Style & Beauty Money Saving Tips for 2017

Happy Friday the 13th! Since January is the month everyone starts creating goals and resolutions, I wanted to share a few of my tips that I’ve picked up over the years on easy ways to save money. Most of these are style and beauty focused– I don’t know about you but I feel that I sometimes overspend especially in these areas– and a few general tips to help save a buck. Here are my top 10 money savers:

1. Shop Sales: If you’re looking to overhaul your current wardrobe for the upcoming year, be on the lookout for sales, coupon codes and special offers. Keep an eye out for sales from your favorite stores, such as Nordstrom,  that you can score some great finds at even better prices. One of my favorites to shop is Kohl’s–  I love that they offer Kohl’s Cash and you can sometimes combine coupon offers. I did this during the holidays and was able to use my Kohl’s Cash to get items for free. I feel like I’m just a step away from having Kohl’s pay me to shop there.

2. Subscription Boxes: Are you a total beauty addict? If you love trying anything and everything beauty but are looking to cut back on the expenses, try a subscription box like Birchbox. Each month you’ll get an array of different products and brands and it’s only about $10! If you like a mix of beauty, style and home, I recommend the PopSugar Must Have boxes- you get SO many goodies each month under $40.

3. DIY Nails: Getting a weekly mani/pedi can add up super quick and really start burning a hole in your wallet. While it’s nice to feel pampered, you can save so much from painting your own nails and giving your self an at-home pedi. Think about it– one man/pedi costs more than buying a couple bottles of Essie polish.

4. At-Home Coffee: That daily coffee run can rally start wrecking havoc on your bank account. If you’re buying a coffee or tea drink every single day, that’s more than $100 a month… and more than $1,000 in a single year! You can save so much more by purchasing a coffee maker at home and bringing your own. I’m a huge fan of Starbuck’s Iced Passion Tea Lemonades but will even make a batch of these at home. Get the how-to here!

5. Bring Lunch: Another money saver for me has been to bring lunch to work at least 3 times a week. I’ll pack salads, leftovers, sandwiches, sometimes even frozen meals, which helps keep costs down and is more healthy as well.

6. Buy in Bulk: I found that I can save more money if I buy in bulk, even when it comes to beauty supplies. Makeup remover wipes, toothpaste, soap, all that can be bought in bulk, saving a few bucks in the long run. If you have the space to store it, I highly suggest buying items in bulk. Likewise, if the item is on sale- stock up!

7. Bar Night… At Home: Going out for drinks can get ridiculously expensive, especially when I go out around LA and a drink can run you around $15. Ridiculous! Save your money and host a night for your friends– you can cut drink costs down even more by making it BYOB. Another perk? Not having to drive and if someone has too much, they can easily crash.

8. Shop Drugstore Beauty: Working in the beauty industry and for a cosmetics company I can let you in on a little secret- there’s only so many ingredient suppliers in the world so both prestige and mass (aka drugstore) brands are using a lot of the same materials and same quality ingredients, especially when it comes to mascaras, eyeliners, lips and the like. Check out @DupeThat on Instagram to find some perfect (or near-perfect) drugstore dupes of popular prestige shades.

9. Sell Clothes: If you’re in a pinch and need some cash, clean out your closet (another resolution, anyone?) and start listing your items on sites like Poshmark or ThredUp. I recommend looking up like items to see what they are selling for (don’t just look at list prices, look at what has actually sold!) Just be careful not to get sucked in and start buying even more 😛

10. Library Love: I am a voracious reader and would probably be broke by now from spending so much on all the books I’ve read over the last few years. Instead of purchasing so many books (especially ones that I’ll only ever read once), I’ll check them out from the library. LA county has a fantastic online system that allows me to search and place popular titles on hold, and even lets me set which library I want to pick up from. They also have a great e-book/audio library where I can checkout books to read on my Kindle app. If you are one of those that HAS to buy the books, I recommend visiting a local thrift shop- you can score so many good books at much lower prices.

How are you planning to save money this year?

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