How to Update Your Style Without Spending Money

Have you ever felt like it’s time for a change but you didn’t have the tools you needed to make that change happen? Yea I’ve felt that way too. Specifically when I realized I lost myself to motherhood. Okay, not actually lost myself, but I started to feel like I was being covered by my new role as a mom that I wasn’t being seen as myself anymore. Not by me, not by anyone. The uniform became just like every other mom’s: oversized shirts and leggings. It was comfortable but that just wasn’t it for me.

At that time though, spending money on a style overhaul just wasn’t feasible. We had the cost of formula, birthing bills and the like, so my financial hands were pretty tied. In my list of priorities, how I dressed ranked pretty low, but I had to do something. At least something to get the ball rolling so I could feel special again. The question then became, how can I update my style in order to feel better about myself without having to spend an arm and leg?

How to Update Your Style
without Spending Money

[If reading a lot of words isn’t your jam, feel free to scroll down and watch the video.]

1. Grow Your Confidence. 

I know it’s easier said than done. Believe me, I know, but the easiest way to feel better about yourself is to think better about yourself. It’s the least costly thing on this list and it can do wonders for you beyond your style.

You’re probably saying, “That’s fine and all, but how do you go about growing your confidence?” Glad you asked. First, you’ll need to take inventory of all the things you say to yourself that keep you down. Whether it’s about your looks, your intelligence or your actions, you need to call it out. You’ll also want to be able to identify what triggers these thoughts to begin with.

Once you can identify the problems then you can take the steps to fix them. You can do personal development work and learn what you’ll need to start thinking highly about yourself. Create mantras and affirmations to help combat your habitual negativity and repeat them until you yourself knows they’re true yourself.

2. Wear Something You Haven’t Worn in a While.

I think it’s pretty safe to say that we all have something in our closet that we don’t wear often, if we’ve ever worn it at all to begin with. I’ll be honest, I’m guilty of putting off wearing new things until it’s the “right time.” Well, unless it’s your wedding dress reserved for your wedding day, there is no “right time” to wear something in your closet. Every extra day you get to walk on this Earth is the “right time,” so look way back in your closet and pop that tag on that new dress.

Maybe you have a style uniform and you typically wear the same thing everyday. If you want to update your style, throw a curveball. My style uniform is t-shirt and jeans, all day everyday but when I want to spice things up a little, I’ll wear a cute empire waist cotton sundress with a denim jacket. It’s still comfortable and casual but it isn’t expected, so I get all the compliments that day.

3. Try a New Hairstyle.

You may not know this, but your hair is very much a part of your personal style. If you’ve developed a style uniform for this too, it may be time to switch this up as well. Now, you can spend a little money and get pampered by going to shop and getting a haircut, extensions or a dye treatment or you can take your talents to Pinterest and YouTube. Pinterest is a great place to find hairstyle ideas and YouTube is the ideal location to learn how to do those styles on yourself.  But to be honest, you don’t even need to go that far. If you’re a person who regularly wears their hair up, then wear it down; if you regularly wear your hair down, then put it up. It’s amazing how far a minor change will go.

I myself like to switch up my style often. I started my natural hair journey way back in 2014 and since then I’ve regularly tried new hairstyles as I’ve learned to take care of and manage my hair. Through the process, I’ve also learned to love myself a little bit more too.

4. Rotate Your Accessories.

You may think accessories don’t matter but they’re a crucial element to your style. They’re what uplevels your outfit from being basic to having personality. Accessories complete the story that you want your style to tell about you. Now when I say accessories, normally I’d mean jewelry, hats, belts, scarves and the like but with this point, I’m going to include shoes too because it’s the same idea if you were to switch them up too.

If you’re not wearing any accessories to enhance your style, you should definitely start today. It’s amazing how much more confident you feel about yourself after you put just a little more thought and effort into your outfits. If you do regularly wear accessories, try thinking outside the box a little. Look bolder by pairing an outfit with a pair of shoes, earrings or scarf you wouldn’t typically consider. As an example, one day I decided to wear heavily gemmed dangling cocktail earrings with a speckled black t-shirt and I caught all the compliments. The fancy earrings were a strong contrast against the basic t-shirt in the casual office setting that they easily stood out and couldn’t help but to be noticed.

5. Dress in Layers.

One style trick that isn’t discussed much is layering, well the purpose of it. Firstly, layering is when you wear different items of clothing over one another, such as a camisole under a button up shirt or a tank top under a deep v-neck blouse under a denim jacket. The primary purpose of layering is for warmth but the secondary reason is to add depth to your outfit and again, uplevel the basics.

When you layer clothes, you have different lengths of the garments, but you may also have different textures of the fabrics and different prints of the fabrics as well. These features give the eye more to look at and makes your outfit more interesting. So look in your closet and see what you can do. It can be as wearing a graphic t-shirt under a dress or adding a tank top for a pop of color.

To be short and sweet...even though you just read through this whole blog post...the way you update your style without spending any money is by getting out of your norm and going against your routine. Going against how you may usually feel about yourself and going against how you may usually style outfits. To update your style, you have to light a spark in you.

What do you think? Could updating your style be as easy as switching up one thing in your routine? Or do you have to spend a little money to see real change? Let’s talk in the comments.

If you found this post helpful, please share it with someone who’s been saying they need a change in their style. Save it to your style tips pinterest board for you to look back on as we develop your personal style.