From watering holes to workouts, it’s well known that relying too heavily on your old faithful usually means getting stuck in a rut. Things are no different when it comes to style.

It may be easy to overhaul an entire wardrobe with a six-figure salary and a stylist on speed dial, but the question for many of us is how do you go about making changes if your bank account is more lemonade than champagne?

Whether you feel the urge to smarten up for the New Year or are just fed up with being asked whose funeral it is every day, here are seven inexpensive ways to look money.

Step 1: Ask The Tough Questions

Saving money starts with being wise about what you invest in. So before you dive headfirst into the rails, it pays to swot up on a few cent-saving guidelines.

The most obvious of the lot is that if you’re not completely sure about an item, don’t buy it. Simple. That doesn’t mean indefinitely; go away or bookmark the page and mull it over, then come back to it in a week and see how you feel. Think about the rest of your wardrobe, which won’t go up in sacrificial flames not matter how bored you are of it. Will the new purchase match enough of your go-to basics or will it require back-up from an extra five new purchases?

The other internal debate worth having while shopping is whether what you’re buying will actually help switch up your style. It’s alarmingly easy to hoodwink yourself by making a case for a capped sleeve navy T-shirt, despite already owning five with ordinary sleeves.

Step 2: Plan With Military Precision

As the old saying (kind of) goes: proper preparation prevents poor purchases. In other words, taking stock of your existing arsenal and drawing up a plan of action is essential before stepping into the shops.

Start by opening up your wardrobe and ensuring you have all the year-round essentials a modern man, regardless of his style, needs: white T-shirts, dark denim, Oxford shirt etc. By simply filling these gaps, you open up the options available to you when getting dressed each morning.