Creating a Wardrobe for Under $500

Just saw a post where someone asked how they can create a new wardrobe for $500 or less. Long story short the advice given was that $500 would only get the person 1 good pair of shoes, 4 slacks and 5 dress shirts. I have to completely disagree.

For $500 if you are a smart shopper you can find a great variety of things as long as you are willing to be patient and know where to look. My suggestions are the following: shop discount stores such as TJ Maxx, Marshall's, Century 21 (for those near one), Ross, eBay, etc. For the sake of argument lets take eBay out of this equation. I'm very familiar with Marshall's, Ross and TJ Maxx, and I'll even add H&M to this equation.

At any of these store you can find a great selection of slacks for around $20 or less. What colors to get? Navy, a medium gray, khaki, and if you want a 4th pair of pants, a light gray. Honestly, at most places of work rotating the first 3 pants would get you through the week and then some, if jeans are a casual friday mainstay, even more so.

Shirts: basics, basics, basics! white, light blue, light purple or lavender, striped blue with white, cheek blue  with white, light pink, gray, light purple stripe, light purple check, white formal shirt. Most of these shirts or a variation of these can be found at many of these stores; from $15-25. H&M as well. As of now estimating on the high end with both, $310 thus far.

Shoes: Again, shop around. If you don't mind wearing some lightly worn shoes, browse eBay and you can find a nice pair of cap toes or wingtips for $50 or less. Still want new? Again go for a cap toe or wingtip that mimic the shape of your foot, NO SQUARE toes. If you're lucky you should be able to find a decent pari of shoes for $100 and under. If you can only do ONE pair, go with a brown pair. Why? Brown matches each and every pant combination above best. If you can do two, obviously go with a brown and black.

As of now our grand total with 1 pair of shoes is around $410, 2 pairs $510.

If you are on the slimmer side, H&M has great suits for about $100. Get a Navy or Gray suit, solid navy or gray. Remember that you can double the pants on either the navy or gray suit as separates as well and the jackets can double as individual garments that can be combined with dark jeans, khaki pants, etc.