Resale shops are my new best friend. Cashmere sweaters for under $10! I mean frankly if you buy new, they are used pretty darn quick anyway, so what is the difference?

I also have a salvage store near me. They buy clothes from places that have had their inventory paid off by the insurance companies, or overstocks, etc. So I quite often get very good quality merchandise for 25-50% of the retail value! Sometimes it isn’t that good of a quality, but that’s why I go all the time to check it out and see.

I’ve also realized that a wardrobe that is half the size of what I used to have works too.

I also want to loose a few more pounds, so some of the clothes I have now won’t work. I’ll try tailoring them, but I fear if I hit goal I’ll need to buy a whole new wardrobe. I buy good quality pieces, I just don’t pay full price for them.

[...] And if I am cheap, perhaps I’m not the only one straddling that line. [...]

Forget the tailor. Learn how to sew…. It’s VERY easy. Much easier than people think. And if you do it yourself, you can leave the excess to be let out should you need to.

Basically, find a friend with a sewing machine. Then, put the pants on. Pinch what needs to be pinched and mark how much you’re taking off. Sew on line. Easy as pie. And as long as you don’t CUT anything, you can always fix it if you mess up the first time.

To be honest, almost everything I buy I take in to fit myself because I have to buy 2x or more to fit my rear end, but my waist is more like an 18. Plus, that way you get something that looks Right on YOU.

Weekly Roundup – 05/25/07…

It’s been a busy week fraught with tax quandaries and boxes full of bricks. And now… Guess what? School’s out for summer ’round these parts as of today! In other words, we have a couple of ecstatic kids that are just days away f…

if you like where you are at, reward your past success with some new clothes. if you’ve got more to go, then keep working. trade the oldies in at Goodwill so someone else can use them.

there are certain goals that should be worth a bit of wasted money, and any goal that involves actual hard work and personal suffering like loosing weight does qualifies in my book.

Right now all my clothing fits pretty well, I was lucky in that I never wore by pants over my belly so we waist doesn’t change size that much. My shirts are a different issue, they are starting to look a bit baggy.

Of course I haven’t bought clothing in months, so it’s not all bad. I also found a place that sells blank T-shirts for cheep (about 3.50 in XXL) so I don’t feel to bad about replacing them when the time comes.

If your on a diet you’re probably paying less for food (I know I am) work out how much you are saving, put it away every month, and when the time comes spend that on new clothing.

Guilty as charged.

Actually, I thought this was an interesting topic, but I admit that I recognized it was of marginal value to others. I ought to have posted it to my fiscal fitness journal in the forums, perhaps.

I do have a compulsion to post every day (or twice a day, actually), and it’s something I’ve been trying to suppress. The problem is that I’ve been able to create a successful community based on a twice-a-day posting schedule, so it’s hard to convince myself that I can maintain this with less frequent posting. Yet people I trust urge me to try it.

When random commenters are pointing this out, maybe it’s time to listen!

Today was obviously a slow news day.

I need to buy new clothes every single season, and as a young professional woman I cannot just buy a belt and wear baggy pants until I reach my goal size. I would never get promoted I definitely purchase quality items and get them tailored when applicable, but this only works for about 2 sizes. That blazer I bought when I was a L doesn’t look so hot now that I’m a S; even though I’ve had the waist taken in the shoulders and sleeves still make it look as though I’m wearing my dad’s blazer.

I also use Gal’s trick of trying to keep clothing to a minimum. I only have about eight pairs of pants (including jeans), three skirts and ten shirts in rotation at any given time. Enough to mix and match a lot of outfits, but not so much that I’ll be devastated financially when I need to buy a new wardrobe in the fall.

I donate my old clothes. The $5 I’d get from eBay is worth someone else getting them for free or super cheap.

To Jordan–congrats on your weight loss success. Sixy pounds is nothing to sneeze at! If I were you, I’d take those big clothes in great shape to a consignment store….but consignment stores for men are few and far between, different than for women. Next to that, Ebay? Sell them to a friend who is still your former size? Anyway–it’d be nice if you could get some money from your old clothes that would help pay for your new clothes…

How Much Do Your Clothes Cost Per Wearing?…

I have never purchased a tuxedo because I would rarely wear a tuxedo and thus it makes more sense to rent one on the rare occasions when needed. And, yes, I might consider other clothing purchases by saying to myself,……

My mom had done alteration out of her house for years. She does everything from restiching to making wedding dresses.

I lived with a guy once who was so cheap he wouldn’t buy a new pair of pants for himself: even if they were going to be work pants. I figure if I am going to use something everyday, I want it to be high quality so I can rely on that item! Nothing burns my biscuits more than someone who is pennywise and pound foolish – for all the time you’d spend in gas looking for a cheap pair of pants, or going to a thrift shop and trying to find the same pants, you could have easily afforded the new pants.

Buy the new pants!

That being said, if you are losing weight, try to connect with someone who is also losing weight, but is slightly ahead of you, they may be able to loan you some clothes while you are in that transition phase.

But even then, for the love of pete, buy clothes that fit you at the time when you go shopping, so that you know you’ll have at least one outfit in your closet that fits you that you can feel not frumpy in. Women are lucky – I’ve found consignment stores are wonderful for those transition wardrobes.

Decide in advance about how many shirts, pants, slacks and so on you need. It doesn’t have to be exact, just a rough figure. Try to keep it to a minimum since most of these are clothes you will not keep long term.

Now, as you lose weight, you’ll note that some clothes start fitting rather badly. If you can have them tailored, that will usually end up cheaper than buying replacements. If you do buy new items, buy them with an eye towards your weight change. If it fits slightly small that’s ok. If it fits slightly large, that’s not ok.

Keep your total items at that target number you came up with. You’ll still end up spending money but that’s unavoidable.

This will keep you looking good while not When you reach your target weight, that’s when you can slowly invest in a whole new wardrobe.

I use a belt already. They are too big even though technically they are my waist size and I havent really started losing weight (yet). I would never have imagined I would like convertible pants so much.

I dont really talk about it too much with my wife, but I plan to get back into my peak shape, which was around 8-9 years ago. She doesnt understand why i want to keep trying to fit into smaller clothes and probably thinks I should go out and buy BIGGER clothes. Part of the motivation for me is actually creeping up to the point where I might need to go up another size.

I generally wear jeans/plain khakis and t-shirt or similar casual things. I have gotten by with those and things like “individual fit expandable” waist pants ( either have an extra inch of stretch hidden in the waist or a band thing). I bought a lot of those 4-5 years ago but I cant find them anymore, which meant going up a size or 2 if I didnt get ahold of myself.

In a few months I may have the opposite situation.

JD, go buy yourself the new pants at REI and be happy with them. Maybe wait for a sale or ask for a birthday if you want to save money.

If you really love these pants, I doubt getting them altered will work out for you. Clothing isn’t the same after its altered. For certain things altering makes sense but not for those lived-in pants.

Otherwise, this isn’t license to splurge, but a proper fitting pair of pants is more important than going out to dinner a few times with friends. Especially since you already know these are great pants.

DB

My family has had a dry cleaners for multiple decades, and my grandmother has been a seamstress for nearly 60 years. Believe me when I say that they’re not all created equal. Your best bet would be in one of the nicer dry cleaners – NOT the cheap ones. Also, try asking around – especially if you have well-to-do friends/neighbors and see who they go to.