Will I ever get tired of putting together cheap outfits to
show you? I don’t think so.
Putting together these cheap outfits is honestly a blast for
me. It requires some creative thinking and a wee bit of math, so doing this is
clearly good for my brain. Besides, what fun is finding a great deal if you
can’t show it off?
This is my fifth blog post where the outfits are $35 or
less. You can reread the others if you please: volume I, volume II, volume III, and volume IV. Before I settled on $35 as my perfect dollar amount, I also wrote
posts about outfits that were $30 or less and $40 or less.
How did I decide on $35 as my limit? I initially started
with $40 as my total, but putting together an outfit under $40 was a little too
easy. So I cut my limit by ten dollars and tried outfits under $30. That was
significantly more challenging, which I enjoyed – but when my price ceiling was
that low, it was tough to truly make an outfit. Sure, I could do it, but the
outfits were the bare minimum. I didn’t have any room to add the little touches
that make an outfit fun, like accessories.
As always, I must go over my rules.
1.) I won’t include an outfit just for the sake of it being
cheap. I put a lot of thought into these outfits, and any that you see here are
outfits that I would wear in public.
2.) All of the clothing items you see here are new to the
blog, with two exceptions: shoes and belts. I have been reusing shoes for a
while now, mainly because if I couldn’t reuse shoes, this blog series would’ve
been dead a long time ago. This will be my first blog post where I reuse belts,
and it’s for the same reason. I only have so many belts, and sometimes, your
outfit just needs a belt. Since I’m reusing these items, I won’t tell you about
them unless they are new to the series.
3.) Something new about shoes: in the past, I have tried to
only use a pair of shoes one time per blog post. However, I find myself putting
together outfits that aren’t as great as they could be because of my limited
shoe options. For that reason, I will now allow myself to use a pair of shoes
multiple times per blog post, but I'll try not to go crazy.
4.) I will include gifts, but under only two circumstances:
jewelry with no price or clothing with a price. If the gift is jewelry, its
price will not be added to the total. (And chances are I don’t know the price.)
If the gift was an item of clothing, I will include it ONLY if I know the
price, which will contribute to the overall outfit total.
5.) Foundation garments (socks, tights, tank tops) will not
be used as part of the outfit total.
6.) The listed prices are almost always exact. The longer
I’ve been doing this, the better I’ve been at keeping a list of cheap items
with the potential for this blog – and I note the prices ASAP. Some of the
items are pretty damn old, though, and I have listed those prices from memory.
And those prices are almost certainly within fifty cents. I rarely forget a
good deal.
7.) Lastly, I tried to include items
from a variety of stores while still maintaining the quality of the outfit. It
gets rather dull to see clothes just from one or two places. Then this blog
might as well be a clothing catalog, and no one wants that.
With all that out of the
way, please enjoy the seventh (!!!) edition of my top ten cheap outfits!
dress – Modcloth -
$26.99
booties – Old Navy – $2.97
buckle bracelet – gift from James (Wall
Drug)
TOTAL: $29.96
This dress. Oh, this dress. I am a definite fan of Modcloth,
but I am definitely not a fan of their prices. I saw this dress ages ago and
loved it. The price, though? Not so much. I am on a seemingly never-ending
search for ¾ and long-sleeved dresses. They are tough to find, and when I do
find them, they are usually frumpy times 1000. This one wasn’t: it was, in
fact, perfect. Except the price. I added it to my Modcloth favorites (a list of
stuff that you like, but aren’t ready to buy) and kind of forgot about it…
until the day I got an email from Modcloth touting their 70% off sale. And what
do you know? There was ONE of this dress left. In my size. It was a final sale
(like all Modcloth 70% affairs), but I was willing to risk it. My boots came as
sort of a surprise: they were marked as $12-ish, which is still a good deal.
When I brought them up to the register, they rang in at $2.97. And that was
that. Me = delighted. The bracelet was a gift from James when we went to the
Black Hills to celebrate our first anniversary. I don’t care how corny it is:
you just can’t go to the Black Hills without stopping at Wall Drug.
pants - Plato's Closet - $10
boots – Dollhouse – $15 ($10 off + $15 Paypal
survey money)
TOTAL: $33.75
Funny story about this cardigan. I bought it around Thanksgiving
last year, and Maurices was having a sweater sale where they’d give you
something like 50% off the regular price. That was a pretty good deal, and I
really liked the cardigan, so I bought it. Fast forward to spring. I’ve worn
this cardigan tons of times, but it’s a hair too big and is always stretched
out at the end of the day. I’ve spent the last few months wishing I would have
gotten a smaller size. Lo and behold, I was browsing the clearance rack at the
local Maurices, and there it was: that very same cardigan. One size smaller.
And priced at 75% off the lowest marked price. So now I have two cardigans, and
the larger one is in storage. Just in case. I bought these pants at Plato’s
Closet after a certain amount of hemming and hawing as to whether or not I
could pull of mint pants. I’m still not sure, but they are comfy as hell and
have ankle zippers. That’s good enough for me.
Silver jeans – Maurices – $20.99
(75% off)
shoes – DSW – FREE! (org $29.99, had
$30 in coupons)
necklace – gift from James (shop in Lanesboro)
TOTAL = $33.98
It’s not very often that the opportunity arises for me to
tell you about a new addition to the cheap shoe cache – so I’m going to do that
first. I am a big fan of DSW: they have super cool shoes, issue stackable coupons
pretty frequently, and have a great clearance section if you’re lucky enough to
catch it. I saw these shoes on their website, and I was the very fortunate
holder of $30 in DSW coupons. The shoes were on sale for $29.99. Hence: free
shoes. The sweater isn’t anything too exciting: an end-of-winter find on the
clearance rack a couple of years ago. The jeans, though, were a pretty
fantastic deal. As noted in the story about the cardigan (see above), Maurices
will occasionally mark items down for 75% off the lowest price. It’s rare to
find Silver jeans in my size at such a price, but these fit the bill. Well,
almost. They were a 34 inch inseam, which I am not. Luckily, getting jeans
hemmed is pretty painless. The bike necklace came from an ill-fated camping
trip to Lanesboro, Minnesota. It rained the entire time and our tent leaked…
but I did get a cool necklace (and a good story) out of the deal!
dress - Lillian's - $18.72 (gift from
Mom, 30% off lowest price)
belt – Modcloth – FREE! (came with
dress)
scarf - Plato's Closet - FREE! (was $5,
used credit)
boots – Maurices – $12 (50% off, $10 in
coupons)
TOTAL: $30.72
I wasn’t going to buy this dress. I tried it on, and it was
SHORT. Much shorter than I liked. Dresses must be below the knee or bust. Mom
and I were shopping in downtown Sioux Falls, and we pulled this dress out of
the clearance rack. Shortness aside, I couldn’t resist the pockets and
decorative zippers (you’ll notice that four of the ten outfits in this post
have decorative zippers) and the color, and Mom liked it so much that she
bought it for me. It ended up being cheaper than we thought, and I ended up
liking it much more than I thought. You know how you have a handful of things
in your closet that always get you compliments when you wear them? This dress
is one of those items. And the shoes? Holy cow. I had been on a mild hunt for a
new pair of black hiking booties. (I know. Kind of a weird thing to hunt for,
but what can I say? I wanted black hiking booties.) Every pair I found was
either too expensive or too ridiculous. I strolled into the Brookings Maurices
one winter day and came across these shoes: the last pair, and amazingly, they
were my size. And they were 50% off. AND I had $10 in coupons. It was a match
made in hiking bootie heaven.
tank – Forever21 – $7.80
pants – Maurices – $5.75 (75% off)
booties – Maurices – $12 (50% off, $10 in
coupons)
belt - FREE! (came with pants)
belt - FREE! (came with pants)
necklace – gift from
Mom and Dad (Riddles)
TOTAL: $34.35
A few outfit posts ago, I told you about how I had sworn off
of Forever21 for everything but accessories. The time has come to redact that
statement. While I don’t get many of my clothes from Forever21, I will find
something worthwhile every now and again. This outfit contains two of those
worthwhile items. A good mustard yellow cardigan is hard to find, and I can
usually count on Forever21 to deliver a good price-point. Also, I have a
serious thing for decorative zippers: serious enough that I bought this tank
top in two colors. (You’ll see the second one at the end of this blog.) I
really don’t enjoy buying dress pants, but I was fortunate enough to find these
for super cheap at Maurices. And the shoes? Holy cow. I had been on a mild hunt
for a new pair of black hiking booties. (I know. Kind of a weird thing to hunt
for, but what can I say? I wanted black hiking booties.) Every pair I found was
either too expensive or too ridiculous. I strolled into the Brookings Maurices
one winter day and came across these shoes: the last pair, and amazingly, they
were my size. And they were 50% off. AND I had $10 in coupons. It was a match
made in hiking bootie heaven. Finally, the necklace was a gift from Mom and Dad
for Christmas 2014. It’s a key, which I love.
dress - Country Peddler - FREE! (was $18, used
credit)
necklace - Francescas - $6.50
(buy one get one 50% off)
belt – Modcloth – FREE! (came with dress)
shoes - Modcloth - FREE! (scuffed heel)
TOTAL: $24.50
Another Country Peddler gem. I don’t get to Country Peddler
as often as I like, as I live in Luverne and they are located in Brookings.
However, when I go there, I always come away with something fantastic. This
dress is clearly a classic, and I feel damn sophisticated in it. Now, if only I
had a place to wear it. I love turquoise, so this necklace was a no-brainer. I
have to tell you that this outfit is probably my favorite from the entire
series… and as of the end of this blog, I will have put together seventy (!!!)
outfits for you. My, how time flies!
shoes - DSW - FREE! (org $29.99, had
$30 in coupons)
TOTAL: $29.99
I have to say: I LOVE this dress. I love the colors and the
patterns, and I love the cut. I do NOT love that it’s staticky, but I guess I
can live with it. I found it in the sale section of Modcloth, which is my very
favorite place to buy clothes. It had gotten terrible reviews (mostly for the
color), but I loved the colors and patterns enough to give it a try all the
same. Lucky for me, my Modcloth clearance dress worked out just fine.
pants - F21 - $24.93 (10% off)
heels – Modcloth – FREE! (came with weird heel,
couldn’t exchange, full credit)
scarf – Country Peddler – FREE! ($15 originally, used
credit)
TOTAL: $29.68
Here it is: the fourth and final decorative zipper. I have a
feeling that these pants might be a little too badass for me, but you know
what? I am kind of really loving them. But let me tell you about this scarf: I
once owned an identical scarf that I got at (don't judge) Walmart, of all
places. I lost it somewhere in Minneapolis around Halloween, and I thought it
was gone forever... until I found its twin at Country Peddler. It was truly
meant to be.
pants - Plato's Closet - $7.33 (was
$10, used credit)
booties – Dollhouse – $15 ($10 off + $15 Paypal
survey money)
bracelet –
RIU Montego Bay gift shop – $7
TOTAL: $29.33
Oh, Country Peddler. What would I do without you? I probably
never would've picked this shirt had it been on a rack in a store, but at
Country Peddler, the price is always right. And it turns out? I totally love
it! Same goes for the pants: I NEVER would've paid full price for these crazy
pants, but they were worth a $7.33 risk. Which paid off, because I also totally
love these pants. Normally gold damask isn't my thing, but I guess you just
never know. I got the black bracelet in Montego Bay, Jamaica. We were there on
a family vacation, and I bought it in the resort gift shop mere seconds before
we were supposed to get on the shuttle to the airport. My sister has a matching
bracelet, and I love to wear it and remember our glorious Jamaican days.
sandals – JCPenney – $3 (fall super
sale)
belt – JCPenney – $2
necklace –
Modcloth – $7.99
TOTAL: $32.99
Tyana’s is a clothing boutique in Luverne, and it’s been
kind of a godsend. Luverne (believe it or not) is no shopping mecca, though
there are a handful of fairly cute stores downtown. Tyana’s opened up a couple
of years ago, and they had things that no other Luverne store did. Namely:
stylish women’s clothes. I snagged this dress off their end-of-summer sale
rack, and though I was initially hesitant about the blinding hue, I’ve come to
really appreciate it. This necklace was originally something like $30 on
Modcloth, which I thought was insane. I liked the way it looked, but there was
no way I was paying $30. Apparently no one else was paying that much for this
necklace: it showed up in the clearance section a few months later.
-----
There we have it: another “ten under $35” blog post for the
books. I’d be lying if I told you that I haven’t already started planning outfits
for the next installment. I could plan these outfits all day long: it’s getting
the pictures taken that presents the challenge. In any case, keep your eyes
open for more cheap outfits. I’m excited already!
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