Old Style Book - Clothing Tips Needed

Bogof_Babe

See if you can borrow a jacket or hat for one-off occasions like weddings or christenings, rather than buy.

Re. the sweaty feet - get into the habit of spraying deodorant on the soles of your feet every morning after bathing. Shoes and slippers last much longer. Also line your slippers and boots with insoles which can be replaced with new ones when they go yukky.

Store out of season clothes in a vac-bag or large suitcase, in the loft or under a bed. This leaves more room in your wardrobe and drawers for items currently in use, and you can see what you've got and what you might need to replace more easily.

Don't worry too much about what you wear when you're going to be home alone all day. I am currently wearing a pair of jogging bottoms that I got for £3.50 including a matching top, in a sale at the weekend. I had to turn them up but they are so comfy and I'll get loads of use out of them for £1.75!

Never put less than a full load through the washing machine. Dry what you can in the airing cupboard (worth fitting extra rails if you have the room, or hanging things on hangers from the existing rails if possible). Set tumble dryer for minimum time possible, and finish off on radiator airers if you have central heating.

Hermia

My charity shop advice is to take the bus into a posh area and go to the shops there! I used to work in a rich area and the shops were full of quality brands. My local charity shops on the other hand are full of badly-made second hand clothes from cheap clothes shops! If you are handy with a needle look at charity shop clothes with a view to nicking stuff off them! Nice buttons or trimmings can be pulled off and used to jazz up something else. I once bought a beautiful sari for £8 from a charity shop (it had peacock feathers embroidered all over it). I cut that up and used it for clothes and made lots of beautiful birthday cards with it!

Factory shops are wonderful, wonderful things. I go to Street in Somerset a couple of times a year. Last year I bought some beautiful suits for work which were originally well out of my price range.

I think the best advice is to save up and buy good quality classics and if you want to get the latest in-thing which you will get bored of buy it from somewhere like New Look (I love their costume jewellery BTW).

Actually I'm not a good moneysaver when it comes to clothes. I just love clothes that are made with beautiful materials and are well-crafted. I just think they last for ages and look classy. My best buys are a £100 handbag that is 13 years old and still attracts compliments, a £120 pair of shoes which still look new (& don't pong at all!) and a £200 coat which still looks stunning and makes me look thinner! I just have to do lost of ebaying to pay for my wardrobe!

The best moneysaving clothes advice I can give is to look after your clothes. Don't throw your bags and shoes into the bottom of your wardrobe so that they end up scuffed and squashed. Use a good quality shoe cream on your shoes and they will look great for longer (I also use leather cream on my handbags). Don't use those nasty wire clothes hangers that leave marks on clothes. Follow washing instructions carefully and don't put expensive bras into the washing machine at all (I buy bras for everyday use which I do put in the machine, but I handwash my posh special occasion bras). Deal with any stains or loose buttons/dodgy hems asap.

Hermia

apprentice_tycoon wrote:

If my income suddenly doubled I doubt if I'd change my ways, I'd sooner spend money on other things.

Hermia imagines herself staggering around Selfridges with armfuls of clothes if her income suddenly doubled! (Oh dear, will I get thrown out of MSO?!)

scuzz

Making jeans into bags seems to be popular

squeaky

Aha! A thread that might be of use is this one on organising your wardrobe...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=63170

Spendless

the train of my wedding dress was made into a christening outfit for my daughter

in martins first book there's a tip about 'getting to know your town'. imo its very o/s to know where the cheapest shop in town is.
i'm aware of a shop here that sells seconds and surplus baby/kids clothes from the big stores

hand me downs very o/s and free :money: I started a thread on it once on here.

Icemaiden

I do sell Clothes on Ebay but never buy, the prices people will bid are crazy. I rely on secondhand shops and like Hermia I too shop in the more affluence areas. Only recently got two pairs of very nice jeans, 1 x Valentino, 1 x Miss Sixty both pairs were £3.99 each and like new. I always buy new Shoes as I think its important to be fitted correctly.

tootles_2

My wedding dress from the 1960's ended up as a dress for my daughter, I took it to pieces and kept the bodice but there was enough material in the skirt to make a party dress for my daughter, it was broderais anglais pale lemon in colour.

Aril

NCT sales are excellent sources of very cheap 2nd hand baby/toddler clothes.
If I have clothes which are no longer of a wearable state but the fabric is lovely I have cut them up to make into scarves which I've beaded or used for patchwork wall hangings. My friends and I sometimes swap unwanted items. Get to grips with mending items and altering things- I get extra wear from my son's clothes simply by turning up trousers so he has another season from them then they are passed onto my friend's son or ragged if they've had it. If you like the style of an item but not the colour it's possible to redye them. I also buy bits from jumble sales to jazz them up and if the end result is not to my liking I've only wasted 20p. They're also another good source of cheap fabric. I've watched my Mum cut up a woman's skirt to use the fabric to make into a dress for my 4 year old niece.
Regards
Aril

Hermia

tootles wrote:

My wedding dress from the 1960's ended up as a dress for my daughter, I took it to pieces and kept the bodice but there was enough material in the skirt to make a party dress for my daughter, it was broderais anglais pale lemon in colour.

Ooooh, how lovely! When my gran died I raided her wardrobe as my aunts were just going to donate her stuff to the charity shop. I ended up with several pairs of gorgeous leather gloves which actually fit me (I have tiny hands and most gloves in the shops are too big for me). Some lovely tea dresses from the 1940s as well as some slips/petticoats which are sooo pretty. I also got loads of costume jewellery which my gran had stopped wearing because they had been out of fashion for ages, but they suddenly came back into fashion recently (people were drooling over the brooches). I only wish my mum had kept all her clothes from the 1950s/1960s - oooh, I hate her for throwing them away!

Raid your relatives' wardrobes - that's my moneysaving advice!