Gwynnie Bee: How to have new clothes every week and still stay on budget

A while back, I started hearing about fabulous things like Rent the Runway and Le Tote- online services that let you rent clothes instead of buying them.

RTR focusses on dresses and high fashion, while Le Tote is a bit more down to earth. Le Tote's sizing only goes as high as 10, and costs $49/month. But I'm not that small. RTR has up to size 16, but rentals are per item, and usually $50+

And that's out of my price range.

Fortuitously, I happened upon a fabulous thing to soothe my wallet and my self esteem. Gwynnie Bee is a magical land where all the clothes are made for ladies from size 10 - 28. Literally, there are no size twos on the whole site. And I mean, you skinny girls are lucky, but I am not one of you. So instead of going into a store and finding something I love, looking ALL THE WAY AT THE BACK of the rack, and discovering that a 10 is the biggest available size... I can freely peruse my friend Gwynnie's closet and know that most of the garments are available for me to actually try.

Plus, it costs $35 a month for the one-garment-at-a-time plan. So far, I have averaged one rented outfit a week, because it takes about 2 days to get a garment, one day to wear, and two days for it to get returned (all shipping is included). That's basically like spending $8.75/week for a great new outfit. Can't beat that!!

Plus, it has made me branch out and try things I wouldn't have thought I'd like, and it has introduced me to a bunch of new brands! AND if you like a garment, you can pay the Bee a super discounted price and keep it at home. Amazeballs.

Here I am in this week's Gwynnie rental.

Evie Dress by Lucie Lu

(this dress is no longer available to buy, but can be rented at Gwynnie Bee)

I'm not sure the dress flattered my shape the most- I feel that I looked sort of top heavy- but it was a great color, a nice fabric, and definitely comfortable. I won't be reaching out to buy this dress from the Bee, but it was fun to wear for a day, and gave me a switch up from the usual workwear suspects. Plus, for the $8.75/week, I'll take it!

I paired it with an old silver necklace I got as a gift a few years back.

Key Necklace from Piercing Pagoda, circa 2010, approx $25

This exact one is no longer available, but there are plenty of equally low-priced treats from that site.

Check them out here.

Happily, I also got to wear some of my favorite heels with this dress. They are unique, so I don't wear them that often... Sometimes it's hard to color match them (and I also like to space out my wearing of really quirky items to work... I don't want to be "that girl who always wears the feather shoes").

Peacock Feather Heel in Cream by T.U.K, $54.99

Get them here.

I'll continue to share my Gwynnie Bee finds, as well as share my reviews on the service overall!!