The Everyday Icon Style Podcast

Episode 151: Smart Shopping for a Timeless Wardrobe

• Tiffany Howard

Share episode

Can you really develop a chic, personal style without falling into debt? Discover the secrets in this episode of the Everyday Icon Style Podcast. 

I'll break down how to define your style without breaking the bank, starting by understanding what your wardrobe says about you and evaluating your favorite pieces, colors, and fits. By considering your lifestyle and future aspirations, you can create a wardrobe that is both functional and a true reflection of your personality. Plus, learn how mood boards and social media can inspire budget-friendly updates to your style.

Say goodbye to impulsive shopping and hello to savvy spending with my practical tips for maintaining a timeless look on a budget. I'll also provide strategies to block out online shopping temptations, such as setting up email filters and strategically hunting for sales. Learn the art of shopping your existing wardrobe and making intentional new purchases. 

Be sure to join our LinkedIn community to share your own budget-friendly fashion tips and connect with others dedicated to looking fabulous without financial strain.

Speaker 1:

Ignite your style with the Everyday Icon Style Podcast. I'm Tiffany, your style navigator and confidant here to lead women in corporate America on the quest to discover their timeless style. Let's revolutionize your wardrobe, empower your confidence and embrace your inner icon. Are you ready to redefine your corporate chic? Then let's get started. Hey everyone, real quick, before we go into today's episode, I wanted to talk to you about my free guide, the Mastering your Color Palette. With this guide, I have made it simple and easy for you to create your color combinations to build a chic, classic and timeless wardrobe. This you will be able to pick everything from your primary colors, your neutral colors and your accent colors that you'll be able to add together, create a mix and match wardrobe that you love. So be sure to click the link in the description box of this episode to access your guide today. Now let's get into today's episode. Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Everyday Icon Style Podcast.

Speaker 1:

I'm your host, tiffany, and today I want to talk to you about debt. I want to talk to you about how to avoid it when you're developing and discovering your style. Now, as we know, when we're trying to develop our unique style, it's something that all of us should actually really aspire to, because it's a form of self-expression. It could help you reach your goals and accomplish your goals a little lot faster. But today I want to talk to you about some key strategies to help to cultivate a wardrobe that you love while keeping your finances in check, because I think sometimes people think that you have to spend the bank in order to look good, and you really. You actually don't. So let's dive in first. So the first way to avoid style debt is you need to develop your style first. So before you start to buy anything, even going and looking into your closet, I need you to take a step back and ask yourself what do I want my style to say about me? Because if you know that your style speaks for and before you do so, what is it that you want it to say for you, before you even say hello? Now, this is a question I think a lot of people miss, because your style should reflect who you are. It should reflect your personality, your values all together. So this is what you really want to hone in first, because this way it will dictate and guide you with how to make purchases moving forward. So here are a few things I want you to keep in mind. One I want you to evaluate your preferences, so I want you to look at your current wardrobe that you have right now. What pieces do you love, why? What colors do you like? Is there a color palette? Is there a scheme that's already going on that you like? What fit? How do these clothes make you feel you want to begin to just jot these down and keep them in mind.

Speaker 1:

The next thing that you want to do is you want to ask yourself a few other questions. What is my lifestyle like? What are my goals, both personal and professionally? Where do I see myself in two to three years? When it comes to lifestyle, what am I currently doing? Am I single and going to networking events or to brunch on Saturdays? And if you are married and you have kids, are you going to pick up the kids after work, getting them to school in the morning? Are you going to football practices, cheerleading practices? You want to keep all of this in mind, because you kind of want it to be easy and functional for you as you're getting dressed, and your clothes to always make you look effortless.

Speaker 1:

The next thing you want to do is you want to find some inspiration. So create a mood board with styles, colors. Even if you're over on TikTok, youtube, shorts, instagram, save a couple of the videos shorts that you might see that embody the style that you're going for. Save those videos so that you have them as a form of inspiration. So that you have them as a form of inspiration Now, when you're developing your style first. This also means you're more intentional with your purchases and less likely to buy impulsively, and we all know that the impulse monster always tends to get us when we're out shopping. So number one is develop your style first. The next step is I want you to begin to shop your closet Now. This is the most budget-friendly way to develop your style, and to start with, by starting with what you already have. So shopping your closet can be fun and it will help get your creative juices flowing. So here's how you do this One you want to take inventory out and see what you have.

Speaker 1:

You might be surprised of some hidden gems. You have some pieces that you may not have liked, maybe a few months ago, but now you might like them matching. You want to experiment with new combinations, sometimes pairing items that you never thought would go together to create a whole new look and you want to allow to see what you need and what you have to add to your wardrobe. And last but not least, if there are items that you like but they might be a little big, they might be a little snug, you never know how much a good tailor can come into play here. So even just making small adjustments from the hems, adding a button or maybe adding a zipper if it's old, can make your old clothes feel new and make them feel a little more custom fitted.

Speaker 1:

So number two is shopping your closet. Number three be intentional about when and where you shop. When it's time to shop, we need to be intentional, because being intentional can save you a whole lot of money. When you buy on an impulse, that's when you tend to spend a lot of money, tend to buy a lot, spend a lot of money. When you're out and you need something for an event, you tend to spend more because you're really willing to grab what? The first thing that you see? And it's not intentional, and these clothes will always end up being in the back of your closet somewhere.

Speaker 1:

So a few ways to keep when you're shopping is to keep in mind seasonal sales as always. So you want to plan your purchases around major sales. So if you need a trench coat or a winter coat, you want to buy those maybe at the end of the season, because they'll have discounts and things will go on sale. Keep in mind you have days like Black Friday, end of season sales. You even have semi-annual sales, so you want to keep those dates always in mind. Quality over quantity you want to invest in high quality staples.

Speaker 1:

Now I know you're probably wondering. Well, I don't want your saying to stay out of debt. Yes, I'm not saying you have to go spend $7,000 on a Balmain blazer. No, you can still go find blazers at Zara. You can find them at H&M, you can find them at JCrew. Those are just a few places. A lot of your discount stores, saks off the 5th and don't underestimate stores like Nordstrom, neiman Marcus, saks Fifth Avenue, because, guess what, they have sales. You just have to get on their email list and be on the lookout for when they have sales, because you might be able to find pieces that you like at a sales price. Another thing will help you as well it might be time for you to level up where you shop Now. This might actually be a whole different episode, but maybe it's time for you go shop at H&M, or you shop at H&M. Well, maybe now it's time to step up and go to Zara. Not to be afraid when you see a lot of influencers and people on TikTok videos, because I've been in my TikTok world looking at things, the stores that they suggest. They might not be your everyday boutiques, they might be online stores. Don't be afraid to look into new places and as you're elevating and developing your style, that also means you're going to have to look outside of where you normally shop, because a lot of times, we've already outgrown those places. We've already outgrown those places.

Speaker 1:

Last but not least, it's our mindful spending habits. So a crucial aspect of avoiding debt while developing our style is to cultivate mindful spending habits. Set a budget, determine how much you can afford to spend on fashion each month or every quarter, or you want to set that aside and stick to it. You want to prioritize your needs over your wants. This is where having a list comes in. So, after you clean out and edit your closet and take inventory, figure out what it is that you need. You want to pair it with what you have and from your inspiration board, figure out exactly what it is that you need. A great way to start that is by using my Mastering your Color palette, because that will help you with finding and helping out, like, with colors you want, and with that now you're just going to the store. Now you're mindful of what colors, what color palette it is that you're actually looking for and, most importantly, avoid impulse buys at all costs. You want to give yourself a cooling off period before making a purchase. If you still want to make it about after a week, then it's more likely that you'll consider to actually making the purchase.

Speaker 1:

Impulse buying is sometimes is the thing that hurts our closets more than anything. We see something we like oh my gosh, that looks so cute. I can buy a pair of jeans for that. You never will. It's going to go under in the closet. Another thing as well, going back to setting a budget that I just thought of, you may also want to see what you can sell, either on Poshmark, the real, real fashion file If you have any designer items that you may want to sell, and you can put that into a bucket, or a savings account in order for you to help spend and add money to your wardrobe budget.

Speaker 1:

But remember, sometimes the best way to avoid spending money is to avoid the places that you're tempted to spend. I know it's crazy. So if browsing online shops like Amazon leads to unnecessary purchases because it's so easy to click add to cart and they will have it to you in two days, limit your screen time there or unsubscribe to certain marketing emails that you get that you know that you're automatically going to buy from, whether the first time it is that they have a sale or they have nice clothes. Marketing emails that you get that you know that you're automatically going to buy from, whether the first time it is that they have a sale or they have nice clothes. Maybe just pause those emails for now, or maybe check, send them in to set up your email for them to go into another folder, or unsubscribe to them altogether and then periodically just check the site to see what they have going on when it comes to sales.

Speaker 1:

But developing your personal style doesn't have to mean sacrificing your financial well-being, and by understanding what you want your style to communicate, shopping your existing wardrobe and being intentional about new purchases and cultivating a mindful spending habits, you can always look fabulous without going into debt, and that is what we are trying to do. So if you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe and leave a review, and also share it on social media. If you know anyone who is interested in developing their style, please, please share it with us. Please share it with them and be sure to join the conversation over on LinkedIn with me and let me know what share your own budget friendly fashion tips that you have. I would love to know and maybe incorporate them into my mind for shopping. So, with all of that being said, I hope you guys have an amazing rest of your day. No-transcript.