So you really want that new Prada carry-all with the $800 price tag. Is it in your budget? Or, wait ... do you even have a budget? Learn how to make one that lasts beyond your next pair of stilettos!
Pagination
- 1
- 2
Visit our forums to chat about fashion and beauty with other ELLE Canada readers!
3. Window-shop from a distance. Drive to a mall that is very far from your home to go shopping and bring only $10 in cash with you.
4. Shop with an annoyingly cheap friend. This is a particularly effective approach if the person is the type of cheapie who makes comments like "That costs only $2 to make" and sighs every time you select something from the racks.
5. Freeze your credit card. This old savings trick really does work, but make sure you won't need the credit card anytime soon. I once had a very nasty incident thawing out the credit card in the microwave. Let's just say that credit cards aren't made of microwavable plastic.
6. Here is a little-known fact: The more you save, the more and longer you will be able to spend. Budget fashionistas must save at least as much as they spend on clothes per month. For example, if you have $250 after paying all your expenses, at least $125 of it should go into your savings account. Deposit the other $125 into a completely separate interest-bearing chequing or savings account with its own debit card and checks, to be used specifically for shopping. That way you will be able to keep track of the money you spend on clothes.
7. You have two basic choices to improve your budget: You can either increase your income or decrease your spending. I suggest doing both. However, the easiest way to tilt the budget scale toward positive is to cut back on your expenditures.
Now that you have your finances in order, check out the hottest trends to hit the fall catwalks here!
Excerpted from How to be a Budget Fashionista: The Ultimate Guide to Looking Fabulous for Less by Kathryn Finney. Copyright 2006 by Kathryn Finney. Published by Ballantine Books, a division of Random House of Canada. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Page 2 of 2
Read more in our Fashion channel
