Being a student, money is always going to be a stretch. One day you’re rolling in it, overdraft is paid off and you promise yourself that this is it! You’ll use it to eat well and for study supplies and maybe you’ll join a gym! Yes, this time I’m DEFINITELY going to be sensible with my money!
Who are you kidding? For students who are anything like myself, two weeks later and you’re eating baked beans out of the tin crying about how you can’t afford a new outfit for your housemates birthday night out next week.
We’ve all been there, so here are just a few tips I’ve used to look great without having to spend a penny!
1. Sharing’s Caring
We all have items in our wardrobe that we love too much to throw away but have too many pictures of us wearing it on Facebook to even entertain the idea of wearing it anytime soon, so share them! If you live with a group of girls, then get a cheap clothes rail and all hang on a few items that you don’t wear anymore in a public part of your house. Chances are you’ll all find new outfits you love and it feels like having a brand new wardrobe. Just remember to wash them and put them back. You’re just finding, not keeping!
2. Make Unfashionable, Fashionable.
My favourite thing to do with old clothing is to adapt it to fit in to the ever changing world that is fashion. Changed a pair of embarrassing jeans into a pair of funky shorts by bleaching them or putting a few rips in them; turn a boring t-shirt into a cutting edge vest/crop top by chopping the sleeves or stomach off. (One of my favourite tops is a sonic t-shirt I ‘forgot’ to give back to an ex that I cut the sleeves off to make a baggy vest top). So before you run off because you see a celebrity in a piece of clothing you simply MUST have, have a look through what you’ve already got and see if there’s anything you can chop up to create something similar!
3. Don’t be so negative!
When you’ve owned clothes for a while they seem to lose that ability to make you feel good – it’s simple science! But next time you try that outfit on, don’t look in the mirror and throw a hissy fit that your bum/thighs/ears look fat and you can’t believe you ever thought you looked good in this! Look back at pictures of yourself from the last time you wore it – you look hot right?! So unless you’ve grown another arm or gained 100 pounds, chances are you still look just as great in it! If you feel boring wearing the same thing again just mix it up with accessories – wore silver jewellery with it last time? Then wear gold!
So get your positive on because the great thing about recycling outfits is they’re guaranteed to be a success!