Shopping for clothes can be one hell of a task! You like a certain shirt, but it’s not available in the color you want. And so, you end up buying the color that doesn’t excite you as much. You settle for a certain pair of trousers, but they are way too expensive. So, you choose to go with a resembling, cheaper alternative.
All of this becomes even messier when you are on a budget. From choosing what to buy to settle for an inexpensive retailer, the process demands quite a lot of mental, emotional, and physical input. However, to make the process simpler and much more organized for you, we have a compiled tips. Hopefully, by the time you’ve reviewed them all, shopping on a budget for clothes will become much easier for you. Perhaps, even enjoyable.
Research Before You Shop
Well, firstly, get yourself in a good direction. Evaluate your wardrobe, and determine what is that you truly need? Is it a good dress or pajamas?
Once you have a list, discover your outfit inspirations. You can look online or around, depending on whichever seems more resourceful to you. Perhaps, take ideas from your friend’s wardrobe or your sister’s. If online, you can refer to Pinterest, Instagram, or Etsy.
Plan a Definite Budget
You’re shopping on a budget, but what budget exactly?
Most people perceive shopping on a budget as shopping for low-cost items. And well, to put it accurately, that’s a rather expensive approach. It will cost you quite a lot of time, energy, and emotional input. You will find yourself stressed, deciding between multiple yet unsatisfying options. And also, adding substantially to your planned budget because you don’t have a set limit. Plus, most people do not include the other essentials like accessories and shoes when setting a budget for shopping.
Say you’re shopping for your wedding. Now, you cannot blow your entire bank account on the dress only. You need to make other arrangements as well, including venue, event managers, etc. You need to set a certain limit on dress expenditure and further break down this amount in components for other necessary things, such as shoes, tiara, wedding rings, etc. So, to sum up, you need to determine how much you will spend even on a pair of earrings beforehand.
Prioritize Quality, Not Quantity
Imagine spending about $200 on a dress from a reputable brand. Alternatively, imagine buying a $20 dress from a lesser-known brand.
You might consider the latter more economical. However, in actuality, the $200 dress is much more budget-friendly. How so?
Well, that 20 dollar dress won’t last more than a week, urging you to spend over and over on the same clothing item. On the contrary, that 200 dollars dress will last for years! Hence, always assess the cloth materials, stitching quality, and brand name before purchasing.
Keep an Eye on Sales
Cloth sales are an effective method to shop on a budget. However, you should never start hauling clothes once you find a cloth sale.
First, examine your wardrobe and fix a specific number of all the clothing items you want in your wardrobe. Your decision must depend on your lifestyle and requirement. A work-from-home person won’t need as many clothes as an outside worker.
Once you have a specific number of clothes, you should shop only to replace an older one. Maintain the numbers and you’ll good to go!
When any cloth requires replacement, you can take advantage of sales and get quality clothes on a budget.
Value Hand-me Downs
A lot of families commonly-use the hand-me-down practice to save lots of money in purchasing clothes. It refers to giving your better clothes to the one under you once you have outgrown them.
For example, if you have lots of kids, then you will invest in quality clothing for the oldest child. As time goes by, those clothes will make way to the younger siblings’ wardrobe and so on until they are completely rags.
However, note, the clothes should be of high-quality material to last all these years. Children use clothes quite roughly and in their case, poor quality clothes won’t even last the oldest child.
Using hand-me-down practice, you will be able to reuse clothes instead of trashing them. Plus, you get to save plenty of bucks!
