Clothing & Saving My $$

I am not all that into clothing and fashion.  I approach it as a practical necessity, but to have the latest and greatest trending setting outfit is definitely of no interest to me.  Neither is shopping for clothes.  It is really not at all something I enjoy a whole lot.  What I do enjoy however is acquiring the clothing we need on a very small budget.  Accomplishing that gets me all fired up!

You all know by now, if you've followed my blog for any length of time, that I keep a pretty minimal wardrobe.  I basically have my work clothes and my weekend wear.  A lot of my work clothes pull double duty as weekend wear as well.  I have enough underwear for each day of the week and the same with socks and bras.  A few pair of pajamas for the winter and a couple summer nighties pretty much sums it all up.

My shoes

Shoes are minimal too.  I have snow boots, work shoes, dress shoes, two pair of walking/workout shoes and two pair of summer slip on sandals.  I also keep an old pair of sneakers for working in the yard.  I'm not a big accessorizer so not much there, but I do have three purses, a leather jacket, my good winter coat and a lightweight Boise State fleece jacket that was given to me.  Oh, and my Raiders stadium jacket that is super warm and waterproof.  And way too big for me, but I love it!

I use a lot of different methods to obtain clothing for myself and my girls.  Thrift stores are a biggie whenever we want something in particular and we usuallycam  find it.  Lately I've wanted to expand my workout attire and I found exactly what I was looking for at Goodwill for a fraction of the cost of a brand new pair of leggings at the store.  I also prowl clearance racks, find sales and use store coupons, and try to pay for most of what I buy with gift cards I get by cashing in my credit card rewards points.  My girls get a lot of hand me downs from friends which helps a ton as well.  I even find good deals for clothes on eBay, especially for myself.

My last thrift store haul for workout wear

I don't have a lot of time to spend shopping or perusing online for deals as this can be a huge time suck so I keep that to a minimum as well.  The biggest thing that saves me money is that I don't shop just to shop.  I wait until I have a need then go out and get that item or items and call it good.  I am also careful with the clothes that I have, launder them carefully, repair or mend items when they need it, polish my shoes, etc.  Our clothes last a really long time and since none of us really cares about the latest fashion we feel pretty stylish with what we have.

I always try to buy the best quality I can afford at the time.  I'm even willing to wait and save up for a while to get a better quality item, like my Clarks shoes I wear to work.  Going cheap to save money really doesn't save you in the long run so I do try to keep that in mind when I choose something to buy.

$1 Clearance items!

I keep a list of items we need or want.  We take inventory of what we have and make mindful decisions about what to purchase.  We come up with a plan and we stick to it.  For us it works.  And it saves a lot of my $$.