The Thrift Guide

The Thrift Guide

While thrift shopping is more time consuming than browsing a well designed department store wall display, it certainly yields some fantastic finds for next to nothing.  Find one or two thrift stores in your area and browse once every couple of weeks to catch new arrivals.

Price

The first thing that should catch your eye is the price. It doesn't matter how great the item is, if it's over-priced it should be overlooked. Years ago thrift stores practically gave you the clothes. With economic hardship elsewhere in the retail industry, more and more people are turning to thrift stores for wardrobe savings.  As a result, secondhand stores have increased their prices. It's important to remember that even discount stores can have overpriced items, so be sure to check price tags and consider the value of the item before you make a purchase.  Also consider the cost of tailoring and alterations when choosing secondhand items.  It's difficult to find a perfectly fitted jacket, so tailoring may be needed.  This can drastically alter the cost of a given item.

Guide To Tailors (Part I)

Guide to Tailors

Part I: Finding Local Tailors

• Look Locally

Try searching your city's yellowpages or yelp. Searching "alterations," or "tailors," on these types of sites helps give you an idea of professional tailors in the area. This gives you the chance to read other customers reviews to get a better outlook and narrow your search.

• Advertisements

Tailors that have advertisements in local newspapers, magazines, or websites typically mean they are making a business from it. There is a reason they are able to advertise and others won't or can't. It is possible to find a great tailor that doesn't advertise, but for the sake of time it's easier to stick with the advertising.

• Ask Around

Don't be afraid to ask your friends and coworkers. If you're starting from square one there's no harm in asking. You'll often find that they give the most detailed reviews and can give you more advice on finding a special local tailor.

• Conclusion

Check online but be wary of the reviews. In my opinion,your best bet is to ask your friends or coworkers, they'll give a personalized review and can help if you need particular items tailored more than others. Not all advertisers are great but they're clearly doing something right.

Top Shopping Tips

We've all had the overwhelming experience of walking into a department store, not knowing where to start, and eventually giving up after glancing at the $85 price tag on a designer button down shirt. These shopping tips can help you avoid wasting precious time and money on pricey items that don't fit into your current wardrobe.

• Collect Promotional Codes

Promo codes are out there everywhere, especially in emails and store catalogs. Many of these are dismissed as spam or junk mail, but giving these a quick glance over will usually yield some promotional codes or special sale coupons to use in store. If you come across an old promo code that has expired, try contacting customer service. They may be able to reactivate it for you. Just remember to be honest because forging promotional codes is a crime.

• Corporate Discounts

If you work for a large company, you may often find that your employer offers discounts specifically to employees. These discounts can usually be stacked with other deals and promotions as well. In some cases student discounts are also available. Do some research before shopping and determine what stores or brands offer the best discounts for you personally.

• Gift Cards

Check out sites that sell discounted gift cards before shopping.  This allows you to double up on discounts from the gift card retailer and discounts in store. You can also use these sites to sell gift cards that you may have received as a gift but don't want to use. That way you can trade it in for money to use at a store you prefer. 

• Thrift It

Thrift stores are an incredibly underrated resource for an inexpensive wardrobe makeover. This works great if you don't quite have a set style or like to rotate styles and clothes. Thrifting is cheap and can result in mass scores or steals. Until you have a set style thrift stores should be your friend. Few places can you go in and find the wide variety of clothes thrift stores offer let alone the prices.

• Don't Buy For The Future

The biggest mistake we all make is buying items for future outfits. Instead, make a plan of what you want to wear and what type of clothes you currently have. Avoid that impulsive urge to buy items that don't already fit your mold.

• Clearance Racks

Typically clothes go on the clearance racks when they are going out of season. This gives you the chance to take advantage of the price cuts. Buying your shorts or tee shirts at the end of the summer or coats at the end of winter can save you a lot of money. Think of it as the seasonal thrift store.

• Buy One Get One

Buy One Get One (BOGO) sales are the best. Sure you yourself can only buy one and get one, buy if you bring a friend you get four for two. This is great for different items, pairs of shoes or shirts. Doesn't work well for duplicate items obviously.

Shop smart not impulsively, shop with a friend, and always thrift it or check clearance racks.

Shopping Online Part II

Shopping Online

Part II: Amazon

Hopefully you've already read my tips in part one so I don't have to repeat myself. Amazon much like Ebay has it's own idea of labeling and merchandise. However unlike Ebay you're more likely to find comany marked down items as opposed to consumer marked down items. Either way it is a solid win-win situation for you.

Shopping Online Part I

Shopping Online

Part I: Ebay

Listen, to properly buy clothes I highly recommend going into the stores and trying on the clothes. This is probably the best way to buy almost anything. You can literally see what you're getting. However there are time where a great online deal cannot be passed up, especially on Ebay. I swear it's like this site has more clothes deals and steals than any other place.

Know Your Body

If you haven't, I suggest going into a store and getting measured. Get measured, weighed, all that jazz then write it down or remember it. So knowing your jacket size cuts down on a lot of searching and trying on jackets. This idea applies to all other items of clothing. Also if you know what size you wear, even if it doesn't fit exactly right, you can always get it tailored. A poorly fitted jacket will cost more to tailor.

How Do I Spend My Money?

How To Spend Money

So you have some extra spending cash, probably from birthdays or other holidays or maybe you just found $100 on the sidewalk. Now how are you going to spend it? Let's assume you'll be spending it all on clothes, for the sake of the blog people, after all that is why we are here. Although if you wanted to spend that cool $100 on steak I would not judge you. Anyway, back to the point, how to spend that $100.

$100, Where Should It Go?

First identify where your wardrobe could use a makeover. The basic areas to look at are shoes, pants, and tops. So identify what areas you're diving into. I recommend tops before pants and pants before shoes. Ideally all you should need is two or three pairs of shoes. However, I'm not here to tell you what you should buy, but rather how you should spend that extra cash.

Suit Shopping

Shopping For Suits

A few questions to ask yourself before reading:

1. What suits do you wear?
2. How much did they cost?
3. Where did you buy them?

Where I Get My Suits

So lets start with telling you where I got my suits. We have all tried the big name brand stores that charge too much for poor quality. Perhaps the local town stores that probably charge the correct amount given the quality, but that too can cost more than you'd like. Where did I get my suits? Almost all of my suits are from Macy's. I know what you're thinking, "Wow that is a bold move," or "Well I never thought of shopping there." Macy's if shopped correctly, can really push out great suits at a cheap price. However, if shopped correctly almost any store can produce the right suit for the right price.