Cost
Effective Clothes Shopping
By Aggie Garcia, Fashion Designer & Owner of
Illusions by Aggie
In today's economy, we need to think of shopping
wisely for clothes. Shopping wisely includes not
only original cost of the garment but also the cost
of care of the item.
Now ladies, I'm sure that at least one time, you
bought a great pair of pants on sale, only to later
discover they have to be dry cleaned. Let's do the
cost break down on this garment. Let's say you
bought a beautiful $200 pair of pants on sale for
$50. These are trousers that you plan on wearing to
work two times a month.
When you take them to the dry cleaners, you are told
the cost of cleaning will be $8. Usually, you can
wear a pair of pants two times before they need to
be cleaned and pressed. Now, in addition to your
original investments of $50 you just added $16 per
month in cleaning costs. In 1 year, the $50 sale
pants now will cost you an additional $192 in dry
cleaning fees. You can see that this purchase was
not so good after all.
Also, the chemicals used in dry cleaning in time,
breaks down the fabric. And then, there is all the
time it takes for you to drop off clothes at the
cleaners and the return trip to pick them up.
Be sure to check the care instructions on the
garment and then decide if it will be worth all the
costs. Try to purchase clothing that is is machine
washable and dryable. Today's washers and dryers are
built with so many settings that can accommodate the
safe cleaning of your clothing.
