Tip #3 - FIND YOUR OWN NEIGHBORHOOD MANANAHI

Here's one of my secret joys: custom-made clothes by our neighborhood "mananahi" (this means seamstress, in case there are visitors from beyond the Philippines). Apart from the smug feeling that comes with knowing what you're wearing is unique rather than mass-produced, I sooo enjoy the thrill of hunting for the best fabrics at local fabric stores!

For designs, I pore over back issues of magazines (click here to read my post on that) particularly my favorites, InStyle and Lucky, to look for style I love -- then I tweak them a bit to make them all my own!

As for my beloved mananahi, she's been sewing for my family for maybe two decades! We just text her on her cell phone, she comes to pick up the fabric and the picture of the design I want, and and off she goes! No need to measure me because she already has my measurements. She keeps a sewing machine in her house, and that's where she sews. About a week later, she texts me, "Joyce, tapos na ang damit mo," and she comes to our house to drop it off.

The best part: my mananahi charges only P80-200 per piece for labor, depending on the style I want her to make! Once, I bought this really pretty printed jersey fabric at a mallwide sale for only P50 per yard at 65 width x 1.5 yards = P75... and my mananahi charged me only P100 to turn it into a wrapdress... result: a one-of-a-kind (or so I hope) wrapdress that costs only P175, but if you wear it with flair, people just may think it's DVF (or so I hope... hahaha)!

So for those of you who haven't tried this yet... just try it once, and I swear you'll be hooked!

FABRIC STORES TO CHECK OUT:

Fabric Warehouse

Shoppesville

Greenhills Shopping Centre

Bloomingdales

Shangri-la Plaza Mall

Cotton Touch

Market! Market!

Fort Bonifacio

And if you don't mind getting your shoes a little bit dirty, there's also Ylaya Street in Manila for fabrics at rock-botton prices!

HOW TO FIND YOUR OWN MANANAHI (if you don't have one yet): Ask around! Ask your mom, your titas, your friends. Someone's bound to know someone, and refer you to a good mananahi.

And when you find one, treat her well -- offer to pay for her transpo, make sure you give her merienda. This is the secret to building a long-lasting relationship with a mananahi who will create loads of Luxe for Less clothing for you throughout the years.

Tip #2 - GO FOR BACK ISSUES.

These days, local magazines go for P100-P150 per issue, and imported ones such as InStyle, Lucky, and Glamour sell for P400-700 each. (Outrageous! In the US, you can get these titles for only $1 or P45 per issue when you subscribe for a year.)

Sorry to say, there's no way we can get the same bargain here. But if you promise yourself to steer clear of current magazines, and instead shop for back issues at Filbars for your monthly magazine fix, you'll be saving lots of Php's -- I certainly have! I set aside just P100 for my monthly magazine fund, and this gets me either a back issue of InStyle, Lucky, or Glamour, or 3 local titles!

Aside from these, I regularly visit websites as Style.com and local online fashion e-zine StealThatLook.com for free, or browse through magazines in salons when I'm getting a haircut or a mani/pedi!

Tip #1 - PENNY-PINCHING IS AN AWESOME ADVENTURE!

Being thrifty doesn't have to mean living a deprived and spartan life. In fact, if you think of penny-pinching as a challenge or an adventure, you'll see just how much fun it can be!

The first two steps, of course, are (a) to live within your means, as well as (b) to prepare for the future by making a habit of saving. But just as important as these two steps, is to minimize the money you spend on things you don't really enjoy, in order to have more to spend on what you really love... things that make you feel like you're truly living a luxe life for less.

For example, if you need a daily java jolt and grab a venti latte at the Starbucks outside your office building every single workday, you're spending enough to buy yourself one new top a week -- all on something you probably don't enjoy as much! So, using out philosophy of directing the money towards what you love, why not make your own brew at home, shop for a new top each week, and go to Starbucks only when it's for a cozy little coffee break with the girls? Which option sounds more fun to you?

Hope you enjoyed this first tip, and do come back often as I'll be posting new ones as often as I can!