Frugal Friday’s Workwear Report: Short-Sleeve Button-Up Shirt
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Our daily workwear reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices.
Now that summer is officially here, I’m looking for lightweight tops that can work for the office or for the weekends. This vibrant button-up blouse from J.Crew Factory would be a great option for business casual or casual casual.
For work, I’d style it with some high-waisted trousers and a sweater blazer. For weekends, these mid-rise shorts from Banana Republic Factory have been a real winner so far this summer, and I love the look of the bright reddish-orange with olive.
The blouse is $39.50 at J.Crew Factory and comes in sizes XXS-3X.
Sales of note for 6/25:
- Amazon Prime Day has started! You can check out our roundup here… Also don't forget that sister site Shopbop is offering 25% off a lot of great brands if you link your Prime account, including brands like A.L.C., Aeyde, Alex Mill, Alice & Olivia, Anine Bing, Barefoot Dreams, Beyond Yoga, Birkenstock, Black Halo, Clare V., Cult Gaia, Farm Rio, Ferragamo, Frank & Eileen, Jenni Kayne, La Ligne, Marine Layer, Nili Lotan, Printfresh (!), rag & bone, RAILS, STAUD, Stuart Weitzman, Theory, TWP, Veronica Beard, Vince, White & Warren, Xirena, and Z-Supply
- Nordstrom – 25% off clearance! Nice selection of Vince, Veronica Beard, Boss, Theory, Beyond Yoga, and Zella
- Another Tomorrow – Seasonal sale, 50% off select styles
- Ann Taylor – 25% off new arrivals! Readers love this blouse and I always love the variety of colors/textures for this jacket (it's a great separate)
- Athleta – 30-60%off reader favorites like Brookyn and Endless pants, and the Pranayama wrap is marked down to $55
- AYR – Ooh, good sale section — but lots on final sale. Readers love (LOVE) these comfy work pants and these jeans.
- Bare Necessities – Semi-annual sale, up to 70% off, plus get an additional 40% off clearance swim. Readers have sung the praises of these cooling pajamas and their bra-sized swimwear
- Boden – Summer sale, up to 50% off
- Evereve – 20% off dresses!
- J.Crew – Extra 15% off your purchase (on top of up to 50% off select styles)
- J.Crew Factory – Extra 60% off clearance – readers love their schoolboy blazers and sweaters, and they have a great selection of summer suiting in the sale. Ooh, and these scallop-trim t-shirts have major Boden vibes.
- Jenni Kayne – Semi-annual warehouse sale
- M.M.LaFleur – Archive sale! (Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off on other items)
- Nordstrom Rack – Clearance, new arrivals up to 75% off! Nice selection of Vince, Veronica Beard, Reiss and Rag & Bone, a ton of affordable work dresses from Calvin Klein, Maggy London, Eliza J, and Donna Morgan
- Ruti – Semi-annual sale, up to 70% off!
- Splendid – Up to 60% off women's sale!
- Talbots – 6/25: Flash sale, all markdowns 60% off two or more, 50% off one, and 40% off the rest of your purchase
I’m solo this weekend and pottering around – going to yoga, coffee with friends, and doing a bunch of house jobs.
Can you recommend a really immersive podcast series to keep me company (I hate a quiet house)? I’m a fraidy cat so nothing too scary. I liked the History Bureau, Foundling, the Secret World of Roald Dahl.
Anyone watching anything great?
We have been enjoying the classic jdramas (esp. Long Vacation) that made it to Netflix. The episode counts are more like miniseries, which feels just right to me.
Warm Pages or Nocturnal Tales—a lot of fanfic Miss Marples and Hercules Poirot mysteries on podcast.
It’s a you tube channel but I always love Geography Now!
Atlas Obscura is fun. I also like Articles of Interest.
I like putting on familiar movies for this kind of thing – I know the story so well that I don’t get distracted by following the plot, but it’s comfortable background noise!
True—like Murder She Wrote or Midsummer Murders for me. I think k both have their own free channels.
What should I know about going on SSRIs? I’ve never been on medication for depression or anxiety, but its looking like I’m at the point where I need it and I’m nervous about the effects.
I went through a horrific time recently (posted a few months ago about having to wait to hear if bad thing would happen, bad thing did in fact happen, and I’m now a few weeks out still dealing with the fallout) so part of me thinks with enough time I can get through this without the meds (prescribed Zoloft), which I understand take a month or two to even have an effect? But at this point I’m barely able to function and still crying every day so I guess I’m just looking for experiences/hope that the meds will actually help.
The biggest thing to know: if you don’t like it, you can just quit. No one’s making you take it. You have agency here. Take it because it might help you.
They say it can take months to take effect, but I’ve been on an assortment of everything in the last 15 years and I always feel it within a day or two.
Zoloft is a good starter med. Just see how you do with it. It may well help. If it doesn’t, just stop taking it. Go back to the doc for something else if you want.
Best of luck to you.
You can just quit… unless you experience a lengthy discontinuation syndrome that’s more severe than anything the meds were originally prescribed for.
GTFO. With your fear-mongering. Severe discontinuation symptoms are not common and are less likely to result from short-term use.
The intended effect takes weeks to kick in, but the relief is usually much faster; that’s why researchers think they usually work via a different mechanism than just increasing serotonin concentrations. It’s also why they’re used acutely for things like TBI; they can lower brain inflammation pretty quickly. I think the emotional blunting that reduces crying happens faster than a month or two for most people.
It will take 4-6 weeks to get the full effect, but you will get *some* of the benefits within the first couple of weeks. If you’ve been dealing with acute anxiety for awhile, and it sounds like you have, there is still benefit to taking the meds even as the situation improves to settle your brain chemistry and help you return to baseline. Big hugs. Sounds like you’ve been through a lot lately. FWIW, I started taking an SSRI for postpartum anxiety and realized through that that I’d probably needed them all along. Others take them for 6 months or so and never need them again.
I’ve been on four different SSRI/SSNI/Wellbutrin meds, and I’ve always had a reduction in symptoms within a week. I’ve also not had discontinuation syndrome – not saying that doesn’t happen, but it is by no means a universal experience.
Is there a good comprehensive overview that I don’t need a health journal subscription for in US maternal death causes (vs rates)? I know there are a lot of disparities by race from general news reports. I went to a presentation by our local EMS on baby deliveries in the field (often poor women with no prenatal care at all) in our major US city and I really wanted to learn more but was eye opening. I had so many questions. I’m not a scientist or a doctor so I don’t know what I don’t know.
Anyone who can share your experience with Hashimoto’s disease? Was just diagnosed.
I have Hashimoto’s type hypothyroid and it has not been a big deal for me at all. I see an endo every 6 months or so (more frequently when I was ttc/pregnant/nursing) to check thyroid levels, and I take synthetic thyroid hormone daily. I have had two thyroid ultrasounds in the last few years just to check on the size of my thyroid, it was shrinking for a while but has stabilized.
Any resulting hypothyroidism should be fully treatable with a good doctor. Most people will be symptom free on standard first line treatment. Some people need to do some troubleshooting to be asymptomatic (these people can sometimes be loud), but thankfully those troubleshooting steps are all pretty standard by 2026 as well.
The hope is usually that thyroid meds will be enough to calm down the autoimmune component of the condition. Troubleshooting recurring flare ups is harder and more YMMV, but not everyone even deals with this, so there’s no need to borrow trouble!
I think of Hashimoto’s as a really easy condition to manage overall, though being either underdosed or overdosed on thyroid meds can be miserable. The genetic risk factors are linked to other autoimmune conditions, but Hashimoto’s is the most common, so it doesn’t mean others will arise. It just means that that if we get a whole new set of symptoms later, the odds are higher that the explanation will be another autoimmune issue.
Would love recommendations for favorite cardigans or other layering pieces that can be worn over sleeveless tops (mostly for overly air-conditioned buildings). I’ve been using a button-down shirt for weekend wear, but also looking for slightly dressier options. Yes, I’m aware that cardigans are not high fashion. I don’t care.
do you mean for the office, or to have with you when running errands? (looking at you, freezer aisle of the grocery store)
My recent mammogram came back with some calcifications that can’t be immediately be ruled as benign, and I’m scheduled for a followup appointment that is up to two hours long. What should I expect? Prior mammogram was a 3D mammogram.