Hey hey sweetie pies. For today’s post, I wanted to share my top shopping tips to create the ideal and practical wardrobe. I will share shopping tips that I often share with my personal shopping clients. These tips will help you to formulate a plan when shopping as well as maximize your wardrobe. In today’s economy, we are always influenced to shop, but what do you do when you have a full closet and nothing to wear? Let me help you with my top rules for shopping!

Preparation is Key!

Before we actually go out shopping, we need to assess your current wardrobe. What items are you in need of? What items do you want? These questions are vital and honest answers are detrimental to determine what we should spend money on. How often do we buy things out of want versus out of need? It is imperative to differentiate the two. Next you want to consider if you have any important events coming up that require occasion wear. Have a wedding to attend? A big trip coming up? Assess what you need for the occasion and if you already have something appropriate to wear. This helps to avoid unnecessary overspending.

Create a Budget

This one seems like a given but think about how often you spend without a budget in mind. How often have you shopped just to experience buyer’s remorse? How often have you dipped into savings to buy those shoes or that handbag? If you’re not careful, a one-time coincidence can quickly turn into an unbreakable habit. This budget should be drafted from your income after the bills and important expenses. Nothing’s worse than having that fly outfit but nowhere to go because you now have no gas in your car. (NOT CUTE SIS!) Create a monthly budget for your wardrobe. It may be small at first but think of this as an opportunity to be creative with where and how you shop. We want to create a realistic budget and stick to it.

Comprise a Plan

Do not skip this step! Part of successful shopping is to create a plan! This doesn’t have to be super elaborate. This can be as simple as a list of items that you need to buy. During your wardrobe assessment, you realized that you need a new button down for work, a pair of new running shoes or a dress for your cousin’s wedding. The plan can also be super detailed such as the items needed in color, size, fit and stores to shop. Ultimately your shopping plan should keep you on task and grounded once the temptations of retail arise.

80/20 Rule

This rule pertains the percentage of what you spend your budget on. 80% of your wardrobe budget should go towards staples. If you all would like a post discussing all things staple, let me know in the comments! The remaining 20% of your wardrobe budget can go towards trends. Trends can be hot today and ice cold tomorrow. You don’t want to blow a lot of money on super trendy pieces – especially if you can’t maximize these pieces or justify the cost.

3 Way Rule

Something that I always apply to an item that I want to buy is the 3 way rule. I think of at least 3 ways that I can style the item with items I already own. This is why assessing the wardrobe is so vital! It is important to what you own as well as what you need. Implementing this rule is a great one as you’re expanding your wardrobe. Once you know what you own, it becomes easier to shop and style yourself! Styling yourself should be effortless and bring you joy.

Love not Like

Most importantly, if you don’t absolutely love the item – DON’T BUY IT! How many times have you bought something with the “intent” to eventually wear it? Or maybe you’ve bought an item where maybe you liked the print but didn’t like the fabric? Then you end up hoarding that item in the back of your closet collecting dust? Break that cycle today! While some things can be fixed with a solution such as tailoring – others can not. Again we want to maximize our wardrobe to work for us not against! You don’t want to regret a single penny that you spend on your wardrobe!

Did this blog post help you? Did you discover something about your shopping habits? Let me know in the comments below!

I offer a range of style services for all of your shopping and wardrobe needs. If you are in need of a personal shopper or wardrobe consulting, please contact to schedule a consultation call!

Feel free to check out my boutique for women’s apparel, athleisure, accessories, and luxury vegan leather handbags!

“Whoever said money can’t buy happiness simply didn’t know where to go shopping.” ~ Gertrude Stein

XO, Stormie