The Written Word

Saving Your Wallet

Being a college student (read: broke), and also someone who always needs (read: really really wants) new clothes, makes it tough to be able to keep up the shopping habit.  To make it possible to keep up my once expensive habit, I have adopted a quite a few new practices.

• I try to stay away from anything that is not on sale.  Almost all online stores have some type of sale going on most of the time.  Sign up for the emails so you know when these are, I even have a separate email just for this.  Also, if you are a college student like myself, check if the stores you love have student discounts, many stores do and don't advertise them.

• Stay away from the clearance.  Just as the last point said, clearance is mostly garbage.  You can find great deals at times, but for the most part clearance racks hold a bunch of stuff you don't need. It is the "I mean it's five dollars, so I'll buy it even though I don't really like it," thinking that can do the most damage to your wallet. 

• Be thrifty.  Going to a thrift store may seem a bit scary to those of you that have never done so before, but trust me, some of the deals are well worth it.  You can find some amazing deals, on some nice stuff.  My last visit i bought four Lacoste Polos, in great shape, for five dollars.  You can't beat that.

• Quality, not Quantity.  This idea is somewhat explained in some of my other points, but it simply means buy clothes you actually like.  You can get yourself in trouble by buying a lot of cheap clothes.  Instead, stick to fewer clothes, but ones you actually like, even if they are more expensive.  

• Make Ebay a close friend.  Using Ebay can help you in many ways.  First, and most obvious, you can find great stuff for cheap.  Second, try selling on Ebay.  Not only does selling on Ebay put some money back in your pocket, it makes some room in your closet for your new clothes, something that is of utmost importance for me and my tiny apartment closet. 

Hopefully these few tips can help you as they helped me.  I'm actually making money right now simply selling those close that I bought on those clearance racks, all the while buying new clothes that I actually like to wear.