In the days before children, I didn’t really think about how much I was spending on my fashion buys, I would just pick up what I liked and pay for it. In fact, before children, I would go shopping every weekend and buy something new (and I probably still have some of those items unworn now).

Now that we are a family of six we can’t afford to be so flippant on fashion whether we are buying items for ourselves or for the Beans so we need to make savings wherever we can. We also don’t get to spend the time browsing the rails in shops since the Beans generally start to complain once their feet have made it five steps into any fashion store. Now toys stores, that’s a different story altogether!!!

5 tips to save money on fashion

I’m getting pretty clever with my fashion finds now so here are my top 5 tips to save money on fashion;

1. Start with your wardrobe

Seriously, take everything OUT of your wardrobe and get ruthless. I did this about 2 months ago and it felt amazing. I gave everything in my wardrobe a 5-second decision. If I didn’t LOVE it in 5 seconds then I ditched it. Everything that was left I organised into outfits to see which items were loners and then made a note to either ditch that too OR finds it a fashion friend on my next shopping trip. I don’t know about you but I’m BAD at making impulse purchases when in the shops and then getting home to find they don’t go with anything that I already have. Since sorting out my wardrobe I would say that I am wearing about 75% of my wardrobe which is a HUGE increase on before.

2. Discount Vouchers

Shop online and make savings with affordable fashion discount vouchers from sites. VoucherBin is a great resource to find some useful voucher codes, as they feature the UK’s topmost brands offering discounts through them. You can also check out all the shopping categories and choose which offer you prefer, it’s a fab way to save a bit extra just with a bit of browsing.

3. Check out the Charity Shops

Never underestimate charity shops (I always did and I missed a treat for years). I have found that visiting some of the smaller charity shops in small towns can provide the hidden gems, although that’s not to say the big shops/towns don’t have them too. Sometimes people (like me) just over-shop or buy on a whim and leave it too late to take items back for a refund so they end up at the Charity shop – waiting to be found!! You need to be prepared to look but good charity shops have their items organised by clothing type and size so you can browse quickly if you know what you are looking for.

4. Get swishing

Hold clothes swapping party and get swishing. Get together with a group of friends and suggest a number of items you will each bring to the party (as well as wine/cake/nibbles). Put all items on a rail or in a room for everyone to browse and agree that everyone can either take away the same number of items they brought and then donate the remaining items to charity. I have previously attended a ‘Swishing Event‘ run by my local council and I still love those items today. Check with your local Council Recycling Unit or search Swishing online to see if there is an event near you.

5. Learn to sew

Invest in a sewing lesson/machine – make do and mend is so on-trend right now that you’d be silly not to give it a try for yourself. You know that favourite pair of jeans with the broken zip, fix it yourself to save money and time searching the shops for those new favourite jeans. If you learn to sew you could also try your hand at customising like Gok OR even making something for yourself – British Sewing Bee anyone? Failing that, there are seamstress shops popping up all over the place so let the professionals do it for you.

Post in collaboration with VoucherBin.