Budget Shopping Tips X Treasure Hunter

I'm a HUGE fan of bargain hunting and thrift shopping, and here's some tips from my years of scouring through piles and piles of clothing to find treasures :)

I started out thrift shopping at flea markets when I was younger, and I cannot explain why but there's this immense satisfaction when I emerge from digging through boxes of clothing with a pretty dress for $7! Now I hardly thrift shop much anymore because I can find brand new pieces for similar prices hehe ♡ 

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1. Do not do it if you hate it

Bargain/thrift shopping requires a lot of patience, sometimes you'd go through racks and racks of clothing and still be unable to find anything. The whole idea is to have fun digging for treasure, so don't do it if you're gonna feel like it's a chore!

2. Do not despise trashy looking stores

A lot of places that sell clothing for wholesale-like prices or thrift shops tend to look dingy, tiny or poorly decorated. And I've seen a lot of people pass up on a store just because 90% of the clothing on the racks seem unappealing, but if you bother to sift through the clothing, you might be surprised! 

3. Go for sale items!

Yes these wholesale/budget stores do have sales racks too, and the prices are mind-blowing!

During my taipei trip, I dropped by the infamous wholesale area WuFenPu, and I aimed for the sale racks and found a lot of pieces for only $2-$5 SGD :)) Imagine how happy I was!

My need to find bargains extend to regular stores as well, one place I shop a lot at is H&M!

They hold the best sales ever, I found a suede fringed jacket for $10 and it was originally retailing at $78 :D For luxury goods, I tend to shop overseas where there are factory outlets.

My favourite so far is Hongkong, because there is Citygate Mall which carries Burberry, Coach, Kate Spade, Club21 etc, and there's SPACE by Prada along with multi-label stores that offer crazy discounts during sale season! (I'll probably do another post on their exact locations and offerings :))

4. Always consider the value

For me, it's not so much 'the cheaper the better' kind of mentality. I like getting things that are at a bargain for their value. Do consider the material, the workmanship and the original retail price :)

5. Open up your world to Online Stores

Blogshops and webstores are springing up all over the internet, and a lot of times they are able to offer better prices because of the low overhead costs.

6. DIY and alterations

Sometimes while bargain hunting, you'd come across a top for $5 that you really like BUT it doesn't fit properly or there's an additional bow or ribbon stuck on it's side that you kinda hate. Well, you can always alter it and it'll still be a steal! There are many tailors around HDB that do minor alterations for $5-$10. Or if it's just an additional ribbon you can easily unpick it yourself! The jacket I'm wearing in this post was purchased at Bugis Street for about $10, and it came with a bow sewn on to the back that I really hated, so I removed it :)

This pretty much covers all I have to say about budget shopping, if you have any other tips to add feel free to share them in the comments box ♡

Outfit: Jacket - Bugis Street / Dress - www.mypotabella.com