You need to update your wardrobe. Your clothes are falling apart, and you need to get some new replacements in your closet as soon as possible. Before you grab your wallet and head to the mall, you should read this advice to become a savvier shopper.
Think About the Cost Per Wear
If you sprang for a good pair of running shoes for $100, but you never wore them outside of the shoe store, you’d consider the purchase a waste of money, right? But if you wore those shoes every morning for a jog around the neighborhood, you wouldn’t. You would get a lot of wear out of those shoes. Within a few months, the cost per wear could be as low as $1.
“Cost per Wear” is a simple formula that asks you to divide the cost of a garment or accessory by how many times you wear it. The formula encourages you to spend your money on items that you’ll use frequently, instead of wasting it on items that will gather dust in a closet.
What if you need an expensive item that you won’t wear often? There are some special occasions, like weddings, where you’ll feel obligated to buy expensive garments that you’ll only wear once. For these occasions, consider renting your clothing online instead of purchasing it. This will put less of a dent in your budget.
Shop for High-Quality Items
Buying fast fashion may seem like a savvy choice because the clothes are inexpensive, but the opposite is true. Fast fashion clothes are made from cheap materials that will fall apart much faster than well-made items — potentially, soon after you purchased them. You’ll spend more money on frequent replacements.
You’ll get more wear out of your items when they are well-made. These are some signs of good quality in clothing:
- The clothing is made of natural fibers (or at the very least, a high percentage of natural fibers).
- The zippers are made of metal, not plastic.
- The fabric patterns line up.
- The hem is even and well-stitched. There are no loose threads.
- The garment has a lining. This is especially important for jackets and blazers.
Read Reviews First
Whenever you’re shopping online, you should read the reviews for garments before putting them in your cart. The reviews can help you figure out if the product is worth buying. But be cautious, there are some fake consumer reviews out there! If the reviews look fishy, consider skipping the purchase altogether.
Leave It in the Cart
Do you have a bad habit of buying things on impulse? Fight that impulse and leave your items sitting in your online shopping cart. Wait for a day or two before going back to your cart. If you still want the clothes, you can continue what you started. But you might actually realize that once the excitement of the shopping spree has ended, you don’t really want the items anymore.
Impulse spending is a bad shopping habit that you should do your best to break. Not only will it leave you with a pile of clothes that you don’t really want to wear, but it can also do some serious damage to your finances. If you don’t get this impulse under control, you could do something risky like drain your savings account.
Without any savings, you will be vulnerable to any emergency expense that comes your way. A single surprise, like a plumber’s bill or car repair, could send you into a panic. If you’re ever in this tricky situation, you could charge the urgent expense to your credit card or apply for a loan online. Online loans can offer a quick and convenient process for applying that you’ll appreciate in an emergency. You won’t have to wait long to find out your approval status. If your online loan is approved, you can use the borrowed funds to handle the surprise expense and then follow a repayment plan later.
Do not use a borrowing solution like an online loan for non-emergencies. It should not fund any of your clothes shopping.
Getting a cheap deal isn’t the only way to save when you’re clothes shopping. These tips will help you save on your wardrobe in the long run.
