These glasses are $160, but I think even $20 too high a price. Get similar version for $7 on the sidewalks of St. Mark’s Place (NYC).

Low-budget shopping is all about creativity! Basic neutrals — like jeans, kakhis, and woven tops — are always findable for a bargain, but the true mark of a shopping crafts(wo)man is if she can put together a fashionable outfit for less than $50. (Lucky for you, I do it everyday.)

  1. Re-define cheap. Not fall-apart-in-three-wears cheap, but $5-for-all-of-this?! cheap. You can get a sweater for $10. You can get shoes for $5. And you will.
  2. Have a budget and stick to it. If you can only spend, say, $50 a month then you’ll want to get as much bang for your buck as possible, and you’ll be forced to shop as inexpensively.
  3. Shop sales racks. Make a bee-line for the super-sales racks and be prepared to hunt and pick. I’ve gotten $1 sweaters at Gap. I’ve gotten $3 leggings at American Eagle.
  4. Shop at the end of the season. If you like to wear your clothes right when you buy them, it’s hard to shop out-of-season, but most clothing stores have some accelerated version of time, so you can buy super-sale summer items late in the summer when retailers consider them out of season. Other amazing times to shop: after Christmas in January and after Fourth of July. If you really like the capture as much as the kill, then try shopping in February. A lot of items are picked over, but this is when you can find items at Gap, Old Navy, and other retailers for cents rather than dollars (seriously).
  5. Ignore labels. Who gives a crap what the label says? (Unless you want to know where it was made or what it’s made of. These are fair questions.) Imagine the $5 JC Penney shirt folded neatly on a lead table at Banana Republic. Does it make you want to buy it more? Then buy it because no one can even see the label but you, and you can only see it if you’re looking. (With clothes, it actually is what’s on the outside that counts.)
  6. Know your stores. JC Penney frequently has amazing super sales, and they often mail out accompanying coupons. When Target switched designers every three months for their Go International brand I was excited to go to the launch of each new designer because I wanted to shop the old Go International line that had all gone to the sales racks. (I wrote the dates new designers were coming to Target on my calendar.) Victoria’s Secrets colorful winter PJs almost always get marked down significantly in January/February. Steve & Barry’s never sells anything for more than $20 (even shoes and coats), so you’re always safe there. H&M always has quirky & fashionable clothes for reasonable prices.
  7. Be a friend or family. Around Christmas a lot of retailers offer a “Friends and Family” discount where friends and family of people who work at the store can receive the employee discount or another significant deal. A lot of these discounts can be hunted down online whether or not you’re a friend or family.
  8. Wait for the price to go down. If you see something you love but it’s still expensive, come back and visit it later when the price might have gone down. Beware, this doesn’t work so well at stores that have a high turnover rate, like H&M, but it is great at stores like Gap where basically the same merchandise is maintained for an entire season. If you are shopping online at least wait until you can find a coupon code for free shipping.
  9. Wait to see if you still want it. Another great reason to wait is because you might not even want it after you think about it for a few days, or even after you go shopping at a few more stores.
  10. Don’t look for specific garments. Or at least keep your mind open to different clothes than you expected. If you HAVE to find black, two inch heels you might not have as much success at sales racks.
  11. Use coupons. Save up store coupons that you get in the mail, print out ones that come via email, and look in a local paper right before you go shopping. If you’re shopping online, retailmenot.com is a must before you ever make a purchase.
  12. Accessorize on the street. NYC has great sunglasses and purses at a low cost right on the sidewalks. I was on St. Mark’s Place last week and found incredibly trendy sunglasses which looked the same as the $100 ones in all of the fashion magazines this season, but they were only $7! H&M is also a great place to accessorize. Most of their earrings and necklaces are less than $10.
  13. Don’t totally deprive yourself. Yes, you want to shop cheap, but usually there is a little wiggle room. Whenever I feel myself getting annoyed that I can’t afford a high-cost item I try it on. Half the time it doesn’t fit me right anyway, and I can go back to being satisfied with my cheap shopping.
  14. Buy only things you want. Don’t buy a $6 shirt if you don’t want it. This seems obvious but sometimes budget shoppers get obsessed with the low price more than the actual garment.
  15. Know what you want. For inspiration, print or cut out ads or magazine articles featuring looks you love. You can even replicate high-end fashion by being crafty with your purchases. If you are always ahead of the curve, you might have to wait a few months for the lower-end stores to pick up on the trend. (When rainboots were popular a few years ago I knew Payless and Target would get them eventually — and they did, they were cute, and they were significantly cheaper.)

Case & Point: Creating Cute Outfits for Less than $50 Green Top: H&M After-Christmas Sales Rack, $10. Black Polo: Venus Williams for Steve & Barry’s (with discount), $5. Heart Necklace: Amanda Bynes for Steve & Barry’s (with discount), $5. Colorful Skirt: Tara Jarmon for Target (sales rack after new Go International designer launched), $10. Black leggings: Target, $5. Boots: Hand-me-down. Purse: Luella for Target (sales rack after new GI launch), $10. Note: Each piece in this outfit is unique and can easily be worn tons of different ways with other clothes and even with basic neutrals. If you love layers, you can re-wear pieces many times and people will start to assume you have a massive wardrobe (although I’d rather be known for my stealthy layering skills). You can see more of my outfits here.


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