Budget Friendly Fashion Hacks

For those of you who don’t know, showcasing budget friendly fashion options is one of the main missions of Reinagade Fashion  because I firmly believe that style doesn’t mean breaking the bank. As a result, 90% of the outfits that I post about on this blog are items that were bought either on sale or are offered at an inexpensive price. This week, due to popular demand, I’ll be sharing 3 of my personal hacks for those of you who are interested in looking fly and saving your coin!

1) Locate the Sales

The tip that I personally follow the most and would highly recommend is to locate the sales! Funny enough, sales used to be a hated word of mine because they require a degree of patience and although patience is a virtue, it doesn’t always feel true while we’re in the thick of it. I can now happily say that I’ve seen the light and both me and my wallet have grown to love them! I know that not everyone feels the same way, which may be partly due to some common misconceptions around sale items and inexpensive pieces and so I wanted to hopefully clear some of those up at the same time!

“sale means out of style”

I think that there is often the perception that sale means out of style because sales tend to come at the end of the season. However, when you focus on buying timeless items over ones that are simply ‘trending’, the items that you buy will be independent of the time of the season because timeless pieces are ALWAYS in style. For those of you who may not be familiar with what qualifies as a ‘timeless piece’; timeless pieces would include items like a dark pair of denim jeans, a neutral coloured wool coat or trench coat, a pair of knee-high boots, wool sweaters, a classic black dress along with that special number that my girl Beyoncé likes to call the “freak’em dress”.

“Cheap prices means cheap quality”

The second misconception having to do with inexpensive items is that cheap prices means cheap quality. Well, I will be the first to tell you that that doesn’t have to be true! I am a firm believer in buying quality items because doing that actually saves a lot more money in the long run. Buying a pair of low quality shoes for $10 that will break or get ruined within a short span of time can actually result in you spending the same amount of money you thought you were saving when you end up having to continually replace them. How to get quality pieces for a quality price? Don’t be afraid to walk into stores that you would normally consider  too expensive because there will ALWAYS be sales. I walked into a store not too long ago and ended up getting a pair of jeans that were originally $117 for $13 on sale, no that wasn’t a typo. So wait for those quality pieces and get them for half the price or on a really good day, even less.

The big sales are at the beginning of the sale

I’m sure we all know that the big sales occur at the end of each season but often times what happens at the beginning of big sales is that the stores hike up the prices, slap on a red sales sticker and secretly end up selling the item for more than they should! If you’re not looking for a specific item (and I say that because sometimes waiting too long can mean missing out on the item if it’s a popular one) wait until the last week of January- first week of February for great Winter items. That’s when you will find those blow your mind deals!

2) Second Hand Items

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My second tip is to get some items second hand! For those of you who don’t often opt for second-hand items, I suggest looking into it! I have thrifted a few times and have liked it but I often find that thrifting requires a lot of time, which if you’re working full time or are a student, let’s be honest, time isn’t exactly something we tend to have a lot of. But don’t trip because, I have recently found some pretty great online alternatives!

Online Clothing Exchange

When I started university, I found out about the McGill University Clothing Exchange, which is basically an online forum where people can buy and/or sell their lightly worn clothing items. I have found quite a few gems (shown in the pictures above) from there for some really amazing prices. I ended up getting a New Regime cap for $9 (retails for $30), a pair of blue army pants for $25 (retails for $60) and an army jacket for $10 (retails for $30+). What’s also nice is that you can also post the items that you are looking for and those who have them and are looking to sell them will let you know right away! If you’re not a university student or your university doesn’t offer an online clothing exchange forum, there is also the Montreal Market Facebook group as well as Varage Sale which, if the name didn’t already give it away, is an online garage sale that offers a whole bunch of items from all over the Montreal region and beyond https://www.varagesale.com/  .

3) Points Cards and Subscriptions

The last tip is a little cheeky and a little sneaky but one that has seriously come in clutch over the years and it’s to bite the bullet and subscribe to mailing lists and take the few extra minutes to get those points cards at the cash. I know that junk mail can be a real pain but it’s worth it when you can get that extra 15, 20 and sometimes 25 percent off your purchase only for subscribing and what’s even better is that you can unsubscribe as soon as you get the discount!

My family and I love the Bay because the wide selection of well…everything! But That’s not the only reason why the Bay is bae. When you join their email list you get sent notifications of their Flash Sales, which is often a one day sale where you can get pieces from a particular brand, product type, and/or product line for as high as 80% off ! Up to last week, my mom got a beautiful dress that was originally $100 for $15 because of a flash sale. Also, if you have a Bay credit card, you get mailed coupons that you can use, which when combined with sales, sometimes results in not having to pay a penny out of your own pocket!

Another amazing thing about the Bay is that you have 90 days to return your items when you use your Hudson’s Bay credit card, even if they are on sale. They also have a policy where if you buy an item and it goes down within a certain time frame, you can get it for the lower price!

I hope that you found these tips helpful!
Feel free to share any tips of your own in the comments!

See you all next Monday where I will be talking about key wardrobe starter pieces!

xo