Saving Money & Your Wardrobe: Shopping Without Breaking the Bank
- Brianna Sipp
- Feb 23, 2024
- 3 min read
Our clothes are an extension of ourselves and a huge part of our identity. What we wear contributes to others' first impressions of us. The thing is- clothing is expensive!! Lucky for you, we don't gatekeep over here. Keep reading to hear about how we build a unique and functional wardrobe on a budget.
Student Discounts
Congratulations, after spending thousands on higher education, you have been blessed with an ID card that can save you money when you shop a select locations! Yes, we love a good discount on our streaming services and music apps, but sometimes we forget that a lot of large companies and small businesses want to help us save money. Here are some of my favorite stores that offer a student discount at the moment:
Store Reccomendations:
To access even more student discounts, we recommend making an account on Unidays and Student Beans.
Get used to searching [STORE NAME HERE] student discount on Google
Thrifting: A Scavenger Hunt for New Additions to your Wardrobe
Not only is buying secondhand better for the environment, but it is affordable (depending on where you go) and it is a fun activity to do in between classes and homework. I like to go thrifting for two reasons: cheap clothes or clothes that I can't find anywhere else.
Save Money: My favorite thrift store to go to is America's Thrift Store. On average, the clothing items range anywhere from $2 - $10 dollars. Most of the clothing I buy from there is less than $7 and I get so much wear out of them.
Why would I buy a basic top for $15 when I can find something similar or even higher quality from this thrift store? Or maybe it's just because I like the game of thrifting: not knowing exactly what I'm going to find.
Some of the coolest clothes you can find are secondhand!
Unique Items: My personal style has developed exponentially ever since I started primarily shopping secondhand. I'd say about 70% of my wardrobe comes from thrift stores because I love collecting clothing items and accessories that I've never seen anyone else wear before.
You can hit the jackpot and find unique items in affordable thrift stores like Good Will, America's Thrift Store, etc., but I find the most success at buy, sell, and trade stores like Ecologie. If you live near Kennesaw, GA, visiting this vintage store is a must. I never leave the store without finding something that I love. Most of my wardrobe comes from Ecologie alone.
Buy, Sell, and Trading Stores
Stores like Plato's Closet, Uptown Cheapskate, and Ecologie allow you to buy and sell second-hand. By selling to them, you can get extra cash or in-store credit. I always opt in for in-store credit because it's significantly more. You definitely won't get rich off of this, but it's better than unwanted clothes taking up space in your closet.
Don't Hop onto Every Trend
I know we spend a lot of our time on social media but don't feel like you have to buy into every new trend that emerges each week. Make sure you make wise purchase decisions and that you only purchase things that you can see yourself wearing a lot. This will save you so much money and space!
Create a wishlist when you want something. After a couple of weeks go back to it, and see if you still have the desire for it.
This is something that I have been working on and it has helped me refrain from making spur-in-the-moment purchases. At the end of the day, fashion is meant to be a fun way to express ourselves, and we shouldn't have to break the bank to do that!
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