We all love fashion one way or another, even if some of us won’t admit it or may not even realise. The clothes that we choose to buy are based on our own perceptions of what is stylish and what we would like to wear – that and budget of course.
The unfortunate thing is, the majority of fashionable items are pretty expensive because of the price tags slapped on them by the manufacturers and then the retailers who take our hard earned money away from us. Many of us buy clothes because we need them, because the kind of things we own have worn out or maybe we’ve got a specific style of clothing we need for work or school. In this instance it can be particularly annoying to have to pay the substantial sums of money we’re asked for but when you have no choice, you’ve just got to grin and bear it.
In other cases, we buy because we’re impulsive. Sometimes we’re not even out shopping and we end up seeing something in a shop window and before we know it we’ve tried it on and made our way to the till. It’s times like these when our shopping habits can be problematic because not only do we end up making purchases we don’t need, we end up spending huge sums of money that we either don’t have to spare or that could be put to better use elsewhere, such as around the home or on car maintenance.
There are ways of still getting our fashion fixes without having to make extreme sacrifices, and without necessarily having to pay the full price. One such example comes at the end of the purchase when you’re using a website. Buying over the web is becoming increasingly popular as more and more people get online (it was recently revealed that in the UK in 2013 more than 86% of the population had the Internet in their homes), our purchasing methods are changing.
We can choose the items we like at our leisure, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and then we can enter our card details or use PayPal and we’ve made our purchases. Before you click the ‘confirm’ button, however, some sites will allow you to enter a discount code that you become eligible for after spending a certain amount, or by searching on the Internet for the particular code. This can help you to take often substantial sums off the total bill and means you’re not paying the full price for your purchase.
Another method is to use consignment or second-hand stores and websites like www.swap.com which will enable you to buy perfectly good clothes over the web from other people. As you’re not buying it from a store, you can talk with the seller and often negotiate a price, or just buy the item directly at the advertised price meaning you get the clothes you’re after at a reduced fee and the seller gets the money rather than a store.
The other option is to design and make your own clothing. It’s how all of the famous designers started out, scribbling their designs on paper and then making them into the real thing. Sure, it will be difficult for some people, but if you know someone capable of knitting – for instance – then why not ask them to come up with your design for a jumper to wear this Winter or maybe even a new pair of gloves or a scarf which you can instantly put to use! It might only cost you a small amount for their time and materials, which is far better than paying large sums to a store, or they might do it in return for a drink, you never know!
