Today’s guest post comes from Nadine in New Zealand, who writes a new budget shopping blog called Thriftyspend.

If you’d like to be a guest Bargain Queen, send me an email.

Savemart is a recycled-clothing chain of barn-size shops in New Zealand. You’ve really got to go in there with a plan of attack and a serious chunk of time.

Here’s the shopping tips that recently netted me three great dresses for $65 (and a photo of my haul!)

Leave husbands and children behind…

…unless you are shopping for them and need them for input or trying-on. The last time I was there I had sent my kids to the circus with their grandparents.

Know what you need

I was focused on the single category of ’summer dresses’.

Grab as you go

I collected as I went up and down the ‘dress’ aisles. I grabbed what I liked as I passed — you don’t want to dither and then try to go back and find something.

Know what suits you

I was doing a first eye-sort by colour (I had “my colours done” a couple of years ago and found it to be incredibly worthwhile). Then I would pull out colours I liked to check size and style. I knew I preferred v-necks and sleeves, and I wanted a good fit through the body, no spaghetti straps, no slits in skirts. Since black doesn’t suit me, I could merrily sail right past the huge black section.

I spotted a V-necked dress in a lovely shade of red, grabbed it, and realised to my mortification it was the exact same dress I was currently wearing. Oh dear.

The quick size check

I checked size by holding them up against me — very unscientific but better than looking at numbers on labels.

Try them on

I ended up with 12 dresses to try on, but they have the “only four garments in the fitting room at once” rule (why? what is the point?), so I had to park my trolley slap outside the changing room door while I worked my way through them. For all of them the colours and styles were pre-selected to work well for me, so it was just a matter of fit.

Buy!

I ended up with three - a purple one and an aqua one which were $20 each (the aqua one from well-known mid-range label ‘Max’), and a pinkish-purple beaded and appliqued silk dress for $25. All are bias-cut and v-necked, but only one has sleeves. And they all make me look like a million dollars.

These are my new dresses:

The two $20 ones are on the left and the $25 silk one is on the right, looking desperately un-ironed!

It took about 2 hours of my time to find them and it cost me $65, but admittedly it was fun. I knew exactly what garment type, colours and styles I was after, which made the whole process much easier.

The pure joy of finding things that suit me so well, for such a reasonable price, is what I treasure about this particular memory.

You can read more from Nadine at Thriftyspend, a great new money-saving blog from New Zealand.

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