7 tips for spending less money on clothes

When you’re trying to save, it can be hard to resist the urge to do a bit of retail therapy. While clothes shopping can be fun and exciting, and fashion is a great way to express ourselves, it can be an expensive habit. Here’s how to save some money by spending less on clothes, without your sense of style having to suffer as a result!

1. Do A Wardrobe Audit And Reorganise

One of the most efficient ways of knowing what clothes your wardrobe is lacking and what items you don’t need any more of is to properly go through your closet and see what outfits you actually have at your disposal. By spending a couple of hours sorting through your clothes and reorganising your wardrobe you can find pieces that you might have completely forgotten about and come up with outfit combinations you hadn’t considered before. If you do a quick wardrobe inventory you can quickly learn what bad shopping habits you have. For example, if you have 20 pairs of jeans but only two or three tops that you like wearing, you know that you need to stop buying jeans and balance out your wardrobe a bit more. Rearranging your clothes so that you can easily see what’s on offer when you open up your wardrobe can help you save money because it stops you from thinking that you have nothing to wear!

2. Don’t Buy Into Every Trend

One way to quickly spend a lot of unnecessary money on clothes is by thinking that you need to follow every fashion trend and that all trends are must-haves. Fashion trends have their moments and then they pass, rendering you with a wardrobe full of items you might never wear again! Instead of falling for fast fashion trends, focus on buying clothes that you genuinely like, that suits your style and that you can see yourself wearing for a long time. Not all trends work for everyone and something that looks amazing on one person doesn’t necessarily work for the next person. The best kind of clothes are the ones that make you feel good about yourself, not the ones that are ‘cool’ at the moment.

3. Rent For Special Occasions

If you have a special event or occasion coming up where you’re wanting to wear an extra-special outfit, consider renting an outfit rather than buying one. Buying new outfits for weddings, parties or black-tie events can quickly add up especially if you want to wear something new and jaw-dropping every time! Renting a dress means that you can still wear an amazing outfit to these kinds of events but you pay a tenth of the price compared to if you bought the dress outright. Using a clothes-sharing platform like The Volte, you can have access to a whole range of high-end designer dresses and outfits to rent, rather than filling your wardrobe with items that you might sit in your wardrobe gathering dust once you’ve worn them once.

4. Look After Your Clothes

Looking after the clothes you already have and making the effort to keep them in good condition means they will last longer and still look good. This will ensure that you have less reason to spend money on or replace clothing items. Some of the ways you can take care of your clothes are by only washing them as much as necessary, treating stains or marks as quickly as possible, following the washing instructions correctly and storing your clothes properly. Overwashing clothes can actually damage them by causing friction and wear. While your clothes should always be clean and presentable you should avoid washing them more than necessary. Once cleaned and dried, make sure to hang up or properly fold clothing and use garment bags for those particularly delicate items. Stuffing clothes in a bundle into a drawer is one-way ruin a perfectly good piece of clothing! As well as this, take the time to repair, re-hem or repurpose clothes you own that are still functional rather than buying new items.

5. Beware of Dry-Clean Only Items

Often when we purchase clothes on a whim, we forget to look at the washing instructions. However, purchasing an item of clothing that is dry-clean only is the equivalent of buying a piece of clothing with hidden costs. It means every time you wear that piece of clothing out, it’s costing you another $10-20 and this will add up fast. To spend less money on clothes, check the washing instructions before you buy something and consider how much you need or love that piece of clothing and whether it’s truly worth paying all those dry-cleaning costs.

6. Shop Out Of Season

We all know how supply and demand work so it makes sense that during winter, coats, jumpers and boots are significantly more expensive than they are in winter. For this reason, one way to save money on clothes is to shop out of season and buy the clothes you need for next season when they’re on sale. By being a smart shopper, you can get yourself high-quality pieces for a fraction of the price you would pay if you bought them in season

7. Know Your Body

Knowing your size and body shape when clothes shopping can help you to spend less money on clothes. An important tip to remember is just because you can put an item on, does not mean it fits you properly. Invest some time into figuring out what works for your body and what looks and feels good for you. Also, look at how a piece is meant to fit. If a pair of skinny jeans isn’t tight on you, then they’re probably not the right fit. Similarly, if you’re buying a blazer but you have very narrow shoulders then the fit around that area will be important. Buying clothes that are flattering for your body means you will wear them more often!