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5 Frugal Steps to Save Money on Clothes

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Clothing is a necessity, but you don’t have to spend a lot to look good. Most people I know who have children have found ways or try to find ways to save money on clothes. Here are some of my favorite tips that everyone can use to help make this an area budget friendly.

If you need help saving money in other areas of your budget check out this article on 5 useful ways to save money on utilities.

Use resale shops to make purchases

Thrift shops or resale shops are great places to pick up bargains. Many people take things to these stores so that they can get credit. These credits can often be used to purchase items from the store or can be turned into cash. Every store has its own policies, but this makes thrift stores great places to pick up new wardrobe pieces.

Additionally, because their items are continually turning over, you can check several times a week and may have many things to choose from. Check for sales or when they run specials. Many thrift stores will run monthly or weekend specials that will help you save even more.

Sell older items

If you have clothes you are no longer wearing, sell them. This is a great way to save money on clothes because you can then use the money you earn to purchase new items. Using the money from your older clothing items helps ensure you continuously have a friendly clothing budget.

One of the best ways to clean out your clothing is to follow the Marie Kondo Cleaning method. She will teach you how to decide what you need to keep, as well as how to organize your items.

Buy items on clearance

When you do have to purchase something new find the clearance racks. Many people shop the clearance racks to get great deals and help you save money on clothing. Don’t forget the online clearance sections of your favorite stores too. Just because you are not in a physical store doesn’t mean you can’t find great deals.

Staple Pieces

Basic tank tops, athletic wear and basic pants do not need to be a designer. No one is going to notice if your tank top you see about two inches of is from Target. Use in-store specials and sales to maximize savings on these staple pieces.

If you are really looking to save money on clothes, skip the fancy athletic wear all together. Your work out clothes do not need to be fancy, just get what means your minimum needs. For many people that is shorts and a decent fitting tank top.

Make a list

Treat clothes shopping like you would any other shopping adventure. Start with an agenda. What are the basics you need to purchase? You may find an awesome pair of jeans, but if you already have 30 pairs at home, you are not wearing, skip that item and purchase what you need.

You are not saving money on clothes just because you bought something on sale. Like my husband always tells me we aren’t saving money by buying things we don’t need.

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Fabulous ideas for Valentine’s Day – A Gift Guide

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Are you trying to figure out that perfect gift for your loved one? Do you want to make sure that Valentine’s Day is special? Here are some gift guide ideas for Valentine’s Day.

If you are looking for that perfect activity to do for a date night then you need to read 10 Valentine’s Date Ideas that are Simple and Easy.

Gift ideas for Valentine’s Day

For the fashion diva in your life get her a fantastic pair of leggings with built-in support! Or one of the other clothing options! Spanx features cute apparel items ranging from shapewear to swim; they even have a men’s line.

Since there are many great ideas, we recommend you check out Top 5 Best Selling Leggings! Spanx has a wide range of products for the woman in your life.

SPANX

One of my favorite places to shop for gifts is Mixbook. They have a wide range of items that can be customized. From canvas prints to Custom Photo Books at Mixbook you are almost guaranteed to find some ideas for Valentine’s day here!

Recently we visited Oahu, Hawaii and one of the things I discovered was the amazing coffee on the islands. Coffee is one of my absolute must-haves to start my day. For the coffee lover in your life, this is a great idea for Valentine’s day.

100% Kona Coffee

Last but not least for the entrepreneur in your life! Whether that is Direct Sales, at home business or just someone who wants to gain some extra Social Media skills. Then you must help them by purchasing one of the courses from The Socialite Suite or The Purple Teacup.

We hope you have enjoyed the ideas for Valentine’s Day that we have put together for you. Feel free to comment if you have other great ideas for those deserving a gift for Valentines.

How to set your Twitter Goals for Success

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Twitter for business is one of the most underutilized Social Media platforms for Direct Sellers, bloggers, and Small business owners. With more than 330 million users per month it ranks higher than Pinterest and Reddit. Twitter is only outranked by Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. To take advantage of this seemingly untapped market, you need to set some twitter goals.

How to set Twitter Goals

Goals are essential to helping you determine what is working with your social media strategy and what is not. Setting up twitter goals is like setting up goals in anything. You need to decide what you want out of the platform before you can choose what you want to concentrate on.

Reviewing your Twitter Analytics (which we will talk about in a moment) will help you determine which goals you should concentrate on. Most people are focused on increasing followers at first. However, I will caution you that quality and loyal followers are far more critical than the number you will see. After all, if no one engages in your content, it really won’t help you long term.

Some Examples to consider:

  • Followers
  • Mentions
  • Retweets
  • Visits
  • Leads
  • Sales

All of these things are measurable. So pick a couple and set a timeline for them. Then write them down and check on them to see if you are on track to meet them. If you are not on track, then reassess your strategies and determine what you need to change to reach your goal.

Best ways to use Twitter for business

There are many ways to use Twitter for your business.

  • Live Sales
  • Videos of products
  • Marketing
  • Promotional Materials
  • Twitter Chats

For more information and some Twitter best practices check out TWTR: Using Twitter in a Social Media World

Twitter Analytics

Like most social media platforms Twitter has analytics available to you. These allow you to review your tweets, your audience and determine what has worked and what has not.

Check out your Twitter Analytics at https://analytics.twitter.com and sign in with your twitter account.

Don’t forget to come and follow me over on Twitter for more great tips for success! If you are interested in learning more Twitter strategies to help you succeed; consider our Twitter Training for Direct Sales / Small Business and Blogging Success.

BONUS: If you use code SPECIALDEAL you can get our twitter course for 50% off!

FREE Stock Photos for Amazing Graphics

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Having your own graphics is so important when you are trying to stand out from the crowd! You can read more about why I think it’s essential to brand yourself in my Direct Sales: How do I brand myself? article.  When you want to make your graphics sometimes you need a good photo and using stock photos can help. Here are a few places you can start your search for Free Stock Photos.

Ivory Mix

Ivory Mix has lots of free downloads you can use. Most of them are quite feminine in format which makes it great for the boss ladies out there. You do have to sign up, but then you get access to their free images which they add to every month.

Free Stock Photos for Amazing Graphics #free #stockphoto #imagestouse #socialmedia #directsales #stockimages

Site advantages

  • Lots of variety
  • Beautiful flat lays
  • Commercial use allowed
  • Royalty Free

Unsplash

Unsplash has so many great things to choose from, and they are all FREE. They have over 300,000 images on their site, and they add to that listing every day.

Free Stock Photos for Amazing Graphics #free #stockphoto #imagestouse #socialmedia #directsales #stockimages

Site advantages

  • So many things to pick from
  • Easy to use search features
  • Images are categorized

Canva

Canva is excellent for many reasons, but the editing options are what sets them apart for me. One of my favorite uses is Resizing photos quickly with Canva. Even if you don’t take advantage of their photo editing, they have a pretty comprehensive database of images you can use.

Free Stock Photos for Amazing Graphics #free #stockphoto #imagestouse #socialmedia #directsales #stockimages

Site advantages

  • Built-in editing
  • Templates
  • Easy to find images

Pixaby

Pixaby kind of drives me crazy because the photos I always see first are the ones to Shutterstock. Once you get used to not looking at those, you will be fine!

Free Stock Photos for Amazing Graphics #free #stockphoto #imagestouse #socialmedia #directsales #stockimages

Site advantages

  • Easy to search
  • Once you click on an image, you can see other similar photos. Having choices is especially helpful if you are a blogger trying to create a series with similar images.
  • Lots of choices and design aesthetics

Just a reminder, that site you are using resources from, make sure you check their terms of service. They may change, and you wouldn’t want to be held liable for using something you shouldn’t.

For more great tips on how to succeed in your business check out Pinterest tips for maximizing results.

Women to Watch: Direct Sales – Jamie Makin

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I love a good Pampered Chef recipe, and I’m sure you do too. This company has so many great products and sometimes it can be a little overwhelming. One of my favorite consultants is Jamie Makin. It’s fun to find out What Jamie’s Makin tonight, read her recipes and blog articles. Additionally, she has a fun facebook group full of additional recipes, product info, and amazing women! I’ve found myself learning lots of stuff and with great company.
Come read a little more about Jamie and what makes her so adorably awesome!

Can you tell our readers about yourself and your blog and Direct Sales company?

I’m a furmom and a human wife with a million little responsibilities every day. Puns and pizza are my love language. At no point in my life have I ever had just one job, and now is no different. I’m a landlord, and in the middle of a huge home reno, we are diy-ing. I’m also working daily on my Pampered Chef business, and embroiled in the gig economy as an Uber & Lyft driver in my “spare time.” The people you can meet driving rideshares are amazing! My latest passion is pouring my soul into my blog- What’sJamieMakin.com. My vision is for this blog to be *the* resource for busy boss bitches like me who need the best, curated info on how to efficiently run their businesses and while they are there, they can pick up a quick recipe to feed their family that uses real food. Everyone’s lives are so busy, but that’s even more true for the mompreneurs of the world.

How long have you been involved in Direct Sales?

I’ve been involved with Direct Sales for quite a few years. I started waaaaaaay back when I was just out of college. It was a company that I thought I’d use the products and maybe make a buck. Well, not so much. There were a couple of other companies in the middle, too. Nothing plucked that heartstring, ya know? I wasn’t passionate, or even interested in the products, so I never really put in much effort. But then I was invited to a Pampered Chef show. Oh my goodness… I was immediately hooked! The funny thing is, I attended as a guest and even hosted for 13 years before I even considered joining. And it was my Husband’s idea that I join- my Consultant at the time didn’t even invite me to join! 5 1/2 years later, I’m still in it to win it and loving every minute.

Can you tell me some of your strengths that helped you in Direct Sales?

It’s a hard thing to list your own strengths. I guess there are a couple of things I can see as helping me in my business.
First, I really have little fear of failing. Don’t get me wrong. I want everything I do to work,  e successful and beneficial to my customers. But I don’t let that stop me from trying anything. Really, what’s the worst that could happen? Most times, it’s just that you’re out a bit of money. As long as you learn *why* it didn’t work, I’d say the lesson was worth it.
Second, I’m able to laugh at myself. I’m human. I make mistakes. Own up to them, maybe even joke about it a bit, and move on. My group of Homies (what I call my Facebook group Community) appreciate that I’m a real person, just like them! I don’t read directions all the time; I screw up, I go live in my pajamas without makeup… we connect because I’m real. Life is not that serious.

How do you manage your time?

The two dirtiest words in the English language- Time Management. Lol! This has been a long time in development. There are so many theories out there, and I’ve pretty much tried them all. In the end, I’ve landed on what works best for my chaotic lifestyle and my “you can’t tell me what to do” attitude. I make a list of 3 things to get done every day as well as things that need to be done sometime in the week. Then I set myself a timer for 30 minutes and work, without getting distracted, on only the top 3 things for the day. Once that 30 mins is up, if I’m in the zone, I reset it and go again. If I’m not feeling it, I’ll take a 30 min break and do something else. Then I restart that timer and force myself to focus again for 30 mins. If I’m still feeling the flow after I get the day’s three things done, I start to tackle the weekly tasks. Most of the time this works. Sometimes, it all goes to Hell. I guess that’s called balance.

What is one piece of advice you would give to someone just starting?

The one piece of advice I’d give someone starting is to put blinders on. It’s very tempting to follow the other “successful” consultants in your company and emulate everything they do. It’s totally ok to not reinvent the wheel every time, but make sure that you’re doing it in your own way/voice and not comparing your results to theirs! This is extremely difficult to do. It’s human nature to analyze our success or failure, and we need a baseline to do that. But someone else’s benchmark isn’t yours. Compare your results to *your results*. That’s the only true way to know if you’re improving or having successes. Because Gina got 25 preorders and you only got five doesn’t mean anything. You have no idea how hard Gina worked for those 25. Now if you got 5 and last time you only got 2… well, hot damn, girl! You just got a 250% increase! Way to go! Analyze what you did differently and do it again!

What is your biggest motivation? pampered chef

My biggest motivation is that I will not go back to work for someone else. I was a Social Worker for 15 years, and it slowly sucked the life out of me. I was unhappy, and I didn’t even realize it. It’s important to me that I never go back to working in an office 9-5 again. My pajamas and couch are comfier.

In the future where do you hope your blog and direct sales will take you?

I foresee my blog becoming a go-to resource for folks in Direct Sales, specifically Pampered Chef, and being yet another source of passive income for me. My plan with the company is to continue to share the business with everyone I meet and see how Pampered Chef might fit their life and goals! I’ve shared with 35 people so far, and my passion for it only grows deeper. I love teaching and helping everyone get better, so by teaching and sharing with more people; I’m sure I’ll be rising the promotion ladder. I’d love to make it to the tippy top and be a National Executive Director and have influence over the direction of the company. So many wonderful things have been happening with our new CEO, Tracy Britt-Cool, And it’s exciting to see what’s on the horizon and think I will be a part of it.

Other Women To Watch:

Valuable Holiday Blog Schedule you need to know and FREE Printable

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When you start out blogging one of the hardest things to wrap your mind around is blogging early for seasonal events or taking into account holiday blog topics. Some things happen every year like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Christmas. However, creating a holiday blog post after the date has passed pretty much makes your effectiveness zero until next year.

When to create Holiday Blog posts / Event posts

With most holidays or Major events you want to be posting your articles at least a month ahead of the event. For some holidays like Christmas, you want to begin your Pinterest strategy to start at the end of June or Early July. When you are blogging, you want to be very conscious about when you are posting. Start thinking about your posts as a significant part of your social strategy and marketing content areas. You want to post when it makes sense. This allows you to maximize traffic to your social funnels and is an integral part of blogging.

***For tips on social marketing I suggest you join the Socialite Suite who offers a course on Funnel Strategy.

Sassy Suite Understanding Funnel Strategy video course Topics to write about

Writing blog posts about gift ideas for a holiday such as Mother’s Day or Father’s Day are always popular. Other favorite ideas are crafts, DIYs and tips, and tricks. If you need some help determining what to write about join our blogging community The Bloggers Bistro get all the best blogging tips. Additionally, check out this fantastic article by Pinterest on trending events for each holiday.

Free Printable

I’ve created a FREE printable for you to use that will help you decide when you should start considering holiday blog posts based on Pinterest activity around those events/holidays.

If you found this article useful, please share it so others can see it as well!