Thrifty Wife Happy Life

Helping women love what they wear on a budget

What’s In Your Closet?

by Katie Haller

Last weekend I said the phrase that all women say from time to time, “I have nothing to wear”.  At that moment I had a strong urge to go shopping.  Instead of a shopping trip, I decided to give my closet a second chance. I thought that I would set a challenge for myself. In order to appreciate the clothes that I already own, I decided that this past week, I would put together a new outfit, with old clothes, every day and wear them to work. That’s just what I did.

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Winterizing your Wardrob

by Katie Haller

I think that it’s safe to say that the cold weather is officially here and it’s not going away anytime soon. I have to admit that I am not a fan of the cold weather, but I do like season changes. The thing that I appreciate most about the season changes is the wardrobe changes. I love switching up my clothes. I get excited for the first cold day when I can pull out my favorite coats and boots, the same way I get excited to feel that first warm day after a long cold winter when I can take my coat off and put my sandals on. It’s nice to switch up your wardrobe every few months.

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Kate Middleton

by Katie Haller

I want to talk about Kate Middleton because she is my fashion role model. I look up to her and love her style. My obsession with Kate Middleton started the year I got married.  I remember seeing a picture of her on the cover of a People magazine. I just thought that she was so pretty and natural-looking. She didn’t look like she was trying too hard to look perfect, but she still did. I followed all of the royal wedding coverage. At the same time, I was planning my own wedding. After their wedding, I watched as her style matured when she became the Duchess of Cambridge.

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My Closet~ What I Wore Wednesday

by Katie Haller

I thought it would be fun to start a “what I wore” weekly blog post. Wednesday, as we all know, in the middle of the week. It’s the day that makes us believe the weekend is right around the corner. You need to keep the week going strong and what better way to do that than putting a cute outfit together. 
I think that looking good and feeling good go hand and hand. I’ve had those mornings, like everyone else, where I just don’t care. I just want to make it through the day, so I throw my barely dry hair up in a ponytail, put on whatever I pull from my drawer and do the bare minimum makeup. In the past, when I have done this my day ends up going the same way it started. I end up not caring and not doing the best job I can do at work. I spend 40+ hours a week at my job. That’s a lot of time and I want to feel good when I’m there. I want to feel confident and professional. Honestly, I think the way you present yourself reflects on the kind of person you are. Especially in the workplace, no matter where you work. Would you not care about your appearance when you go to a job interview? 

 Trust me, I don’t have a very glamorous job. I am an infant teacher at a child care center, so finding something to wear to work involves, finding something that’s appropriate, cute, comfortable and something I don’t mind getting the occasional spit upon. That’s not going to stop me from putting together something cute.

So here is my Wednesday outfit. The dress code at my work is no jeans except for Fridays.
Grey khaki- Old Navy
Black long sleeve shirt- Old Navy
Pink and grey infinity scarf- Five Below
 Black flats- Target 
  It’s casual, comfortable and of course affordable. I make sure to designated my work clothes as “work only” clothes. This means I can wear them around babies, without being afraid to get paint, baby food or anything else that might come out of my little friends. 
I hope to keep up with this post and continue to find cute work outfits to share.
Happy Wednesday! Friday is almost here!

Stretching your dollar$$

by Katie Haller

I have to admit that I’ve been on a bit of a shopping kick lately. I always get like this at the beginning of a new season. The problem for me, as always, is that I don’t have very much money to be spending on new clothes. I have to make do with the small amount of money I can spend. This means I can’t just walk into a store and buy whatever I want. I have to be smart about it to stretch my money or else I’m going to have an empty closet.

Right now, my husband and I have absolutely no dept. We don’t have a car payment, a mortgage, student loans or any credit cards with balances on them. We still use credit cards and put everything we spend on them. This is a great way of tracking how much we spend each month, plus we get cashback rewards, which who doesn’t love getting free money every few months? We have a $1,500 budget each month for both of us. That includes our phone bills, energy bill, cable/internet bill, grocery’s, gas and anything else we spend. For two people this is not a lot of money. This is why I try to do my best to spend as little money as I can on the extras.
How do I still go shopping on this low of a budget? Well here are some tips on how to still be able to shop and buy new clothes, but spend as little as possible…
1.)   Always check out the clearance racks! This is my favorite place in any store. I have found some of the best deals here. I feel like sometimes people have such a negative view of clearance clothes. I know they’re last season’s clothes, they’re the ugly colors no one wants or worse they have nothing cute in your size. Yes, all these things can be true, but it’s just like the thrift store thing, you have to be selective. Keep your eyes open and look through every item. Usually the end of the season is a great time to look for clearance clothes. There is a great selection and the deals get better and better the closer you get to the new season!
2.) Use coupons and store loyalty programs! I love getting those e-mails with coupons in them! I get e-mails from all kinds of stores. 20% off here, $5 off there. They really add up and help you save. Most of the time you can use those coupons on top of clearance and sale items.
3.) Look for Apps on your smartphone! I use my iPhone for everything. There are so many great store apps that offer rewards or coupons. One app that I am a huge fan of is Old Navy’s Snap App. It’s so easy to use. All you do is take a picture of the Old Navy store logo and you have a chance to get a coupon to save anywhere between $5 to $15. My favorite is the Snap Five, because it gives you $5 off anything in the store, as long as it is at least $5. 
 4.) Make it into a game! For me, it’s fun to find the deals. Set a budget before you go shopping and stick to it! Sometimes you will lose at this game and sometimes you will win. Have fun with it!

Here is my latest outfit. All these items came from clearance racks and I used coupons.
(Oh yes, don’t judge the white pants after Labor Day. I did my research and most people say white pants are fine to wear all the way through the winter.)
Shirt- Target-$5.98
Pants- Target-$6.88
Shoes- DSW-$32.83
Necklace-$4.20
Total price of outfit– 49.88

Honestly my best advice to stretch your dollar is to never pay full price! I challenge everyone to try to stretch their money! You will feel great knowing how much you saved!  

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