by Tara Allan Stewart

Created on: February 21, 2009

DRESSING FOR SPRING

We all know there isn't much money to go around right now, and we've heard the old and used adage, "Everything old is new again." So I say the best place to prepare for your spring shopping spree is your own closet. Which pieces are classics, timeless, fun, or favorites? Out of those, make sure the ones you keep to the front of the closet have no holes, aren't faded, and are still in fashion.

How do you tell what is or is not in fashion? Every magazine and every department store is going to show a different "best new spring color" or "best new skirt length." So, from what I can see, choose what you love and what is comfortable. Is that multi-colored skirt still as beautiful as the day you purchased it? Maybe you just need a few shirts to make it look perfect. A great pair of boots is still a classic with any length skirt, and it can update your look. If you work fast, you may be able to find last years "late summer/early fall" accessories and make them yours for spring.

As for shopping strategies, make sure you have the right sized underwear, especially the right sized bra, so your clothes will look as though they fit. (The wrong sized underwear can lead to embarrassing and uncomfortable "wedgies" that lead to no second date or snickers behind many a napkin.)

Once you have been properly sized by a well-trained department store clerk, you can begin to buy from outlet catalogs and online shops even for your undergarments. If you have to put money somewhere, spend it on undergarments. This isn't the time or place for thrift stores or crowded and pawed over underwear sections of stores that sell beer and chips on one side of the store and car parts on the other, with ladies clothes somewhere in the middle. If you can only get one bra, you can wash it out as needed until you can afford another. Also, if you have gained or lost weight lately and your underwear is riding up or pinching, it is time to be re-measured in the privacy of a department store "intimate apparel" department.

With this taken care of, you can find wonderful things you want in catalogs. But you can't afford them? Go online and look for outlets! Most of the best stores have them. Look around! I bought my favorite mascara from a man who has a company that specializes in false eyelashes! And never rule out the wonderful things in thrift stores! I love to get soft jeans and not pay for the used look. I just buy them used, wash them nicely and hang them up.

Then take into consideration

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