How to Look Fashionable on a Budget

Everyone wants to look "in style", no matter if they work full time or stay at home. For many of us, keeping up with the trends, and updating our closets can get pretty expensive. Many times you hear women, especially new mothers, saying that they just don't have the extra money it takes to look fashionable. Even though money can be tight for any of us, mothers or not, looking your best does not have to break your bank account. Here are some easy tips for looking your best on a limited budget:

1) Look for catalogs online that offer "defered payment". The most popular ones out there today are Chadwicks, Newport News, Speigel, and Lerner. They don't always offer this, so register your email address with them, and very quickly you should start receiving invites from them to use their "90 day deferred billing option".

Use a debit card if you can, but make sure that whatever your total is, you start saving that amount NOW. For instance, 90 days, or 3 months, should give you plenty of time to save enough money to cover your costs. For instance, if you stopped spending $4.00 day on a gourmet coffee drink, multiply that by 5 ($20.00), multiply that by 4 ($100.00), and you could in reality spend $300.00 on a new wardrobe, and have the money to pay for it in those 3 months.

2) Organize your friends/coworkers and have a "clothes swap" party. All of us have things we don't wear anymore, or can't fit into. Instead of donating them to Goodwill, throw a girly party, include handbags, shoes, etc. You would be amazed how many really nice things your friends are willing to part with.

3) Visit Consignment Shops in Wealthy parts of town. The clothes that are for sale at these shops are usually high quality, sometimes "haute couture" clothing. The prices may be a little higher than a Goodwill store, but if you are looking for more "trendy" looks, this is the place to start.

4) eBay - where else can you shop for ANYTHING and EVERYTHING you could imagine? My favorite thing to do is go into an expensive boutique here in town, and find THE best pair of shoes that I HAVE to have. I take note of the brand/name/price, and then go home and see if they are listed on eBay. 9 times out of 10, they are and I can guarantee that they are cheaper on this site. If you have anything you want to sell on eBay, that money that you make selling your item, can sit in your PayPal account, and you can turn around and use it to buy your new "in style" item.

Hopefully the following tips have been able to help you see that you too can look fashionable even if you don't have an endless amount of cash to spend on your wardrobe. Happy Shopping!

S.W. Chadwick has been working in online businesses from home since 2000. She has written dozens of articles regarding entrepreneurial pursuits, beauty and other online businesses. To learn more about free fashion/beauty/diet advice please visit http://www.thebeautycrib.com.

Copyright 2006, S.W. Chadwick, All Rights Reserved.