I’m not going to sugar coat it – I have no money! I’m a full-time “mature-age” student, living at home with my parents. Hot huh. I’m also following a dream I have had my whole life, to set up a personal styling business (and this blog will hopefully become a BIG part of it) so the sacrifice is VERY MUCH worth it.

I have no issues living at home with my parents – the boy is here with me, in fact it was his idea to help us save a bit of money… BUT… we started to get comfortable. 1) Hardly any rent, 2) no utilities 3) much lower food bills = money to spend on the fun things. Clothes, eating out, drinks etc. BUT I have also decided that I want to buy a house sooner rather than later, so it is time to get serious about saving….

Something like this would be nice.... champagne taste on beer budget?!? me!?

So what has this got to do with clothes and fashion?? Well remember when I did No Buy July? (you can read about it here, and here) well I decided yesterday that I am going to follow it up with No Buy the-rest-of 2011!!

Now I do have to put a disclaimer on this – there are 3 items that WILL be the exception to the rule:

1) The gorgeous white summer Cue in the City dress I have on lay-by at MYER ( I can’t find a picture of it anywhere, but trust me – it’s a.ma.zing!)

2) This hot pair of Country Road wedges that I first saw in the Domain furniture catalogue and then on fellow stylista Nikki Parkinson (of Styling You fame)

Country Road wedges $89.95... they will be mine!

3) A new pair of togs (swimmers, bikinis, bathers – whatever), preferably one of these….

1) Sunseeker bikini from Sunburn, 2) Isola by Megan Gale bikini 3) Seafolly one piece from Sunburn

So once those three final goodies are in my possesion, I will spend NO MORE MONEY on new clothes, shoes, jewellery or beauty products for the REST OF 2011!

As you can imagine, for someone who LOOOOOOVES clothes and shoes and all the other goodies that go with them, this is going to be a little bit of a challenge. How am I going to get through this? Well here are a few things that I have thought of to help me get through NO BUY THE REST OF 2011 (hopefully some of these tips will be useful to you too!)

An organised wardrobe makes everything easier to find

1) Try EVERYTHING in your wardrobe on again

Do you forget about stuff in your wardrobe? I do! I get into the swing of wearing a few of my favourite outfits all the time and forget about the rest. By trying EVERYTHING on, you familarise yourself with all those things that you forgot about! While you are pulling everything out of your wardrobe, you could also re-organise it to make things easier to find. I keep styles together – for example, all my maxi dresses, all my long pants, all my short skirts etc. That way, when I feel like wearing a maxi dress, they are all in the same place for me to choose from! Easy!

2) Actually WEAR the things in your wardrobe that you haven’t worn yet. 

YUP. I can think of at least 3 things in my wardrobe that still have the tags on them! That is pretty unusual for me but because I am working from home quite a bit at the moment, I don’t have the need to dress us so much. SO here is the tip (for me more than you) wear what you have BEFORE you go and buy more stuff!!

Learn to sew - hello, it's Vogue?!

3) Learn to sew.

So I’m not sure if buying fabric to sew should count as spending on clothes, but in my rule-book it doesn’t ok!? So I have found a few simple patterns that will give me some cute, simple frocks to wear in the heat of summer. The best thing about making things yourself is that they are a ONE OFF! No one else will have the same dress as you and I love that!

 4) Have a clothes swap with some girlfriends.

I have already done this recently (Kimmy I love my two new dresses!!) but its a great idea! You all bring along clothes that you don’t want, and SWAP! You leave with a few new pieces, and you haven’t spent a cent! Everything of yours that you are still let with can be donated to Vinnies or Lifeline.

New clothes for free! woo hoo!

So here I go! My piggy bank is looking forward to all the extra change and that little house of mine is getting closer by the day!

Wish me luck!!!

How do you think I will go?? Do you have any other tips and tricks for NO BUY the rest of 2011?? Please let me know because this is going to be one hard slog!!!