This weekend I’m heading out to shop for clothes. It’s probably been about 8 months since I bought anything new, and even then it was just random clearance items I found every once in a while at the store where I worked.
This week, Kacie at Sense to Save wrote about how budgeting gave her permission to buy new clothing. Like Kacie, I hate to spend money on clothes. I take care of the ones I have and typically wear them for longer than I should. I’m just not that into fashion, and I’d rather spend that money on other things. As long as the clothes I’m wearing are in pretty good condition with no holes or stains, they’re usually fine with me.
I work in an office with a really casual dress code. Sometimes the women wear dress pants, but for the most part everyone comes to work in jeans. Obviously, we have to maintain a somewhat professional appearance, so holey t-shirts and old blue jeans aren’t acceptable, but for the most part it’s pretty casual.
I have plenty of nice casual wear that’s still in good condition, which is why I haven’t felt rushed to spend money on clothing. But next week I’m going on a business trip to a conference, and I need some suitable business casual attire. Now is a good opportunity for me to expand my wardrobe a little with nicer outfits that are casual enough for work and dressy enough for professional events.
I’ve set a budget, decided what I need, and I’m heading out today to do some shopping. Now I’m just worried about finding clothes that fit well, look nice, and don’t cost a fortune. When I’ve gone on shopping trips like this in the past, I’ve always found that the items on sale either aren’t in my size or don’t look nice. It can be pretty frustrating. Anyone have any suggestions for stores where I might find fairly fashionable business casual clothes for a good price?
I just had this problem where I needed a suit and some bus casual clothes. We went to Macy’s and I go the suit (not on sale) and some other clothes (all 20-50% off) for under $300. I don’t know what your budget is, or how sales are there, I’m in NYC, but Macy’s has been running crazy good sales here. I like the department store because there is a ton of variety in one place. If you have an H&M near you and patience, they have great prices and bus casual clothes, but it takes time to pair things together, and the European sizing means you have to pretty much try everything on.
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Some things I’ve learned: Don’t feel bad about paying full price for a really great, versatile item.
I dunno if you have a TJ Maxx or Ross or Marshall’s in your area, but you can get some reasonably quality stuff for cheaper than you might be able to at a department store.
Hopefully you’ll be able to find some things that will work for your trip, but also good for your day-to-day office situation. Maybe things like blazers/jackets that can be dressed up or down, etc.
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