Whether you are a shopping enthusiast with a passion for self-expression or are a working professional with a dress code to maintain, it is essential to factor clothes shopping into your budget.
After all, everyone needs clothing – we just all have different needs and budgets to accommodate. The good news is that, when you shop smartly and use the right tools, you can buy within your budget.
Adding to or refreshing your wardrobe should not be a cause of stress or anxiety. Consider the many different budgeting tools that can help you shop in style and within your budget:
Online Shopping Directories
Online shopping directories allow you to identify store hours and locations, and they also provide you with a wide range of cost-saving resources!
In addition to aggregating all current shopping promotions, shopping directories for your country will also provide you with tools to discount shop in your region. For example, when you use a Canadian online shopping directory, you can save with local Canadian flyers and other regional promotional resources.
Retailer Apps
A lot of well-known retailers with an online presence have apps that you can purchase from. Specifically, 47 percent of top retailers have a mobile site and app. The best incentive for downloading and using these apps is that retailers often host sales exclusively on their apps to generate awareness.
Use retailer apps as a tool to spend less when you do shop. This way, when you need to update your wardrobe, you can open up your retailer apps to see what stores offer the best exclusive app deals. When you use these apps, you can update your wardrobe at half the price you would spend in-store or using their e-commerce site.
Budgeting Apps
Instead of shopping and then factoring your expenses into your monthly budget, consider establishing a budget for your shopping ahead of time. It is essential to budget a certain amount of money for clothes shopping on a monthly or seasonal basis, and then stay in that budget when you hit the stores. After all, you can always transfer any remaining budget into your next spending period.
Create your budget using any free app so that you can budget your spending accordingly. There are so many great, user-friendly budget apps out there, and all you need to do is decide the one that best suits your need.
Social Media
Social media is a tool for sharing thoughts, images, and weighing in on relevant conversations. That said, social media is also a place where you can source promotions, discount codes, and strategically plan your purchases.
- Pinterest: Pinterest is known for being a destination for style inspiration. However, you can also use the platform as a budgeting tool. You can create boards with items that you are considering buying and then organize them accordingly based on what’s currently available in your size and at a feasible price. Pinterest allows you to be innovative as you can source specific buy links for items and create boards to organize these items based on priority. Creating Pinterest boards can help you organize your spending and plan your purchases ahead of time.
- Instagram: Instagram is not just a photo-sharing platform – it is also a tool that allows you to save promotional resources. A lot of influencers and retailers alike share promotional codes and other discount resources on Instagram, which you can then save for future use. According to Statista, roughly 93% of shoppers in America alone use coupons and discount codes every year.
Social media platforms like Instagram and Pinterest provide you with promotional codes and a high-level look at what you want to buy to plan how much to spend, where, and on what. You can remove or re-prioritize any saved items on these platforms if you notice you are over budget based on the funds you are allotting to upgrading your wardrobe on a monthly or seasonal basis.
