Spending money on clothing is an art form for some. One would say, even a hobby. You may be reading this and love shopping and all that comes along with it. Browsing through the racks, wandering from store to store, trying on items to find that cute dress or stylish jeans. It’s easy to get lost in it and end up spending a lot more money that you would like or that you should. This is especially true if you’re trying to keep your finances on point. It can be exhilarating, exciting, entertaining; however, for others it can also be frustrating, tiresome, and worrisome.
Some of you may be far on the other spectrum where you absolutely hate shopping and only do it when necessary. Clothing expenses can account for a large chunk of your expenditures. For those of you who dread clothing shopping, cutting back on clothing expenses may be easier to do. For those of you who adore shopping, it will be more difficult, but it can be done and you can use the following clothing hacks to help take you on the journey.
The biggest concern for many trying to keep clothing expenses low is to determine where to shop for clothing and accessories keeping your expenses low, but still getting the style that you want. Let’s take a look at all of the options to find out which one(s) will work best for your needs, your style, AND your budget.
GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM YOUR FRIENDS
By far, the cheapest way to acquire clothing is by raiding your friend’s closet. As you know, you have items in your closet that you bought and have never worn, items that you no longer wear, as well as items that simply don’t fit or no longer matches with your style. People are giving away clothes to goodwill in bundles. Talk to a friend around your same size and work out a trade if they are up for it. You both set aside a group of clothing that you are willing to give up. The remaining items that neither of you are interested in can then go to charity. If you’re really lucky, you may have friends that don’t even care if you do an exchange with them. They just want the extra stuff out of their closet. When some are ready to purge, they want to do it immediately. This is especially good for the friends that didn’t quite get back to their pre-pregnancy weight. It could be a win for them to get rid of the items and get new ones as well as for you doing the same. You can find some real finds from friends who are shopaholics.
Several years back, my friends and I had a clothing party where everyone brought at least 10 items of clothing to exchange and we put them on racks. We had snacks and wine and we gathered at my friend’s house to shop. It was a great night and I came home with a lot of great finds. We had things like tops, jeans, fancy dresses, shoes and everything in between. We got to do our shopping with our friends and everyone came out with some new things and had a great night. Anything that was left behind was donated to charity. If you have a great group of friends who are similar in sizes, this is a great idea.
GARAGE SALES/THRIFT STORES
Even though it’s not free, another frugal avenue to find deals on clothing and accessories is by shopping at garage sales, church bazaars, thrift stores, and consignment stores. You can find deals as cheap as .50 cents for a pair of shorts at garage sales. Just as in shopping out of your best friend’s closet, you can find items that haven’t been worn or some that have been worn only a few times. I’ve even seen items with tags on them. If you live somewhere that does a neighborhood wide sale a few times a year, you have a lot of opportunities to find items. This is especially true for children’s clothes.
Goodwill is a popular place, located across the country, that people frequent for deals on clothing and other items. There are some Goodwill stores that even have sales on certain tags that have an additional percentage off. You’re officially a super shopper if you choose only to buy those items. Gold star for you. I have purchased many “fancy” dresses at Goodwill. Several dresses for our cruise vacation and even two for my business conventions were found at Goodwill. I love getting compliments for a $5.99 dress. Nothing better. My teens now love shopping at Goodwill. They have a better sense about spending money and can find lots of brand names and styles. Of course, it took me years to drill that into them. If you have teens, you may understand. Check out www.goodwill.org for store locations near you.
CONSIGNMENT STORES
A third avenue of getting second hand clothing is by shopping at consignment stores. They do have some stores that cater to those wanting to buy only designer labels. Plato’s Closet is a well-known consignment chain across the country. You can find almost anything. The prices are generally a little higher than those you would find at garage sales or church bazaars and definitely those from your friend’s closet. The most important note to remember though is that the prices are still lower than buying them brand new (generally, depending on brand). Look into the following site to see many options for stores that may be near you. Some are brick & mortar and others online. https://millennialmoney.com/best-consignment-shops/ Not only can you buy items through these places, but you can also sell them there as well. This is especially good if you have a lot of fancy brands that you know longer want or can’t wear. Selling them on these sites is probably better than the tax deduction you’d take for the donation.
Now that we’ve covered the ways to acquire clothing items that are secondhand, let’s move on to speak about spending less when purchasing new. I know there are some of you thinking that you have zero interest in wearing clothes or items that someone else wore. I get it, there are some of you out there. If you must go shopping to purchase something specific like a special dress to wear to a wedding, you may not have as much flexibility in searching for merchandise and may even have a time crunch. When you need something specific, it puts you at a disadvantage for bargain hunting. It’s not impossible though. Even at regular prices, shopping at stores like Walmart, Kmart, Kohls, Target, Big Lots, Payless, Amazon, and your warehouse clubs (yes, their clothes are name brands and at cheaper price points) will save you lots of money over the department stores and boutiques.
DEPARTMENT STORES/BOUTIQUES
When arriving at a department or mall store, or even those above-mentioned stores, you should always start at the sale racks. Usually, they’re at the back of the smaller stores or pushed off to the side of a department store. It is definitely worth your time to look there first. If you can find the item that you’re looking for at a discount, you’re ahead of the game. I will go through these racks pretty diligently and then work out from there if I don’t find what I need. If you are not a common size, you may even be more successful in this area. If you’re searching for something specific and don’t have time to look around for fabulous sales, the sale racks are the place to begin.
I’m typically not a mall person and only go when I have to or one of my teens drag me there (yes, I have three). I prefer to explore cheaper options for my shopping needs. Even if you do have more time to look for items or are looking for generic items such as khaki pants, you should still visit the discounters/wholesalers. They have great merchandise for a fraction of the price. If you are extremely brand conscious, Marshalls, TJ Maxx, and Ross have name brands that are much cheaper than the department stores. When I need something specific, these are my “go-to” stores. Lucky for me, our TJ Maxx and Ross are right next door to each other so it makes it super convenient.
No matter where you shop, here are some key points to remember. Unless looking for something specific, buy only sale items. If you make this goal for yourself, you’ll be surprised how quickly your clothing expenditures decrease. However, please don’t forget that if you’re buying items that you would not normally be buying (meaning you don’t need them), you’re still spending money—no matter how much you’re saving or how big the sale is. So many people say, “I don’t really need this, but it’s so cute.” Don’t let yourself fall into this pit if you’d like to become a champion shopper.
An exception to this would be if you find items for the next season that you’re not planning on wearing until next summer, etc. If your weight tends to fluctuate, you should probably skip this. However, if your weight is fairly stable, this may be a good choice. This brings me to my next point about buying off-season clothes. At the end of the sales season, items are highly discounted. You can purchase winter items in the spring for large discounts so that the stores can bring in the spring merchandise. You can find deals up to 90% off the original price. These savings should make you wonder why you would ever consider paying full price at all. Especially when there are classic items that most everyone needs that can be purchased at that point. Some examples include, khaki pants, the little black dress, black flats, black pants, a nice sweater, etc.
I’ll only talk briefly about high-end department stores and boutiques. Typically, the prices are outside of the spectrum of prices that I’m willing to spend. However, if you are dedicated to certain brands and you refuse to compromise, make sure you look for those discounted items and super sales. The store may also offer loyalty perks for members where they frequently send out coupons and email sales. For me personally, I like to buy all of my undergarments at Soma Intimates. I just love their quality and their fit. I am part of their loyalty group and am informed of all of their special deals via email. Most of the time I just delete the email unless I’m in the market for items and I will only buy them when there’s a sale. Another way that I keep my costs low for Soma is for my birthday and Christmas, I ask for gift cards for the store. I’m rather hard to buy for since I don’t really want anything so it’s a perfect idea for my family for me. They feel they’re getting something for me that I want and I’m able to purchase from a store that I wouldn’t normally go to with my own money. It goes without saying that when entering the store, I also hit the sale rack first. 😊
Since we all need to purchase clothing on an ongoing basis since they wear out, go out of style or our weight fluctuates, looking for hacks to pay the least amount can really add to your bottom line. You are “earning” money for your family when spending less on clothing since it’s a necessity that you must buy. Again, don’t purchase things you don’t need just because it’s a good deal. You don’t need 10 pairs of black flats. With these clothing hacks, you now you don’t have to feel bad about updating your wardrobe.
Comentarios