Living Below My Means Too Much?

[TinyFish]

Re: Living Below My Means Too Much?

You say you are going to formal occations? How formal is formal? If it isn't so VERY formal that you need a gown, why not go the 'little black dress' route? Get a black dress in a classic line, possibly even one that is washable. Then change it up by changing acessories. The good news is a) people won't remember much about the dress so they won't notice you have the same one b) everything that is black looks way more expensive than the same quality in any other color c) black is slimming and flattering for almost everyone and never goes out of style.

If you want to save money on your insurance and you have a good emergency fund, consider raising your deductable. You will pay more if you have an accident, but if you have the money on-hand, you will save more in the long run.

Be aware the freecycling tends to frown on 'trading' though offering things first tends to put you towards the front of the line when others offer their goods. Try the consignment shops. Many of the best things I have, that I get the most compliments on are second-hand. Often those shops get donations from the ladies who run the auxiliary. In many areas, these are some of the wealthiest women in town (after all, they have the time to run the auxiliary!) so there is often really nice things.

Regards,
TinyFish

[autoxer]

Re: Living Below My Means Too Much?

I've got three cards now & I've been looking to close one b/c I think it may help my credit score.

Closing a credit card won't necessarily help your credit score. If you don't want to use it anymore, just cut it up & throw it out.

Don't close unused credit cards as a short-term strategy to raise your FICO score. Owing the same amount but having fewer open accounts may lower your FICO score.

http://www.myfico.com/CreditEducation/ImproveYourScore.aspx

[HalMd]

Re: Living Below My Means Too Much?

Another option is to do something on the side to make a bit extra cash. Can you work 1-2 days a month somewhere else? Do you make anything crafty you can sell? Can you babysit or pet sit? Do you like to have garage sales? Do you like to detail cars?

Since your budget habits are very good, maybe you'd enjoy starting a small business.

Good luck.

[Elgin526]

Re: Living Below My Means Too Much?

If you do need a truely formal gown (the little black dress isn't enough) try e-bay. I've sold a designer dress on there for $35 to a girl that was going to the prom, and I noticed a lot of other designer gowns up for sale, many new-with-tags and others listed 'like new' that were in perfect condition, they were only worn once or twice.

[Gruntina]

Re: Living Below My Means Too Much?

or, to make it really simple: 3 pairs of pants (black, brown, navy) 3 skifts (black brown navy), 2 pairs of shoes (black brown), and 10 tops (since just about anything that goes w/ brown or navy will go with black!). throw in a cream colored jacket and a cream colored cardigan and you have, just a sec... 180 outfits if you can wear all the tops with all the bottoms, and you toss in the cardigan and the jacket.

wow, didn't think it would be that many!

Thanks!!!!! I been trying to gear towards more simple wardrobe matching and this information is going to help me tremendously. I am tired of wasting too much time trying to plan my outfit for the day and trying to get everything to match. My morning routines will go so much smoother and less worry about my work apparel does not make me look unorganized. I do not wear professional clothes on the weekend unless I am going to some events as I live out in the mountains.

I have a new financial goal to set aside money to have a Fall/Winter set and a Spring/Summer set. I will pull out what I already have that fit these criteria and buy the lacking pieces.


My main thing was I always seemed to lack the appropriate shoes for each outfit and that was my biggest issue. This formula also helps that problem.

[greedy4chips]

Re: Living Below My Means Too Much?

You do not mention a DH or kids so I am assuming you are single. If so, why not find a simple part time job to pay for your extra clothing. You can buy a ton of clothes if you delivered pizzas 1 night a week or donate plasma up to 2 times per week. Doing either of these could make you $200 per month and only take 4 hours per week for the plasma or 6 hours per week for the pizza delivery.

In your late 20's every dollar you don't put away is going to cost you a ton by retirement...don't cut your savings for clothes!

[tinapbeana]

Re: Living Below My Means Too Much?

Thanks!!!!! I been trying to gear towards more simple wardrobe matching and this information is going to help me tremendously.... I have a new financial goal to set aside money to have a Fall/Winter set and a Spring/Summer set. I will pull out what I already have that fit these criteria and buy the lacking pieces. My main thing was I always seemed to lack the appropriate shoes for each outfit and that was my biggest issue. This formula also helps that problem.

Gruntina: something you might want to try to keep your 'formula wardrobe' more multi-seasonal is grey pants/skirts instead of black. Paired up with a pastel top, grey can be light and 'springy', but it's not too light to wear in the winter.

The other thing to remember is that brown doen't have to mean chocolate brown, it could be tan, khaki, camel, whatever. I myself prefer camel, but my plaine chocolate brown shoes still work with any shade

[Amissa]

Re: Living Below My Means Too Much?

Thanks again for the support! This is really encouraging!

I hadn't considered upping my deductible simply because I wanted to reserve my emergency funds for the big emergencies, such as the medical expenses that may result from a car accident. Also, if I recall correctly, adjusting my deductibles $250/$500 to $500/$500 did not save me a substantial amount of money. I will double check that and reconsider.

The formal occasions mentioned previously are formal enough that my boyfriend will be wearing a tuxedo. I don't really care about wearing the same dress again, but it's a club that is hosting these formal dinners, so it will be the same people seeing me. I can't exactly wear the same dress each time! I do have a classic black ball gown skirt I can pair up with different tops (I spied some at Sears for less than $30) and I happened upon some formal dresses at a resale shop for $12. Thanks sakigt - I will keep eBay in mind for formal dresses!

autoxer - I've seen that before. I don't know my FICO score; I've often thought of ordering it. Right now I have a balance of < 1% of available credit. To cancel the card I'm considering would raise that percentage to 1.74%. (I also have a plan to pay the balances off in 5 months; these balances were recently acquired due to the wedding.)

I don't have the urge to spend more on clothing. I see that I have more options than I originally thought. Right now my focus is getting ready to travel for the wedding & I don't want to think of the expenses to come - food, hotel & fuel!

Thank y'all very much. I look forward to utilizing this site for more things!

[Gruntina]

Re: Living Below My Means Too Much?

Gruntina: something you might want to try to keep your 'formula wardrobe' more multi-seasonal is grey pants/skirts instead of black. Paired up with a pastel top, grey can be light and 'springy', but it's not too light to wear in the winter.

The other thing to remember is that brown doen't have to mean chocolate brown, it could be tan, khaki, camel, whatever. I myself prefer camel, but my plaine chocolate brown shoes still work with any shade

tinabeana - Thanks... I actually considered grey in place of the blue because I am hesitant from buying navy color pants and skirts for the fall/winter. For some reasons, it makes me feel more of a maintenance worker or mechanical colors or it makes me think of school uniforms. I also feel too 80's ish in navy unless it was a blazer or top. I also thought of pinstripes to make a look seem different.

I do have some summer tops that I can wear under my jacket/sweater for the winter.

What I really need to focus on is maintaining my health and weight. I do tend to yo-yo which makes fitting into certain clothes at the time can be a challenge lol!

[Ima saver]

Re: Living Below My Means Too Much?

Boy, I am glad I don't work, I can just wear blue jeans all the time!

[Elgin526]

Re: Living Below My Means Too Much?

Boy, I am glad I don't work, I can just wear blue jeans all the time!

Show off!

[markio26]

Re: Living Below My Means Too Much?

i wait until i have a buy signal on clothes.. at least 75% off... i just purchased underwear and dressy tops at wmt in different colors for $3 each... and they will go with my brown, black, blue and denim pants... i would try to add to my 401k each year, at least 2% more...my pal shops at church thrifts and purchases bags of clothes for a dollar...placing an ad on freecycle was a great idea and at craigs list.. all of the above comments were informative.. thanks for posting this.

[msnln]

Re: Living Below My Means Too Much?

I buy my clothes once a year and that is late fall, when everyone is clearing up that year's inventory and style. I check deal sites such as slickdeals.net or edealinfo.com regularly for deals and by doing this, I bought J Crew khaki pants for $10, Lee jeans for $10 and no name (but heavy cotton) button down polo shirts for $5 last year. These deals start about November and go up to mid December. My annual clothing expenditure has always been under $100. Fortunately, my job has no dress code and I wear jeans/polo shirts to work everyday during summer and sweater on top of t-shirt when the weather gets colder.