I Love to Spend my money on clothes, shoes, accessories, handbags… you get the idea.  Like everyone else, though, I have bills to pay, so my monthly shopping budget is pretty limited.  As I’ve gotten older, and even as my means have increased, I have actually become more frugal.  I love to spend on fashion – also dining out and traveling – so I make sure that just about every dollar I part with is well spent.  If you’re looking for some extra cash to invest in key fashion pieces, try some of my favorite tips below!

I LOVE the subway.  I take it almost all the time, unless I can walk wherever I’m going!  I think it's odd that so many people are under the weird delusion that taking a cab is faster.  Honestly, in my experience, it's usually not.  The streets of New York are clogged during work hours and throughout the entire evening as people go out to eat and drink.  This covers just about every living moment besides perhaps a short window of time in the middle of the night between 2 – 5 am.  And that’s the only time I take cabs.

It’s clear by now that my favorites stores are Second Time Around and Bloomingdale's.  But there’s actually one more: Trader Joe’s. Some basic calculations show that I save about 40% on my weekly grocery bill by shopping exclusively at Trader Joes – which amounts to a few hundred dollars a year!  Yes, there are almost always really long lines, but they move really fast, and you can use the time to check your Facebook feed, play Words with Friends, check in with Mom, etc.  As if you weren't going to do that anyway.

When I think of all the money that my friends and I spend in bars, I wince.  The mark-up is so ridiculous!  This is especially true for NYC, but also very much so in any urban area.  My solution?  Invite friends over for an evening at your place, and have everyone bring something to drink (and eat!), even if space is a little tight.  Instead a $50+ dinner followed by rounds of $10 cocktails, spend less than $30 each and I guarantee you everyone will have their fill to eat and drink.  I encourage you, of course, to check out the Trader Joe’s wine store on 14th Street!  You don’t have to buy “two buck chuck” but there is an enormous selection of great reds, whites, roses and sparkling wines for under $10.

When I moved into my own apartment just over two years ago, I made the big decision to forego cable.  And, honestly, I haven’t regretted it once.  I have a monthly $7.99 Netflix subscription which allows me to stream movies and TV shows onto my computer.  And, most networks offer their shows online for free!  I had a TV from my previous apartment, so I just use an HDMI cord to hook up my laptop to it, and voila!

LearnVest
Last year I stumbled upon this website that is geared specifically towards helping Women with their finances.  Per the website, the mission of LearnVest is to "empower women everywhere to take control of their personal finances so that they can afford their dreams... by giving [them] the information, tools, and support [they] need to earn well, save well, and spend well."  Amazing!  By women, for women - this site has recipe ideas, discussions on important financial topics, "bootcamps" for intense learning, financial calculators, and more.  I subscribe to the daily email which never fails to deliver interesting and useful ideas.  Do yourself a big favor and sign up!