My 11 Secrets to Saving $ and Staying Stylish

My goal was to use as many “S” words in the title as possible. Alliteration for the win! Anywho, I got the idea to do this post last month when Nokia sent me a Lumia smartphone and asked me to pimp it out on social media while sharing how I use it to stay stylish on a budget. Doing a blog post wasn’t part of the deal, but after spending 2 weeks thinking of little tips to share, I thought I might as well flesh it out into one big tell-all. So pay attention, ladies (and gentlemen I suppose…you’re welcome here too) because it’s not every day I shell out this much knowledge.

1. Make a budget and document your spending.

Ugh. Budgeting. There’s a reason we’re not all accountants and it’s because making charts with dollar signs is horribly boring. Unfortunately, I am not a person who has ever uttered the phrase “money is no object.” Thus, budgeting is a necessary evil.

I use an good old fashioned Excel spreadsheet to keep track of my shopping. Each month gets two columns – description and amount. I enter positive numbers for my starting budget and any other money I plan on using for shopping (such as income from selling old clothes). I enter negative numbers as I make purchases throughout the month. Then I use the handy little “SUM” function at the bottom of the column to automatically update how much I have left to spend. If you don’t know how to do that, just look it up in the Excel help menu; it’s super easy.

Alternatively, there are plenty of budgeting apps out there so you can keep track of your spending right from your phone. I downloaded “Smart Budget” on my Lumia, and it’s super easy to use. I still prefer my spreadsheet though, and luckily I was able to upload that to OneDrive and access it on my Lumia as well.

2. Stay on top of sale announcements.

You can’t take advantage of sales if you don’t know when they’re happening. It’s like the proverbial tree in the forest, except less thought-provoking and more shop-provoking. (HA! I crack myself up.)

It’s annoying, but the easiest way to keep abreast of sales is to sign up for your favorite stores’ email blasts. I get at least one a day from Loft, Ann Taylor, J. Crew, and Madewell. Most of the time I delete them immediately to remove temptation, but if there’s something at one of those stores I know I want, I can jump on it as soon as the price is right.

The less annoying but more labor-intensive option is to follow a couple bloggers who regularly post sale alerts. It’s an extra step or two to go to a blog and then look around, but you don’t have to worry about all the “you’ve got mail” sound effects. Penny Pincher Fashion has a separate page on her blog where she maintains a list of current sales from a long list of retailers, so that’s a good site to have bookmarked! The Chloe Conspiracy posts a couple sale alerts a day as well.

3. Do recon work.

“Recon work” is my fancy way of saying I like to go to the mall, usually by myself, and scope out what’s new without buying anything – yet. It’s a step above window shopping because I actually try things on. I don’t worry about what’s on sale; I just try on whatever I like and take note of the things that I think are worth buying in the future. Sometimes I snap a picture of the item and the tag so it’s easier to find later.

I’ve found this method helpful for two reasons. #1 It cuts down on impulse purchases. If I’m not still thinking about the dress or whatever a week later, I probably don’t want it that badly. #2 When a store like Loft has one of its epic online-only flash sales, I already know what items in what sizes I want to order.

4. Don’t start at the clearance rack.

I know it’s counter-intuitive, but this is something I wish I had figured out a few years ago. In my early 20s when I had very little money, I thought the key to having a fabulous wardrobe on a budget was buying as much as I could for as little as I could. You know what that got me? A few good purchases and a lot of stuff that wasn’t quite right.

See, the thing with the 1,000,000% off section is that it gets you excited about the deal you’re getting when you should really be excited about what you’re buying. A $70 shirt you wear 20 times is a better deal than a $10 shirt you wear once. And a $500 dress marked down to $100 isn’t really saving you money if there’s a full-price $90 dress in the next store over that would look better on you.

When I do venture to the sale racks, I try to ask myself “would I be interested in this if it weren’t on sale?” It’s similar to the inner monologue of Becky Bloomwood in Confessions of a Shopaholic: “Do I need these? DO I NEED THESE?!”

5. Never pay for shipping.

Sometimes you can get a better deal online than you can in-store, but if the cost of shipping cancels out the savings, there’s no point. A lot of retailers don’t ever charge shipping, which is awesome, and others often do free shipping promotions in conjunction with sales. When that happens, I jump on the opportunity if there’s something from that store I’ve been eyeing.

When I need to buy something online and the only way to get free shipping is to spend a certain amount, I’ll sometimes add a couple extra things to my cart to get hit that threshold, and then I’ll return what I don’t want in the store. Just be careful with this if you’re the type of person who doesn’t always follow through on good intentions!

6. Keep a shopping list.

If you’re like me, there’s rarely anything you actually need in your closet, but there are definitely some “wants” that would be more useful than others. Right now for example, I’m looking for more work-appropriate pants now that I have a job and it’s getting colder outside. I actually keep my list as a note on my iPhone so when I’m out shopping I can remember what I really want to get. (As a quick shoutout to Nokia, I think I like the OneNote app that came on my Lumia better than the default Notepad app on my iPhone!) It’s nice to have a focus when you walk into a store so you don’t waste your budget on random things.

7. Use a shopping site to find your options.

Sometimes the items on my shopping list are very specific, and sometimes they’re general (like “work pants”). When they’re in the latter category, I usually start my research online at a site like Shopstyle. I put in a description of what I want and then filter by price so I’m not looking at stuff I can’t afford. Using a shopping site is great because it saves you the trouble of thinking of stores and websites to look. In Shopstyle, you can also set up sale alert emails for your favorite finds.

8. Don’t compromise for the sake of “saving” money.

The vast majority of the time, I can find what I want for a relatively low price. I liked the Rebecca Minkoff quilted chain strap bag in navy ($295), so I searched on Shopstyle for navy quilted bags under $100 and ended up buying a great one from Express for $50 that I like just as much. Other times, however, the thing I really love just doesn’t have a cheap replacement that I want. In that case, I save up to buy the real thing, ask for it as a gift, or forget about it altogether. Just like the clearance rack, a flawed, cheap replacement for what you want isn’t worth your money if you don’t love it.

9. Hoard your gift cards.

My friends and family know I’m a big shopper, so I often get gift cards for birthdays and holidays. Plus I get small gift cards as part of rewards programs at certain stores. Free money, right? Yes, but slow your roll. Sure, you can immediately take your $25 gift card to the store and find something to take home for free, but you can also treat it the same way you treat your real money and get more out of it by waiting for something on your shopping list to go on sale.

I got a $25 Macy’s gift card for my birthday in August that I still haven’t spent. I used points on my credit card to get another $25 Macy’s gift card (for free!) and now I’m waiting for this Fossil bag to go on sale. When it does, I’ll essentially get an additional $50 discount!

10. Use store cards sparingly and strategically.

Hopefully someone has already told you that store credit cards are horrible. The interest rates are crazy. But because I’m generally pretty responsible with money and bill-paying, I do have credit cards for a couple stores. Store cards are worth it to me IF I shop there often and IF card members get perks like extra discounts and rewards. Notice how I put the “ifs” in all caps? I have a Macy’s credit card, but I only use it there if it gets me an extra discount. If not, I just use my debit card.

Some stores like Target and Nordstrom now have store debit cards, which is awesome. That way you get the perks but you spend right out of your checking account so you won’t pay interest or be tempted to spend beyond your means. I haven’t gotten the Nordstrom debit card yet because you get 20% off the day you apply, so I’d rather wait until I have a more substantial purchase to make there. That strategy applies to credit cards too: if you get a first-day extra discount, don’t sign up for the card when you’re only spending $20. What a waste!

11. Sell what you don’t want to buy what you do want.

I wrote about my “rotating closet” in an earlier post, which you can read here. I’ve gotten much better about getting rid of stuff I don’t wear anymore, and it’s easy to let go when I can make money off of that stuff and use it to buy what’s new on my wish list.

Photo credits, top to bottom: Elliott Brown; michael davis-burchat; Louis Abate; Kevin Dooley; Steven Depolo (all used under Creative Commons licenses).