Guest post: How to shop on a budget with Megan from The Big Megowski :)

Hey guys, Danielle here :) as some of you may have seen, for the past few weeks I've started having some of my favourite bloggers guest post for me every Saturday until I finish my uni course! I'm so busy right now it's ridiculous, but I don't wanna absolutely forget about my blog, so I thought the perfect thing to do would be to let them take over Floral Danielle so you guys still have some lovely posts to read! If you'd be interested in taking part too, please give me an email at floraldanielle@hotmail.com! Today's post has been written by the lovely Megan from The Big Megowski :)

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Hi everyone. One of the few things I pride myself on is being fashionable on a budget. Especially since blogging I have discovered so many creative ways to get some great fashion and beauty bits very cheap or even better, free! I thought I'd share with you all my top five ways to find a great bargain.

1. CHARITY SHOPS + VINTAGE OUTFITTERS/MARKETS

Charity shops are the number one place to get cheap clothes. I'm not sure if all charity shops do this, but my local one does a sale now and then where it sells all clothing items for €2. One of my most worn tops, just a navy and white striped top is from a charity shop. I only wear it round the house really, but that's what charity shops are great for - the basics. It's a great place to get casual wear or outer wear like oversized coats and jackets. 

Vintage shops on the other hand are a lot more expensive than charity shops, but the cost is worth it knowing that the clothes are at least twenty years old and you won't see everyone else wearing it. Whereas with charity shops you can't guarantee the clothes are old, they could be from last season in Topshop. 

2. SALES + DISCOUNTS

I know, it's an obvious one, but you would be surprised how many people don't go straight to the sale bin. If you're going shopping, but don't have anything particular in mind then have a root around the sale bin. You find some great basic pieces like plain vests or skirts and they are ridiculously cheap. I think so many people avoid them because they're so messy, but you can find some real gems there. I nabbed this khaki tube skirt in Penneys[Primark] for only 50 cent.

Discont codes are a great way to get something cheap too. Before you buy something Google to see if they have any discount codes on at the moment. Especially for people in the UK, UNiDays and Student Beans offer great discounts and freebies. These silver stackable rings were just under €4 on She Inside after using their first-time buyer discount code.

3. EBAY

Again this is quite an obvious one, but people don't utilise eBay enough. Whenever you're going to buy something, especially online, I beg of you to have a quick search on eBay for it first. Unless it's just new in, chances are somebody has bought it, hated it and thrown it up on eBay. Failing that, eBay offers great dupes particularly from places like Hong Kong. If you have a specific event coming up then you best stick to the regular website as a lot of these cheap items come with the flaw that they take a few weeks to ship over.

I bought these round sunglasses last summer for less than €5 and that's including p+p. The downside is it took a 3-4 weeks in the post. The same with these beauty blender dupe sponges. Only 99p or just over €1 per sponge and they took a few weeks to arrive. Definitely worth the wait!

4. BLOG SALES

Blog sales are what most the best part of my wardrobe consists of. They are particularly good to buy makeup from because anyone trying to sell used makeup knows they're going to have to cut the price quite a bit for it to be worth people's time buying. All of the clothes pictured above were bought from Stephanie JW, her blog sale is just always full of gorgeous clothes from the UNIF, Mink Pink and Evil Twin. The Evil Twin Gatacca dress[bottom] was an amazing bargain. I'm not sure the exact price it retailed at but it was over €60 and I bagged it for only €17. 

Not all bloggers have typical blog sales anymore, but use Depop instead which is basically the same principle. The great thing about Depop is they only take 5% commission and they don't have nearly as many rules as eBay or ASOS marketplace which means you're able to do swaps if you please, although be very careful doing swaps. Make sure to check the person out well, as I learnt the hard way.

5. GIVEAWAYS, CONTESTS + FREEBIES

This is the real secret here. Giveaways. So many bloggers do them and somebody has to win, right? Do not be disheartened by losing a few, just keep entering. The more you enter the higher chance you have of winning. I have also won a £40 ASOS voucher, a Harry Potter cushion, a blue stone ring, a gold lion necklace, a $15 Thread Sence voucher and tons more I can't even remember[not trying to brag I swear].

Although I do recommend don't enter giveaways where you have to follow a blog you really don't like, because if you're going to unfollow the blog after the giveaway it's a bit pointless and most bloggers will know the sinking heart feeling of seeing a number drop. However if you're indifferent or even better if you like the blog, then you might as well enter. You're probably following already.

I won the cute little hair slide from one blogger giveaway, I won the blusher, eyeshadows and nail polish along with a ton of other makeup from another blogger giveaway and the fake tan is a freebie Sally Hansen were giving away. It's all luck and if I can win all of this, then you can too!

Thanks to Danielle for letting me guest post on her blog! I've loved putting this post together :-) Megan x

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Thanks so much for reading and thank you Megan for guest posting :)
Which of Megan's tips is your favourite?

Do you use these tips yourself already? :)
Don't forget to follow her on Twitter and Instagram also!

Love Dani

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