Shopping Online to Maximize Your Clothing Budget

Last month I gave you a rundown of how I clean out and organize my closet so I can assess my needs before I shop for new clothes. This month I’m sharing with you my strategy when it comes time to fill in those needs.

I don’t buy used clothes anymore because the selection of tall sizes is too limited and more often than not I’ve ended up with items that don’t quite fit right or that I’m not happy with and have not been able to return or exchange them. Instead I shop for quality of quantity and I stick strictly to my budget.

First up you need to figure out what you’re shopping for:

Take a look at what you already have and seriously consider what pieces you actually wear and why. If there is a piece you love and wear all the time you might likely want another one. However there are some cases where you might not actually wear the second one and would just keep wearing the first one all the time. A coworker sent me an email that included this quote:

“Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.”

That quote totally and completely describes my favorite pair of pants, I wear them 4-6 days a week easily. I actually have to make a conscious effort not to wear them 7 days a week. I love that particular pair of jeans so much that it’s not worth buying another pair of jeans at this time. This season I’m only buying one additional pair of non-jean pants because I know I’ll keep wearing those favorite jeans most days.

After you’ve considered what you wear on a daily basis consider the following: Do you have needs for any specialty items like undergarments, swimwear, or outerwear? Make sure you account for those items in your budget. Do you have any special occasions coming up? Do you need a new outfit for those special occasions? I prefer wearing a tried and true favorite to a special event as opposed to a new item that I might not be 100% confident in.

This season I’m shopping for:

• sweaters (not made of wool as I am allergic)
• 1 pair of pants that are not jeans
• 1-2 shirts that I can wear both to work and casually
• 1 pair of tall size pajama pants (I can only ever find tall size pajamas in the fall/winter)
• 1-2 pairs of shoes/boots that’ll keep the water off my feet when it’s wet

I do almost all of my shopping online for a few reasons:

• I need tall sizes which are much easier to find online than in stores
• No pressure from sales people
• I can see the whole picture across multiple stores before making any purchases

Before you shop online at any store make sure you check out their return policy. Can you return or exchange without having to pay the return shipping? Often times if you have a brick and mortar store nearby you can return there to avoid shipping fees. Also, when your packages arrive make sure to try everything on right away since return/exchange periods are often only a week or two long.

Time to start shopping:

First thing I do is go through all the catalog pages I’ve torn out and all the bookmarks I’ve made and I fill up dream carts at all of my favorite stores. At this point just pile everything you like in. We’ll edit shortly.

Once my dream carts are full, I take out any items that snuck in without being on my list of items I’m looking for. Here’s a glimpse of a dream cart so far at J. Crew (a favorite store of mine because they’ve got lots of items in tall sizes). Have several browser windows or tabs going so you can see your dream carts across multiple stores all at once.

Assess the total cost of your carts in relationship to your budget (my budget for apparel is 5% of my take home pay and I shop twice a year). You’re probably going to have to cut out a lot of items.

Here are my tips for whittling down those carts:

• Don’t buy the same item in multiple colors (you may love it now but when you get tired of it or it goes out of style you’ll then be out two or more items at once)
• Don’t buy multiple items in the same color (particularly trendy seasonal colors). If you’re buying two or more items in a neutral color like black, white, or navy that’s ok.
• If you already own something similar and you don’t wear it, don’t buy another because you won’t wear it either.
• I’d rather buy one more expensive item that I love and will wear every week than several less expensive items that I’ll wear once or twice ever.

Once you’ve edited your carts so that you’ve only got your most favorite items remaining and your totals (including shipping and sales tax) are within your budget, it’s time to checkout. Before checking out check for coupon codes or discounts for the sites you’re buying from. I always shop through eBates when shopping at any of their stores (and have occasionally wanted to kick myself for forgetting eBates). Check your email for any codes sent to you by the retailers. Also try a Google search for recent coupon codes (I don’t bother with sites like Retail Me Not anymore because too often the merchants I’m shopping with have asked for their codes not to be shared there, save your time and go straight to Google).

Related posts:

1. Fighting the Urge to Shop
2. November Budget Wrap Up
3. Grocery Shopping
4. Master Shopping Lists
5. It’s Time to Clean Out and Organize Those Closets

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