There’s and old saying ‘We are first judged by our outfit and only later by our wits’. Whether you are a curvy beauty or a skinny glam, sunny blonde or night-shaded brunette, a young girl or a mature lady – we all want to look good. Regardless of the place and situation. ALWAYS. That’s a part of women’s nature so even those ladies who pay less attention to their looks still wanna get a good ‘I-don’t-care’ result. 🙂

GET SOME AFFORDABLE OUTFIT IDEAS NOW

I’m a bit too much carried away with my looks I must admit so this particular issue has always been a hard challenge for me. It’s easy to look awesome when you’ve got like $100K Visa card just for shopping for your wardrobe at designer’s boutiques… Ok, a $10K for shopping Nordstrom… Even $700 for Macy’s, for God’s sake… Maybe at least like $300 for Target? Nope, not in our case, sorry. 🙁 We’re talking like really tight budget. And we still wanna look good. Dilemma, dilemma…

I want you to remember some very simple rules to begin with before we start a more detailed journey into the magic quest of creating a fashionista look out of our low income.
Rule #1: Always have strictly defined budget limits. If you really can only afford spending like $40 for clothing, so be it. Don’t try to brainstorm any more or less decent excuses to spend more.
Rule #2: Either pride or fashion – if you have a brand names obsession and can’t imagine buying clothes at the garage sale or a thrift store you probably should concentrate on improving your income asap because low line will be constantly making you feel miserable.
Rule #3: A matter of a good taste needs no big money. I’ve seen pretty well-off ladies wearing only designer brands and looking just awful! I mean not eccentric or different, but simply awful. Even though we have no-judgement policy here, it’s not an offence but a fact. Blindly following trends and buying things out of a statement ‘expensive means good’ is a very big mistake.
Rule #4:  Choose situation-appropriate outfit. Of course you can try jogging on high heels if you feel like it or show up at a city ball wearing sneakers and leggings, but it’s more wise to follow some common sense though. 🙂
Rule #5: ‘Made in China’ is everywhere now. Just accept it. You won’t believe how many brands make and buy their stuff in China!!! So don’t spend more, consider buying from China directly.
Rule #6: A lady can’t own too many shoes, hats, purses and accessories.
Rule #7: Any woman can look good even on a low income. Any. Woman. Period.

Now let’s concentrate on saving money when buying clothing. I’d suggest we only need two major categories for all the wardrobe: necessary and fancy. Both of those can be equally super simple or super stylish, you choose. Shopping for your necessary wardrobe you need to consider

• Climate – red carpet is the only place where you will look good wearing open-toe shoes when it’s -40 F outside… 🙂
• Where you need to wear that clothing to – a lot of items can be used universally, but some need to be picked out with a certain purpose in mind (like office outfits).
• Pairing is our everything. You can create dozens of different styles pairing your clothing in different ways.
• Quantity&quality – this discussion goes on like forever, just as what was first a chicken or an egg LOL! Some prefer having 2 pairs of shoes and one purse but of a quality that lasts for decades. Some swear by having a big number of cheaper items and accessories so they could easily combine and replace them.  So it’s up to you. As for myself, I prefer the mix of both. 🙂

Fancy outfits are usually something nice we reward ourselves so they can be bought more rarely and can include just anything your fashionista soul would like and your cynical wallet can afford.

Here’s my own pattern of shopping for some new and used clothing and shoes (again, I’m a huge fan of buying clothing and accessories!). Following these easy steps has helped me save money and nerves countless times and I still could enjoy my experience and comfort my thirst for some new fresh fashion styles. I’ve left the stores with a sneaky smile of a penny hoarder and a happy eyes of a high life fashionista. 🙂

Look at the need

Even if you’re shipping for the new styles only, not for an urgent need, you still have to think beforehand. Since we’re having a tight budget you should already have a general idea of the possible items you’d like to hunt for. Well, let’s imagine it’s a real hunting — we need our goal, our gun, our route and our aim of course. A little planning ahead will save time and you will feel less overwhelmed with the ideas and variety since usually the stores have many styles and color palettes to choose from. If you have a pretty huge wardrobe it wouldn’t hurt to go through your closets before shopping — you actually might just have forgotten that you already own some items you were planning to shop for ( LOL, my bad, it’s probably just me who can forget what she owns)!

Decide on a style

you have the whole lots of help to accomplish that! Search the magazines and fashion blogs, TV or online inspiration styles, follow celebrities or get inspired by old returning styles, devote to timeless classics or freshen up your looks with a blush of a new trend – it’s all in your hands and your wishes! Either you want to hunt the outfit or a certain piece, a rainbow splash or a mono color palette, edgy or modest look –  you still need to know what approximately you’re looking for otherwise you will just get lost in variety of styles and choices. That might not only lead to excessive spending and impulse shopping but to the feeling or guilt and disappointment later and it’s a huge no-no! 🙂

Know your sizes and measurements

ladies, we of course can just hope that ‘we will fit somehow’ into a smaller top or the size 7 shoes ‘will stretch and adjust after a while’ to our 7,5. We can try grabbing an item hoping to lose weight or cover imperfect fit with some accessories, but… Can you just take a word of a person who has done those mistakes for years? JUST DON’T DO IT. Pleeease? 🙂 I know you like this piece and they don’t have your size, I know those shoes are to die for and they seem ‘just a bit tight’ and most certainly I know the feeling ‘well I was going to shed a couple of pounds anyways’. That all is a bad favor cause later on the shoes would rub a painful blister and that small clothes will make you feel uncomfortable if not ridiculous. It’s no good either for your looks or for your confidence and self esteem. You need to know and follow your sizes and measurements whether you like them or not, remember – every size and every shape can be flattered by a good fit and look beautiful. 🙂

Know your options

Make a list of stores you might wanna check out when shopping for your outfit. It’s nice to check out the events, variety and sales and know the hours to save your time. It might be handy to search for a discount or coupons before you shop and compare the prices.

Thrift stores

My personal first and most adored choice. 🙂 I totally love them either I shop for a pair of necessary jeans or searching for a vintage blazer to follow the latest fashion tendency I’ve liked. Thrift stores most often offer unique pieces of shoes and clothing, they have like 90% higher quality items and better fit than most of the mass market. Thrift stores give you a chance to create your own style instead of grabbing another similar blouse from a retail knowing that a good half of your neighborhood will possibly buy and wear this same thing. And the prices at thrift stores are almost of the lowest price possible. Besides, you can find high life designer brands there also. 🙂 Isn’t that what we need on our low income? My favorites: Salvation Army, Savers, Goodwill, Earth Exchange.

Garage sales

The same as the thrift stores, maybe even cheaper. Of course it’s a rare luck to find a garage sale with lots of clothing in your particular size but it’s always worth giving it a try. Besides you can find some awesome accessories there too.

Mass market

Some things are best to be bought at Walmart, Shopko or Target. Jeans, underwear, hosiery, seasonal clothing or some fashion jewelry are affordable and cute there. Of course mass market lacks uniqueness and individuality but there are always a lot of ways to pair them wisely to create your own stylish masterpiece look.

TJ MAX and discount stores

a lot of folks swear by those stores because of designer brands availability and affordability. Can’t disagree that some accessories are indeed worthy of attention as well as some pieces of clothing. So if you think it’s good for you – enjoy! 🙂

Online

It’s like the second best after the thrift stores for me. Wide variety, affordable prices, online thrift apps, tons of discounts, easy returns and convenient delivery options will make you fall in love with this way of shopping like forever! The only problem is that you can’t try the item on before buying. Please do take you measurements and follow the size charts before you order!!!

Chinese apps

they are goddamn good for being unbelievably cheap and offering the same mass market items but for significantly less money. I like shopping Chinese stuff but there are several hidden reefs here. Watch for delivery prices!!! These apps love doing tricks posting an item for unbeatable $2 but ask like $15 for delivery. 🙂 And you gotta know that you may never get your item at all, let alone on-time delivery. Well, after all we get what we pay for… WARNING: Chinese retail apps almost always have problems with matching the sizes!!! Please read the charts, pay attention to measurement units and read customer reviews. Don’t hesitate to ask manufacturer about the size fit. And be prepared – out of 10 purchases at Chinese websites there gonna be like 4 disappointments. If not for the prices, this way of shopping has more unpleasant surprises than any other.

Those little secrets we will need for still being able to sneak out to a higher level stores even with our tiny budget! 🙂 For me personally it’s kinda important to shop a higher level store at least once in a really great while… I know it sounds strange but I enjoy walking Nordstrom floors, trying some makeup, sniffing the smells of fine leather and perfumes, seeing the shiny jewelry stands… I feel like a kid before Christmas indeed! 🙂 Well, there are always ways to enjoy the window-shopping experience and buy yourself something small to feed your inner fashionista beastie without spending much money.

Here are some tips:

Days – there are certain days of a week or a month when stores have a big discount. For example Saturday one-day sales at Macy’s or Friday yellow-dot discounts at Younkers, anniversary events at Nordstrom, etc.
Sales – multiple sales can really make $100 worth blouse go for $15 at the end. Watch semi annual, seasonal and holiday sales and especially out-of business sales closely – you’ll be amazed! Don’t forget to print out online coupons to use at the store.

Cards – store reward or credit cards sometimes give you a bunch of good benefits. 🙂 Not only you can get cash back towards your next purchase, but there are some cute bonuses you will love for sure. Victoria’s Secret Angel  Card gives you an additional gift certificate of $25 when you join their account insure policy and so does Younkers credit card. 🙂 It’s $50 for spending in our beloved nice stores just like that!!! JC Penney gives you free gifts for being a Beauty Insider and having their card and at Macy’s you’ll love using their reward Plenty points toward some little fancy item you’d like to treat yourself with. 🙂

Donations – stores like Savers, Earth Exchange and others give you additional discount or a gift certificate for your donations.
Online benefits – a lot of stores offer additional low prices coupons and discounts for online shopping, sometimes it includes free delivery. You can get awesome value for modest money during ‘online only’ or ‘warehouse’ sales, besides they sell seasonal leftovers for the lowest prices you can’t find in retail stores.

In my further posts I will try to inform you about new ways to save in specific stores, my personal reviews and experience, suggest interesting and stylish looks and even photo-tour my own hunts for a specific style or outfit. We will also have fashion advice and lifehacks, popular trends and classic choices — long story short, everything to help enjoy our high life on a low income. 🙂