You've just spent several years and several thousand dollars educating yourself. You have the perfect job lined up, but when you open your closet you discover your college wardrobe is sadly lacking for a professional setting. You realize that the carefree days of rushing out the door at ten 'til eight wearing the shirt you slept in and jeans you pulled from the hamper are over.

Believe me, readers. I speak from experience. My first job out of graduate school required me to wear a suit, and I found myself thinking, how on earth can I afford to revamp my wardrobe without going broke?

Perhaps you're in the same boat, asking yourself the same question. The good news is this: updating your wardrobe doesn't have to put a dent in your pocketbook. I'm going to tell you how to stretch your college wardrobe to fit your new professional life without spending all of that hard earned graduation money.

Before I get to the bullet points though, I'd like to give you a reality check. One, don't feel pressured to have a different outfit for each day of the month. This is a highly unrealistic and self-defeating goal for the budget conscious shopper.

You also don't have to have the creme de la creme. Chances are good that at the moment, you can't afford the sexy and expensive suits at Banana Republic or in the pages of Elle and Cosmopolitan. In fact, that's the other reality check – keep your nose out of fashion mags. While they might inform on the latest trends, they often fail to recommend where you, the average hot mama, can buy clothes you can actually afford. Even those that do are still pretty good at sabotaging your self-confidence. You are trying to build a wardrobe on a budget, and the last thing you need to see are sophisticated models in gorgeous, expensive clothing.

Okay, on to the good stuff. Here are a few "I've been there and done it" suggestions on how to graduate your wardrobe from casual college student to confident business professional: