Buying Clothes - Saving Money Tips

[abowers]

Re: Buying Clothes - Saving Money Tips

I use Jeffrey's first tip too -- There was a skirt I had my eye on for several months at old navy, towards the end of summer/and fall. But it was $34.50, and I told myself I wouldn't splurge on any clothes I didn't need. But I really liked the skirt. It stayed at that price forever. I just told myself, oh well, not this skirt. When I was at Old Navy in January to get a pair of pants with a gift card, I saw the skirt I had my eyes on marked down to $6.99, hidden in the clearance racks. And of course I got it.

I also save money on clothes by buying kids stuff when I can. My feets are women's size 6, and i bought a pair of Merrill sneakers in like a size 4 or 5 kids or something. They were under $30.

Also, I wanted one of the North Face Denali heavy fleeces, but the "women's" version retails for around $110-120, which i could not justify paying -- the youth version is somewhere around $80 but I found a coupon to get a "past season" one for $55 (who cares if you have one that was made in 2005 vs 2006), and got a Youth Large which was equivalent to a Women's XSmall/Small.

Also, my ski snowpants are a Youth 14, which was significantly less than a pair of women's ski pants. I bought them in 12th grade and I still wear them. Same goes for getting a Columbia Youth Ski Jacket a couple years ago.

There are advantages to being only 5'2" afterall!

[Tightwad Kitty]

Re: Buying Clothes - Saving Money Tips

Points to remember when buying clothes.

Never buying items just to show off or buying the newest style to be just in the fashion trend. Trends are changing weekly; manufacturer and style junkies will have you buying and throwing them out quicker than you can pay them off.

Limiting New clothes buying to underwear, hosiery, shoes and new slacks or tops like
T-shirts. Limit items to what's not available in 2nd hand stores or cheaper new.

Have basic colours in clothes and matching all other items to these colours.

Limit colour in bottom half to plain colours. Black, Navy, Olive Green, Taupe, Bone or White.

Keeping shoes and handbags to Black or Brown only. Have one colour only.

[BCHGRL]

Re: Buying Clothes - Saving Money Tips

I use the replacement system for maintaining my wardrobe. When I am shopping, I can only buy something to replace something I already own. Therefore, I have to logically decide whether or not I need to replace an article of clothing. If I realize that what I own is in decent condition, I walk away (no matter how great the sale.) If I decide that something is no longer in wearable condition, I either have to throw it away, give it to charity or consign it to replace it with a new item.

This minimizes clutter and has helped me overcome impulse shopping.

Also, I will only allow myself a maximum of 2 trendy clothing items per season and they must be purchased on sale (hot and cold in FL.) Of course, the trendy items have to replace last season's trendy items. Then my 2 trendy items see quite a bit of use during the popular season.

[Lenae]

Re: Buying Clothes - Saving Money Tips

Like abowers, I shop in the kids department. I can sometimes wear the 14/16 in pants. I'm glad the double digit is in childrens instead... lol I have a few pairs of fanct embelished jeans I have bought for under $2...

A lot of women 5'8 and under can shop in the girl's plus sizes. When I worked at JCP my co-worker who wore a 14 could easily wear 16 1/2 and 18 1/2 in the girl's plus sizes. She had the cutest jeans and matching jacket that cost her only $5.

Post winter sales, you can stock up on Chisrtmas presents. I always buy my sister mittens for under $2 and the same with scarves for my mom. Of course I always treat myself, I have a matching, hate, scarf and gloves for nearly ever coats I own.

The best bargains I have found for shoes is usually at Ross. I have bought 3 pairs of Docs for $15 each (i have bought new ones at Goodwill for $3).

[tabbycat31]

Re: Buying Clothes - Saving Money Tips

Points to remember when buying clothes.

Never buying items just to show off or buying the newest style to be just in the fashion trend. Trends are changing weekly; manufacturer and style junkies will have you buying and throwing them out quicker than you can pay them off.

Limiting New clothes buying to underwear, hosiery, shoes and new slacks or tops like
T-shirts. Limit items to what's not available in 2nd hand stores or cheaper new.

Have basic colours in clothes and matching all other items to these colours.

Limit colour in bottom half to plain colours. Black, Navy, Olive Green, Taupe, Bone or White.

Keeping shoes and handbags to Black or Brown only. Have one colour only.

I don't think that I own a black or brown handbag (I don't wear brown period, and black is too plain to me).

Bags are my fetish. However I get them really cheap in Chinatown. Right now the one I'm using is green, and I've had many compliments on it. I'm also known to change bags with the outfit.

My secrets for clothes are my bottom half is always denim, black, or gray (I hate browns, khakis, etc).

Another key is to change jewelry often. That can make or break an outfit. I could wear the same thing 2 days in a row and change the necklace (I make them) and people think I'm wearing 2 different outfits.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Re: Buying Clothes - Saving Money Tips

Don't lose or gain any weight. The best budget saver is watch your weight so you don't have to buy clothes. I am a yo-yo dieter. I go between and 4-8 in clothing depending on my 20-30 lbs gain/loss at a time. Thus I spend more on clothes because of it. Now I've settled in cyling between sizes.

However if I were like DH I would never gain weight. He has jeans from college/high school and is 29. He wears at 30 waist/32 inseam and M shirt. He is never gains/loses weight and thus all his suits/shirts, everything fits still.

His goal is to only wear less than a quarter a day, we're still working on getting it down, because though his clothes are cheap, he does wear out shoes after 3 years :0

[fairy74]

Re: Buying Clothes - Saving Money Tips

I always spend more on clothes that get heavier usage, i.e. overcoats, anoraks, shoes. If these are well made they hold up forever. I have things I bought from LLBean in high school that still look good!

Limit trendy fashion stuff to cute shirts, scarves, skirts, which can be picked up very cheaply either thrift or clearance at Walmart, Target and the like.

[tinapbeana]

Re: Buying Clothes - Saving Money Tips

i posted this on another thread but i honestly couldn't tell you which one... basically, an easy way to maintain a business casual/professional wardrobe:

3 pairs of pants: black, brown, navy (or grey!)
3 skirts: black, brown, navy (or grey!)
2 pairs of shoes: black, brown
2 bags: black, brown
1 cream/ivory button-up sweater
1 cream/ivory blazer or jacket
10 tops (you should be able to wear each top with 2 colors of bottoms, but some things like ivory, light blue, and pink will work with all of them)

assuming you can wear all 10 tops with all 6 bottoms, and you can add the sweater or the jacket for another outfit, thats 10x6x3 = 180 outfits, or 36 work weeks worth of uniqueness.

update things with scarves, jewelry, etc. items like shoes and bags will show their stylistic age faster then they will wear out, so if you get them at great prices you might be able to update them every few years.

[ScrimpAndSave]

Great tips...thanks!

[HollyGO]

Two tips:
My first tip, as a woman, is a bit sexist. For basic items like turtlenecks, socks, tops, sweaters, etc, shop in the men's section. Fewer frou-frou colors, more colors match, clothes are better stitched, styles are not as changeable and price is usually better.

Second tip: especially in a thrift store and clearance racks, touch first then look. It s how you can find the good quality and the gently worn. Learned this from watching a friend. With her eyes closed, she would go through the rack, touching sleeves. When she felt something she liked she's open her eyes.

This is so true. I have tried a few re sale shops and saw cute things only to pay for them, get them home and find out they were stitched wrong, ill-fitted, or plain itchy fabric.

It's a great tip I think I will always use, not only in a resale shop but elsewhere.

[HollyGO]

I think this should be the number one answer: Maintain your weight so you don't have to continually buy new sets of clothes.

Unfortunatley this has a down side, wear and tear.
The clothes after about a year or so of wearing, either start to fade or loose their innitial form. However it is a good short term option.

Too bad it won't work for children.

[jamiefic]

Kids clothes seem like such a waste to buy (especially for the real little ones) because they are in them such a short amount of time. A couple of weeks ago I went to a rummage sale and got a ton of clothes for our daughter for about $3 including a nice jacket. I posted a picture on my blog (under rummage sale - 10/16) a couple of days later to show how much you can get for so little!

[click4credit]

Last time I went, I had a huge armload of slacks to try on. I desperately need some slacks, but I'm not going to settle for "probably fits". I want only "fits and looks good". Well, without trying them on, I can't know that. That's when I found out about the no doors. I abandoned the whole armload with the helper. I felt bad, but I'd already wasted an hour of my time trying to find slacks in my size(s) and the thought of trying to put them back where they belonged (because they came from about 5 different racks) was too much.

I got this from a friend of mine. What you could do is take the slacks, hold it by the waist band (zipped up, buttons closed) and have it go around your neck. If the two ends meet perfectly then it probably would fit you. Works for me most of the time

[Multima$tery]

I save money on clothes by buying dress shirts at thrift stores. The quality is really nice at most of them and some are even new! I also find that they usually carry nice slacks and khakis.

Also if purchase at a retail store I usually choose K&G, Value City, or Walmart. They have great discounts!

[emilywebster]

Just wanted to share my ideas, try to buy it online . There are different website you can look for to buy clothes.

For example:

MyClozet.net
Craiglist