Dressing business casual on a budget can seem like a daunting task. Whether you just started a new job or an internship, there are always going to be new things to buy.

Yet, after graduating from college or if you’re still in school, buying the necessary wardrobe can seem out of reach. However, in this article, we’ll explore all of the options and things to consider when dressing business casual on a budget.

Other than relying on parents or a credit card, there are ways that we can create amazing business casual outfits and save on the cost.

Tag along on today’s article exploring dressing business casual on a budget.

Dressing Business Casual on a Budget – Know Your Workplace

Our first tip for dressing casual on a budget is to make sure that all of your money is being spent wisely. So, the first thing you should do is to make sure you understand the vibe of your workplace.

Before you start to spend big bucks, or any bucks, on some new clothes, you’ll want to make sure you’re buying the right thing. In an unfortunate situation, you may buy an entire wardrobe, maybe even for a great price, then realize it’s not the right fit for your work environment.

When you start buying business casual clothes on a budget for your workplace, we’d recommend sticking to relatively safe options to start. Stick with timeless classics, rather than starting out with a bang.

Of course, some people prefer to start out a little louder than others – nothing wrong with that, if that’s your style. We’d shoot for timeless, sleek options, and let your work speed louder than your clothes for the first few weeks.

Once you’ve identified the general feel of the environment over that time, you can start to hone in on your options. Not to mention that, over those few weeks or months of observation, you’ve been saving up a few bucks.

Read on to learn about using your existing wardrobe for dressing business casual on a budget.

Dressing Business Casual on a Budget: Use Your Existing Wardrobe

Now that you’ve identified your target wardrobe, it’s time to start considering options on where you can pick up your business attire.

One of the best places to start is to check out your own closet. While this seems self-explanatory, many people actually forget this step or overlook it. There may be lots of options that you’ve forgotten over the years but may come back to surprise you.

It’s important to understand that there are limits, however, on what you can use from your current closet. Unless it’s already looking great, we would suggest going out and checking a few spots for some refreshed classics.

When looking through your existing wardrobe, you can start by identifying pieces of clothing that you certainly will not wear into the office. We’re talking graphic tees, mini skirts, yoga pants, etc. Then, we can take a closer look at some items that may work, including:

• T-shirts
• Blouses
• Polo Shirts
• Shoes
• Belts
• Jewelry
• And more!

Understanding and taking inventory of what you already have will help to guide your next step of filling the gaps in your wardrobe. When shopping for business attire on a budget, we want to make sure that we aren’t spending more than we absolutely need to.

Read on to learn some of our recommendations for buying items for dressing business casual on a budget.

What to Buy on a Budget

First and foremost, it’s important to realize that it is better to have a few high-quality items than a lot that simply don’t fit the bill.

When you have a few items that you can mix and match, you suddenly open your wardrobe to a wide variety of options. When starting out, just buy enough for 7 or 8 days of work. If you start off with this, you’ll be able to mix and match tops and bottoms to create unique and seemingly different outfits.

We don’t recommend wearing the same outfit over and over again to work (unless you have a specific uniform), but neutrals and mixing and matching are our friends.

After you’ve worn all of these first items to the office, take some time to think about what you liked, didn’t like, what fits in and what didn’t, etc.

Ultimately, a formal suit will likely be the largest cost if you do have to wear one. To that effect, make sure that the pants, dress, skirt, and/or blazer can all be worn separately, as pieces of unique outfits.

Picking a neutral base color such as black or gray will allow for a variety of accessorizing and mixing and matching options further down the road.

Here are a few items that a woman’s starter closet would likely contain:

• One or two pairs of classic neutral shoes
• A few accessories such as a necklace, watch, or scarf can be added to any outfit
• Two or three cardigans or blazers
• A week’s worth of ‘nicer’ tops – this can even just be a standard sleek t-shirt
• A neutral dress
• At least one neural skirt of proper length for your environment
• One or two pairs of trousers, preferably in a neutral color

If you have all of these items, you’ll be well on your way to mixing and matching to success. Dressing business casual on a budget can easily be achieved if this is your foundation!

Read on to learn some final items that we’d recommend buying from the beginning.

Where to Buy Off-the-Bat

In this day and age, clothing is everywhere, accessible with the click of a button or a tap of a phone. There are always going to be fast fashion options, which will be budget-friendly.

However, with these ‘fast fashion’ options, quality is often low. Shops such as Express, Uniqlo, and Old Navy are classics when it comes to finding reliable basic options.

Depending on your budget, you may even want to explore options like eBay or a thrift store. However, if possible, this should likely be avoided.

If you and your friends graduated college or school around the same time, some of your friends may be in a similar situation to you. If that’s the case, there may be a lot of clothes floating around that weren’t the right fit, style, or aesthetic for a given work environment.

One great option is to reach out to some friends that may be in this situation and have a closet-swap gettogether.

At the end of the day, dressing business casual on a budget is within reach for everyone. While options vary, there are channels and avenues for all kinds of price ranges.

Thanks for joining us on our article to discover dressing business casual on a budget!

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Fast Company takes a stab at answering the question, what is business casual?

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