you go to a part of Florida with lots of retirees, vaccine uptake should be fine and you should have no problem finding a quiet stretch of beach to hang out on.

          2. And also? If you’re vaccinated I don’t know why you are so worried about it. The vaccines have been shown to be effective against all of them…

          3. I was in Naples over the winter and I entirely agree. It was pretty easy to stay distant and all indoor stores required masks and people generally complied. There are lots of outdoor dining choices and the beach I was near was not crowded at all.

    6. Charleston or Savannah will be a little cooler than south Florida, but still warmer than the NE.

    7. If you don’t mind going out of the US, many islands in the Caribbean won’t add much additional flight time to your trip and will have your palm trees. Aruba is especially nice to vacation to in the winter and I have heard from others that traveled there recently that they are doing a good job with COVID protocols.

    8. I know you said you want a long weekend trip, but if you’re cautious about Covid I’d really urge you to consider taking a full week and doing Hawaii. The state is like 80% vaxxed, masks are still required indoors – and people comply! – and you have to get a test to fly there. I live in a 45% vaxxed red state and being in Hawaii was the safest I’ve felt being out and about since before the pandemic.

      Otherwise I agree the Caribbean is similar to Florida in terms of climate and beaches but if your concern is variants, international travel seems to be the riskiest thing of all. Also echoing others that you can go to Florida and avoid crowds. We were in Destin in December and didn’t see a soul – just played on the beach in front of our rental house and got takeout/delivery food. It wasn’t the most exciting vacation but it was the warm weather escape we needed and honestly felt no less safe than being home, and this was before we were vaccinated and I’m very cautious.

    9. Honesty, I’d wait to see what happens to rates when schools start back. Right now, only 10% of kids 12-16 have shots and younger ones still aren’t eligible. If rates spike, you’d know by early October and you might just want to wait and watch for travel deals (even if you are vaccinated).

      Parents of kids 12-16 (and older): why aren’t kids getting shots? My 12YO has had hers. I have a younger kid who I hope becomes eligible before school starts and will promptly get her her shots.

      1. Because people mistakenly think Covid doesn’t affect kids. I know a healthy preschooler who died from it. My 3 year old will be getting her shots the second she’s eligible, and I actually plan to push her ped to give it to her when the 5+ year olds become eligible in October or so instead of waiting until 2022 for the little kid shots. But most fully vaccinated adults I know are not planning to vaccinate their kids because they think Covid doesn’t make kids seriously ill.

        1. Uh?? Little kid shots are dosed differently. Do you want you 3 year old getting the same vaccine as an obese 11 year old only to later find out –oops heart inflammation. The vaccine testing for kids isn’t going slowly just for the fun of it.

          1. The dose for 5-11 year olds is considerably smaller than the adult/teen dose and my kid is almost 4 and very large for her age (height and weight of an average 7 year old) so yeah I’m not too worried about her getting a dose given to millions of healthy 5 year olds. I would not want her to have the adult dose. Heart inflammation is a side effect of many vaccines and viruses (including the Covid virus) and I’ve seen nothing that suggest it’s more prevalent with this vaccine or that the risk from the vaccines is greater than the risk from the virus.

          2. Or I have a 10yo who is 5-1 — her dose is not that of her teeny friend who weighs 60ish pounds. OTOH, adult dosing is probably for giant men — I am closer to my 10yo’s size than my husband’s size.

    10. Georgia and SC both have palm trees and beaches, but also have low vaccination rates. California also has palm trees and beaches and much higher vaccination rates, but is definitely farther away, though not as bad as Hawaii- not quite a long weekend, but you could easily do 4-5 days and feel like you got away.

      1. California beach cities can be warm in the winter if you hit a heat wave, but it is more likely to be 50-65 degrees (obviously warmer than the northeast in winter, but not my definition of beach weather). I would personally not on California in winter if you really want to hit the beach.

        1. +1 I went to San Diego in January once and it was raining and in the 50s for the entire week. It’s warmer than the northeast for sure, but it’s not what most people think of as beach weather.

        2. I actually live in SoCal and agree that it’s not Florida and not swimming weather, but it’s usually sunny and much warmer than the northeast… and actually a lot nicer than it is in the summer when it’s either foggy or at risk of being on fire and the water is too cold to swim even then, at least where I live. If you want a swimming at the beach vacation you need to go to Florida or Hawaii or the Caribbean, but if you just want a break from the cold with palm trees and beaches in the background, then SoCal is fine and definitely the place in the continental US with the highest vaccination rates and warm winters. It just depends what she cares most about, vaccination rate or temperature.

          1. I lived in California for 30 years! And go back every year since for Christmas. As I said, you can get lucky and get warm weather, but most of the time it’s not beach vacation weather.

    11. I am just going to point out that Florida has vaccinated 60.5% of its eligible population. New York has vaccinated 68.5%. While 8% is not an inconsequential difference, Florida’s rates are still higher than Louisiana (44.5%), Georgia (50.2%), or South Carolina (50.1%). So if you want to avoid states with low vaccination rates, none of those are better options.

      And California might be beautiful. (Although the water will be too cold for swimming without a wetsuit.) It might also be chilly and grey. For a long weekend and unless you are boycotting states with Covid policies you do not like for ethical reasons, Florida is going to be your best domestic bet for warm and sunny. Otherwise, fly a little farther, add a day, and go to Tulum.

  4. A brief vent: No, opp counsel, I am not “upset”. I am zealously representing my client and disputing your absolutely absurd positions. There’s no way that he would have said “I’m sorry if I upset you” to a colleague who was male and perhaps older than me.
    Ugh!

    1. Ugh, I hate when people do that. I sent a snippy email recently, and opposing counsel was all “no need to get emotional”. No, I am not emotional, I’m telling you to *** off because you are being ridiculous.

      1. It drives me insane that men will say sexist things like that when men are the ones who literally start wars when they get their feelings hurt.

    2. My response is “no emotion, just facts” when men accuse me of being emotional because I’m kicking their a**.

    3. So obnoxious. Hope you told him you weren’t upset, and that both of you have a job to do, so the only apology he should be making is for his ridiculous positions he knows full well are absurd.

      1. I struggle with this, because it’s hard to say “I’m not upset” while sounding perfectly professional and composed.

        I’ve also been wondering how to say “of course I did that, it’s the bare minimum and would be a disaster/illegal if I hadn’t done it.” I’m annoyed when people check whether I did something that I’d have to be an idiot not to have done. As they’d say on TikTok “F*** I look like?”

        Ideas welcome!

        1. “Did you do X?” “Oh yes. Of course.”
          Or “Definitely, it was the first thing I did.”

    4. “Honestly, the best marketing scheme in history is men successfully getting away with calling women ‘the more emotional gender’ for like, EONS, because they’ve successfully rebranded anger as Not An Emotion.” – @clairewillett

  5. What’s the next level if I’ve mastered the NyT no-knead bread recipe? Better flour? King Arthur? Another recipe?

    3. It’s hard to go wrong with King Arthur. But I especially recommend products from The Old Mill of Guilford. I found them by deep-diving online during The Great Flour Shortage of 2020. Shipping was fast and accurate, the flours were great, and you’re supporting a small business. There has been some sort of mill there since 1767, and the products are stone ground with water power. I generally do not bake with mixes but am very happy with their mixes as well as their flours, grits, and oatmeal.

    4. My husband bought Bread Illustrated and basically worked through it. The recipes are organized from beginner to advanced. It is extremely thorough with detailed instructions and illustrations so this is if you want to explore this as a hobby. He had no prior bread baking experience and now is very good at it. You could start at the beginning and see if you want to keep going? Side note: he always uses King Arthur Flour.

      1. Oof! That looks great — we subscribe to Cook’s Illustrated but somehow I hadn’t seen this book. Just ordered it! Thanks!

      2. I’m the overly excited sourdough baker from below and I agree with using King Arthur, specifically bread flour, as it makes such a difference.

        I feed my starter 50% whole wheat and 50% all purpose or bread flour, so I sometimes have to buy a small bag of wheat flour, also King Arthur.

    5. Do it with sourdough.
      Otherwise, what do you like? Master a different recipe. Higher hydration or addition of other grains/flours will be a bit fiddlier.

    6. HELLO AND WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF SOURDOUGH!

      Now is a great time to get a starter going.

      2. You can get a free bit of starter to rehydrate and get going from “Carl Griffith’s 1847 Oregon Trail Sourdough Starter”. Honestly, once you’ve got it going it’s specific to your locale and not some 174 year old substance, but it’s still a great story.

    7. Learning to listen to the yeast. It sounds idiotic on the page, but if you start doing bread that need to be kneaded, you’ll learn to hear the dough make little popping sounds (like chewing gum) when you have activated the yeast and the dough is getting to be quite nice.

      I recommend the Delia Smith white loaf and her pizza dough as great recipes.

  6. Has anyone tried Good Stock Soups? Looks like they have stores in NY and also deliver frozen soup there.
    Appreciate any other suggestions for a food delivery for a friend in NY going through a hard time (looking for a reasonably healthy meal, she’s been inundated with sweets and snacks).

    1. No experience with Good Stock soups, but for healthier food delivery options in NY – you can check out services like Mercato, which will deliver from a variety of nice places– Essex Market, Chelsea Market (the Lobster place has prepared soups, for example), as well as lots of other small, independent places. You could send sushi, soup, fruit… or less healthy things like baked goods, cheese. If your friend has a favorite deli or restaurant, you could also check the website and see if you can order delivery directly from them. If your friend is into local, seasonal, farm-to-table type things, some of the farmers at the Union Square Greenmarket offer home deliveries of fruits/veg/prepared foods (like pasta sauces, soups) through the Future Farmer platform. Natoora deliveries groceries (really nice fruit/veg/dairy etc) and some pantry staples, but not really prepared foods.

  7. since I can’t share with friends in real life…

    I finally got the details of a long awaited internal promotion, and I’m getting a 45% raise!! This takes me just slightly above six figures–something I *never* could have imagined achieving within a decade of graduation as a first gen college student.

    1. Wow, congrats!!! That is amazing! And gently, I would encourage you to share this with your real life friends. Maybe not the six figures part if they make less than you do, but you can definitely tell them you got a HUGE raise and leave the details up to their imagination. I make a lot less than you but would be delighted to celebrate a friend who got a big raise.

  8. If one were to go to Hawaii in, say, late December (post-Christmas) or mid-February (president’s day week), from the east coast, what kind of budget would they need for 2 adults and 1 elementary aged child?

    It’s been many many years since I took a real vacation that didn’t involve borrowing someone’s weekend house and driving, and I’m not sure how to even begin thinking about costs.

      1. +1

        Just as anecdata, we booked a bunch of trips for 2021-2022 this spring once it was clear that vaccines were widely available, and the other week out of idle curiosity re-ran the flights for our dates to see if our gamble (that pent-up demand would send prices through the roof) paid off.

        Yes it did. Prices for everything we booked in April are at least 50% higher now and in one case more than double what we paid just 2-2.5 months ago.

        2. I would say 6-10k depending on your personal preferences. It would be hard to spend 16k in a week unless you have a real penchant for fine dining and ultra-luxury accommodations, but there’s no way you can do it for 3k. I think you have to figure flights alone will be 3k.

    2. Post-Christmas (you mean the Christmas-New Year’s week?) will be insanely expensive. Early-mid December and February will likely be pretty comparable, low season prices, but Hawaii is always fairly pricey. Flight deals are not easy to come by now – maybe that will change in the next six months – but I would probably budget $1000 per person for the flight to be safe, and at least $200 per night for hotel (avoiding the Christmas-New Year’s week) – that won’t get you a luxury hotel but you should be able to find something clean and comfortable and decently located for that price. Rental car could be up to $500 for a week and then you can easily spend $100 a day on food and incidentals even if you’re avoiding anything fancy (and even if you plan to cook a lot, groceries are $$$$) so I would say budget a minimum of $6k to be safe and hope it comes in less? If you want luxury hotels or fancy restaurants it will cost more.

      I was in Oahu last week and the total trip cost for two adults and one child was more like $10k. Our flights (in premium economy) were $1400 a piece, we rented a two bedroom condo that was over $600 a night, the rental car was pretty cheap ($250) but we probably spent more like $150-200 a day on food and gas. We didn’t do any paid activities because of Covid and small child but if it’s your first visit to Hawaii I would definitely try to do some kind of snorkeling trip or scenic boat cruise.

    3. A lot will depend on which island, plus your accommodations and excursions. I’d plan on at least 3K for flights. Renting a car is really expensive but may be necessary, depending on where you are staying and what you want to do. We were able to get around easily by bus and taxi/uber in Honolulu but it would depend on your goals and your patience. You could probably find a condo rental for under $300/night but if you want a fancy hotel room or a VRBO house, it will be more than that.

      1. Assuming you can even get a rental car. The rental car shortage right now is very real. Like check and make sure you can get a car before you book a plane ticket (this advice also applies to any super touristy destination right now).

    4. I mean, there are likely three main components that you can easily figure out on your own — flights, hotel/accommodations, car. Those are going to be the most expensive parts of the trip that you’ll have the least control over. What you spend money on when you get there is up to you and your family’s preferences.

    5. Christmas/New Years is absolute peak season in Hawaii. Everything will be very expensive. Nice hotels routinely run $1,000+ a night at that time of year. (I am sure you can find something for less than that, but even “average” hotels will be expensive.)

      February might be slightly less, but it will definitely still be high season prices.

    6. Hawaii is expensive. The entire month of December is very busy (and very expensive) anywhere in Hawaii because people from cold climates are escaping there. I would say $6k-$8k all-in for the trip is a decent estimate depending on where you want to stay and if you can get flights that are under $1k per person. Also depending on what you want to do there – tours are getting progressively more expensive and are now about $200 per person and up depending on what you do.

  9. I start a new job in a couple weeks. Any recommendations for somewhere I can go last minute from the NE? I had debated going on a beach vacay but it seemed too stressful to plan in advance- now I’m getting a little antsy. Anywhere worth going in Europe for less than a week (like maybe Iceland)? Or hey, maybe still my original beach idea. As long as it’s under a week – I don’t want to be away from my kitties too long.

    1. I love Iceland but to see all the sights you’d be doing a lot of driving and a lot of hiking, so it wouldn’t be as relaxing as the beach. I’d also want a full week there to make the cost and time change worth it. I’m a big fan of an all-inclusive resort at the beach between jobs, I think for that phase of your life you just want something super restful and nothing is more relaxing than a beach resort, especially an AI. There are lots of options in the Caribbean and Mexico that are an easy flight from the Northeast, and Florida has great beaches too if you don’t care about the resort being all-inclusive.

    2. Paris. Always Paris. I know people scoff at the idea but I have never spent more than four nights. Totally worth it from the east coast.

    3. idk what exactly is open to US people but – major European cities are always worth it. Barcelona? Paris?

    4. I am also someone who thinks a quick trip to Paris or London is always a good idea, but I would also put in a plug for Puerto Rico. San Juan is an easy trip from the northeast and Old San Juan is beautiful, warm, and you will eat and drink well. You can venture farther afield from the city depending on your Spanish and comfort, but I’ve never had a bad trip there.

  10. HELP! I have a job interview at a law firm coming up (I’m an attorney) and I need a petite plus size interview suit. Where should I look?

Comments are closed.