You don’t have to be flush with cash to afford the latest fashions. If you want to treat yourself regularly and buy the very latest in fashion trends while saving money, here are some tips that could help you spend less.
- Looking Out for Seasonal Sales
The most obvious time to get a discount on new clothes is when a sale is on. The promotional sales calendar for retailers usually starts with the January sales, followed by mid-season sales in March, the summer sales and finishing with Black Friday weekend in November.
And, if like me, you don’t like trawling the shops and fighting for that one last item left in your size, or forget when the sales start, a good tip is to sign up to your favourite retailer’s email list. For instance, since I’ve signed up for Monsoon’s emails, I have never bought anything full price from them again. Online retailers and retailer’s websites often offer huge discounts and can offer you a larger selection of clearance items.
- Using Voucher Sites to Save Money on Purchases
There are several websites dedicated to helping you save money on the latest fashion. For example, Voucher Codes has several vouchers and have a section for women’s and men’s fashion. An example of a savings to be had is an offer I saw today that offered and “Extra 10% off Orders in the up to 70% off Everything Sale at Missguided.” They also have offers on shops like Nike, Boohoo, Superdry and Oasis, to only mention a few.
Another clever way to save money when shopping online is to use cashback sites. These sites are particularly useful if you are shopping at an online shop for the first time. For instance, if you use TopCashBack, they will allow you 8% cash back the first time you shop at Gap online. It also allows you to earn womenswear cashback from 495 other retailers, so is worth checking out.
- Claim Your Free Fashion Accessories
Some new sites will even allow you to claim free fashion accessories for when money is tight. A great example is the freebie site Wow Freebies, which offers you the chance to get free fashion if you’re willing to do a bit of product testing or be a mystery shopper for a day. At the moment, they have offers listed from companies that will allow you to test and keep a Mac lipstick, earn £100 worth of clothes by being a mystery shopper at Forever 21, and even review and keep your very own Pandora bracelet. It couldn’t be easier!
- Check Your Clothing Labels
I’m guilty of always buying clothes that I hope to fit into someday, which means I can’t wear a percentage of my clothes at the moment. The best way to save money on fashion purchases is to buy the clothes that fit you right now. Otherwise, by the time it fits you, you may not like it anymore, or it may have gone out of fashion.
And while you’re checking the clothing item’s label, have a good look at the washing instructions. While a silk shirt may look glamorous, just remember that the cost of dry cleaning it, will be almost the same as buying a new shirt every time. Unless you have a large budget, stick to machine-washables and save. And follow the washing instructions on the label if you want to get more wear out of them and possibly want to sell it in future.
- Sell What You Don’t Wear
If you follow the tips on this blog and get good items at sale prices and take care of them well, you will be able to get a good price for them on websites like Ebay. And if you spend a couple of hours taking good photos and researching how to make your items ‘pop’ you may even be able to afford a few new items of clothing from your sales.