The Budget Fashionista is gearing up to celebrate it’s fifth anniversary of dishing on how to look fabulous for less, and in honor of that momentus occasion (woo hoo!) we’ve picked our top five fave quotes from Kathryn herself. They’re little nuggets of wit and wisdom that, well, after five years, were really hard to narrow down. We may, in fact, have to do a Top Five list, part 2.

But for now, we’ll do this in Letterman fashion, and count down from 5 to 1 . . .

5. “First, how I DID NOT get out of debt: No fairy godmother with a magic wand that magical erases credit bureau databases; No Hedge-fund sugar daddy; No Publisher’s Clearinghouse folks showing up at my door with a bouquet of grocery store bought flowers and a five foot check for $100k; No quick easy fixes. Just lots of hard work and honesty.”

4. “I am smitten . . . Along with chocolate and boot cut jeans, I hereby declare my love for the Salvation Army. Sally, as I affectionately call my love, is perhaps the best store to ever exist. Saks, my former love, has nothing on this store. Where else could you find a John Paul Gaultier shirt, from BERGDORF GOODMAN, for $1.50?”

3. “The fact is the celebrity-budget-line trend is going to get much worst, before it gets better. Management teams (celebrities has teams of people who surround them, like any company) are looking for ways to expand their brand and make money off of the “image” of the celebrity. I have no problem with this at all, we all have to eat. But, just don’t try to spin a (sometimes) smart business move into some sort of philanthropic deed. And don’t do it while wearing $1500 dollar shoes in Glamour Magazine.”

2. “The era of flower-printed muumuus is long gone. The fashion caste system that separates people into “those who can” (skinny and rich) and “those who can’t” (everyone else), a system created by snobby designers and power-hungry fashion editors (who, by the way, are often plus-size themselves), is crumbling. A fashion utopia is emerging, one that offers several fashion options for curvy fashionistas, none of which involve polyester tent dresses.”

1. On herself: “Physically, I’m skinny, in an overweight sort of way, like a bloated Naomi Campbell with a curly bob. I read Harper’s Bazaar the way some people read the New York Times. I count Andre Leon Talley, the Bush twins and Kirstie Alley amongst my closest friends, even though we’ve never met. I breathe—unless I’m underwater. I have the occasional quarter life crisis which is usually brought on by the lack of options in my closet.”