Welcome to The Budget Fashionista Learn How to Shop Guide. Here you’ll find our best strategies for shopping like a pro and saving money at your favorite fashion retailers. You’ll find store-specific tips for many retailers including ShopBop, Ulta Beauty, Dillard’s, Bloomingdales and more. Also see our tips on shopping thrift stores and trendy stores.
We also love the “shopping list” post. Posts like “Best Occasion Dresses under $75” give you an easy set of trendy pieces to make your shopping uber efficient.
One overlooked side of shopping for clothes is returning clothes. After all, it happens sometimes that you buy a piece and then your opinion changes when you get it home. Some of our most popular posts cover return policies, from Payless to Saks.
If you’re not sure where to start reading, try these posts and topics:
How to Shop Marshalls ● How to Shop New York & Company ● Return policies for your favorite retailers
What’s on Sale
Sales listed on this page may be sponsored or include affiliate links. This does not affect the price you pay should you decide to shop one of these sales. Featured Fashion Sales Happening Now...
Customize Your Wardrobe with Made-to-Order Clothing
Custom-made clothing is not just for the rich and famous anymore. Nearly anyone with a decent clothing budget and an eye for fashion can custom create their own shirts, jackets, pants, dresses, and other...
Where to Buy Plus Size Bridesmaid Dresses
First things first—a little bridesmaids dress sizing primer: bridal fashion sizing is essentially stuck in 1952. Meaning that whatever size you wear in 2014? Yeah, you’ll wear at least 1-2 sizes larger than usual when...
6 Ways to Save at Nasty Gal
If you’ve never heard of Nasty Gal, you might be questioning our standards for style and social decorum. But pay no mind to this online retailer’s naughty-sounding name — because this shop is all about...
What Happened to Petite Sophisticate?
The name alone is like something out of the fashion dark ages: “Petite Sophisticate.” Was there really a time that we—us girls of diminutive stature—said, “that’s what I need, a store that understands my need...
How to Wear a Plus Size Bikini
One of this season’s hottest trends is the plus size bikini. While there’s been much (and we mean MUCH) discussion about the merits of this trend, we here at TBF think it’s one trend...
Five AWESOME Reusable Grocery Bags
What: Cute and practical market bags. They’re everywhere and are great alternatives to the traditional grocery bag. The Lowdown: These reusable market bags are perfect for grocery shopping and even better they carry your...
Fashion Advice: Sample Sales vs. Warehouse Sales
Dear Budget Fashionista, I am just starting to frequent sample sales, however the merchandise at many of the sample sales are not of high quality. What is the definition of a sample sales? How...
Updated! Fab Wedding Dresses for Under $100
Is it possible to find wedding dresses under $100? Yes. Is it hard to find a wedding gown you adore for under $100? Absolutely, yes. In order to assist you on your quest for...
How to Recycle a Bridesmaid Dress
The notorious bridesmaid dress has been immortalized in all its silk taffeta awesome awfulness. Yup, we’re talking about Katherine Heigl in 27 Dresses and the slew of bridezilla movies featuring the horrid bridesmaid’s dress....
The Art of Thrifting
Thrifting, much like shaving, war or manliness, is a delicate art form, and we’ve got it down to an imprecise science. Sure, we’ve written about thrifting extensively before, but a seasoned thrifter knows to...
Updated! Six Great Swimsuits for Older Women
Of the many things forced upon women as we get older, is this belief that once you reach a certain again, you must start wearing swimsuits that look like waterproof muumuus or the full-coverage,...
The Best Swimsuit Brands on a Budget
What’s more terrifying than trying on swimsuits surrounded by mirrors in fluorescent lights? Paying a small fortune for a piece of body-baring Spandex. But don’t worry, we got your back (seriously, we do) and...
Fashion Advice: What to Wear to a New York Wedding
Dear Budget Fashionista, I need help! I live in south Florida and I will be attending a wedding in October In NYC. I have no clue about fashion, can you please give me some...
Beach Bound: Stylish Cover-ups to Wear Now
In the 90s it was a Hawaiian print sarong. In the early 2000s, it was all about board shorts. But today? It’s less about any one silhouette that’s popular and more what suits your own style...
Perk up Your Home with Pretty Flower Pots
I love plants. I mean, I once rescued a “dying” hanging ivy my ex-boss tossed in the trash and now, three years later, I have four new plants from it. However, I’m guilty of keeping plants...
8 Long Bridesmaid Dresses
Perhaps the beautiful cathedral that will host your “I DOs” has an unspoken dresses-must-be-below-the-knees rule, or perhaps you’re just tired of short dresses in silk taffeta. Whatever the reason, we’ve long been getting comments...
Happy Monday News: Alexander Wang is New H&M Designer Collaboration
Only Alexander Wang would announce an epic collaboration of couture-meets-everyday with such panache. With an Instagram video to be precise. Wang’s collection is coming 11/6 to 250 stores and will include goodies for both...
4 Money Saving Tips for Your Wedding
The bridezilla who prescribes weekly CrossFit sessions so her bridesmaids can fit into $300 Amsale dresses. The overly-involved mother-in-law who insists on Ocean View suites for the whole fam. We’ve all heard “those” stories...
Updated! Best Bras: Post Baby Support
It’s a fact of life: after a baby, your body changes. Some parts will be a little rounder, and yes, some will fall a little lower. But don’t let it get you down. Sagging...
Bridesmaid Dresses Under 100 Bucks
You need the best bridesmaid dresses under 100 bucks. But first, let’s take a step back and say congratulations! You’ve found that perfect somebody who’ll nurse you back to Soberville when you’ve had one too...
About Me
Thanks for stopping by! I'm Catherine, your Budget Fashionista style editor. I'm a bargain shopper at heart, as I love nice things but hate paying for them! I'm also a personal finance writer who's been featured on USA Today and MSN Money.