I've been thinking a lot about money prison budgets and cutting my heart out spending lately, and being poised on a pinch. You know why? Because until I reach that champagne life that Ne-yo was singing about, I have to stick to a financial plan to make me reach my goals. That means tightening up the belt every once in awhile. It means choosing to pay for a fence around my house over a New York shopping spree or trip to the Dominican Republic. It means less date nights and fancy dinners with my hubby...saying no to gala event invites, concerts, and cultural events… sad day.
I’m depressed now. I think I’ll pamper myself back to happy with a spa day, mani-pedi, or some bath products… ohhh wait. Those cost money. *rattles money prison bars threateningly*
Another sad consideration that affects the fashion budget is how much gas costs! No more all day mall crawling or boutique shopping with these prices unless you live in walking or biking distance, or have awesome public transportation. (<- What would you do with the bags??) Even thifters need to weigh their options between the savings on threads and the gas burned to get ‘em (great reason to carpool, but also great risk of having your amazing finds poached by the fashion frenemies that rode along).
It’s sounding like a real no-win situation here, but trust The Gathered Ladies to do a little digging and keep you posted on tips and tricks to stay glam and pampered while stacking paper… in a savings account. Let’s discuss some new ways to get your hands on hot, expensive, clothes for pennies on the dollar without even leaving your house!
Clothing Rentals
Let’s start with the basics. If you’re pressed to have just the right outfit for that special occasion or formal event, clothing rental is a great option.
Rent the Runway – The most well known of online clothing rental/retail sites, Rent the Runway allows a shopper to select designer clothing, jewelry, accessories, and other essential for a fraction of the retail price. Rentals are for a 4 or 8 day period, return shipping is included, and so is the cleaning and maintenance of the items. Prices vary by item and rental time. They’ll even ship 2 sizes at a time!
Pros: user-friendly website, expensive stuff for cheap, retail as well as rental, reputable, no regrets policy.
Cons: No plus sized selection. Only 1-2 days to return clothes, no shoes for rental, more for special occasions than ready-to-wear.
Gwynnie Bee – Gwynnie Bee is a clothing rental site specifically serving sized 10-28 with great fashion. Shoppers subscribe to the site, pay a monthly fee, and maintain a virtual “closet” from GB’s curated collection composed on popular plus-sized fashion designers. The closet works like a Netflix queue. Monthly subscription fees range from 35$-159$ per month. Clothing comes 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, or 10 pieces at a time, with pre-paid return shipping and cleaning of clothes.
Pros: keep the clothes as long as you want, option to buy a rented piece, large sizes, personal style consultation, first month free
Cons: smaller collection, no smaller sizes
Bag Borrow or Steal – Made famous by the Sex and the City Movie, this handbag and accessories rental giant is still going strong. Their service is totally about making the best designer bags and accessories accessible. On their site, you can rent, buy, and even sell!
Pros: authenticity guaranteed, reputable, huge selection, designer shoes sold on the “private sale” part of the site, free standard shipping on all orders. Separate handbag cleaning service. You can sell authentic designer bags that you did not rent or buy on the site!
Cons: only sale bags rent for <100$, rental period is only 1 month.
Box Subscription Services
An even newer hot trend is box subscription. Users subscribe to these services and are sent boxes full of fashion, beauty products (full size and deluxe, or samples depending on the service), hair products, food, panties… even socks… monthly! The main difference between rental and subscription is that the fee is the only charge, and most of the time you have literally no control over what you’re sent. It’s like a mystery box full of girl power and ovarian glitter appears in your mailbox every month! For a really thorough inventory of different fashion and beauty subscription sites and reviews of their boxes, check out My Subscription Addiction. We’ll just cover some of our faves here to whet your appetite.
Le Tote - Le tote charges a monthly fee (49$) and works off of a queue like Gwynnie Bee, but the twist on this one is that you’re not in charge of it. Instead Le Tote allows you to create a profile to define your style. They curate a “tote” of 3 garments and 2 accessories from your “infinite closet” and ship them to you for free free free. Every tote is a surprise. Keep as long as you want. When you return the items (unless you want to buy), a new tote is sent!
Pros: keep clothes as long as you want, option to buy, no shopping required
Cons: no shopping required (?!), no plus size selection
Birchbox is one of the oldest and most popular beauty subscription boxes out there and has a great reputation for being able to introduce lovely ladies to their next favorite things. I have friends who swear by this service, which sends 4-5 high end beauty samples and lifestyle samples (think tea, snack, candle). This box also has a 10$ monthly fee, the lowest we’ve heard of, so you know we had to include it in our poised in a pinch post!
Pros: high end products, no shopping required, super low cost.
Cons: sample size only
Juniper markets itself as “the smarter way to manage your period”. We had to include this one for sheer ingenuity! Every month, subscribers receive their favorite brand of tampon shipped by mail, as many as needed. Along with the essentials to ward off Aunt Flo the monthly red bomber, Juniper thoughtfully and lovely packs deluxe pamper and comfort items (think gourmet honey, tea, chocolate covered pretzels, beauty samples… everything you didn’t know you required until this box started arriving). The fee? 28$ a month. Sold!
Pro: no period panic, no buying a multi-pack of tampons of which half are USELESS(!), no store embarrassment, discrete packaging, snacky-poos and treats to pamper yourself.
Cons: ummm?
So that’s all that I can pack in for today folks! (<--see what I did there?) Make sure to check out My Subscription Addiction for an even more comprehensive list of boxes to buy.
Want to share your box or rental review with us? Email or facebook to share and if we like it, we’ll share it!