Fashion Tricks for the Winter Months

Every year, women across the country take themselves shopping for new clothing items for the winter months. With cold weather lasting for a majority of the year in many areas, winter clothes can take a beating in one season. Here are a few tips on how to dress with the times without breaking the bank.

Care:Clothing care is probably the most important when it comes to making your things last. It is a myth that buying the most expensive brand means your clothing will last longer because of quality. You can buy a very cute long sleeve shirt from Target and with the proper care, it will look better than a designer shirt at the end of the season. Proper care includes a quality detergent. Tide has a new one out that helps to keep your clothes the original color and fit. Also do not throw your shirts and pants in the dryer. Sure it saves time, but your clothes will look worn much faster. Instead hand dry you clothes and save the dryer for socks, underwear, towels, sheets, etc. Plus it will save on your energy bill which will mean more money to spend on clothes.

Staple items: There are always a few staple items that will get you through the season. For winter you should spend you money on a great coat, boots, long sleeved shirts, a sweater and scarves. A great coat is essential to survive the winter cold. Make sure you stick with one that can last a season or two, neutral colors work best for this. If you go with white or cream you can wear it with every single outfit that you have! Boots are a necessity for winter. I like to have 2 pairs, one dressy and one casual. For the dressy pair, check out discount stores like Payless, most of the shoes are always on sale and run around $20-$30, for this price who cares if they only look good for one year. For the casual pair, I love Ugg's, but being a bit more expensive, you can always check out Kmart and Wal Mart for knock-offs, just remember you wear them with pants so nobody can see if there is a brand on the shoe. Long sleeved shirts and sweaters will help to keep you warm indoors, but if you shop wisely, you can pair different shirts with different sweaters and create multiple looks. When looking for these items, check out Old Navy and JCPenny, these stores always have sales, and JCPenny always has special deals on Saturdays before noon. Start buying a few shirts each paycheck, then you will have a full wardrobe by the time it snows. Scarves are a must for winter fashion. You can accessorize them with your coat, shirt or sweater to create a look like the runways. When buying scarves, make sure that you pick a material that will not irritate your skin because if it uncomfortable, you probably won't wear it. Stores like Kohl's and Target have great scarves for low prices.

Reuse: Make sure that you don't forget how great a tank top looks underneath a cardigan. You can buy sweaters that will match some of your summer pieces and recycle them to your winter wardrobe. The same goes for spring and fall items. Just because designers think that pastel colors can only be used in spring does not make it true. You know what looks good together and on you, so don't be afraid to use some other season staple pieces year round.

Buy Early: Start shopping for staple items at the end of that season. You can find great clearance deals this way. If you do this and put the new things to the back of the closet, in a few months when it comes time to wear them you can pull off the tags then and they will still feel like new. You can do this for all seasons; fall is the perfect time to shop for next summers clothes.

Buy What Fits: Make sure that you buy what fits you, is comfortable, and looks good on. You are simply wasting your money if you buy a size down in hopes of loosing the weight. If you buy what fits now and you do loose some weight, you can always have the clothing tailored by a seamstress, and anymore these services are not expensive.

Winter is the best time of year because of the versatility that you have with clothes. You can throw your tank tops on under a sweater and reuse you summer clothing this season. Plus you can find these sorts of things on sale now and really get your money worth.