Diary of a Budget Fashionista

I started this blog at the behest of many family members and friends who claim I have an eye for so-called “budget fashion”. In reality, I just have a tremendous love and admiration for clothing, shoes, accessories, fashion, style, panache, quirk, and pretty things.

I will not lie: shopping on a budget and staying fashionable at the same time eats up many an hour with cruising sales, picking through Goodwill racks, trying on outfits, and even paging through as many catalogs and fashion magazines (domestic and foreign) that one can obtain. “I really don’t have the time for that”, you say. That is where this blog comes in.

On this blog, I will try to verbalize shopping tips for other budget fashionistas (and I hope you will share yours with me as well), keep a running tally of my purchases so you can see my budget at work, recommend places to buy clothes on a budget, show you some of my fashion inspirations, and do a healthy bit of trendspotting.

To begin, I will share a handful of my rules and philosophies on fashion and shopping for clothes:

1. I am going out on a limb here. I am 5′2″ and 118 lbs on a good day, in other words, rather short and squat. Fashionwise, I can either (a) beat myself up because I will never EVER be a size 00, OR I can (b) keep myself physically fit and dress to suit my body type. I choose “b”.

2. My fashion goals are (not in any particular order) to: develop a fashionable yet timeless wardrobe, dress modestly so as to glorify God in my appearance, dress to suit my figure, and stick to my budget.

3. My budget is $200 per month. That includes everything having to do with appearance (clothes, shoes, accessories, jewelry, toiletries, cosmetics, and underwear) except for my haircuts.

4. I never buy clothing, shoes, accessories or underwear full price. NEVER.

5. I never buy jewelry unless it is handmade.

6. I rarely buy anything trendy unless it could also pass as vintage, e.g. a pair of granny boots are definitely trendy right now, but could also pass as 80s vintage.

Goodbye for now!!!!!