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:

• Buy a cheap suit. Well, at least at first. I know this might sound unappealing, but it's an affordable option when you're just starting out and don't have the money to buy that sexy J.Crew suit you've had your eye on. My first suit was black polyester from the juniors department paired with black heels from Payless. Sound terrible? It wasn't. Just remember you're the only person who knows where your clothes came from. Were those stores my ideal choices? No, but the clothes fit well and looked professional. Period.

  You might be thinking at this point that cheap clothes won't last long and will quickly show wear. You're right about that. But if you're careful about budgeting your money and confident enough to rock whatever you put on, that one cheap suit will get you through several paychecks until you can afford higher quality threads.

• Be a good bargain hunter! So, you've got a cute starter suit and a few bucks in the bank. Now you're ready to add some quality pieces to your day-to-day outfits. The best way to begin? FIND THE SALES.

  On a whim, I strolled into The Limited one afternoon during their storewide sale. I made a beeline right for the professional clothing (carefully avoiding eye contact with things I didn't need, like really cute blue jeans) and scored a quality black suit coat for $50, marked down from $200. I kept an eye on The Limited's sales and a few months later, found another black coat for roughly the same price.

  "Why so much black and why the focus on suit coats?" you might be asking. Well, I like black because it's basic and therefore easier to match. My black suit coats mix with nearly everything else in my closet, increasing my outfit possibilities. When I first started shopping for professional clothes, I was less concerned with pants because I could find good ones almost anywhere for a good price. Quality suit jackets on the other hand aren't necessarily hard to find but are usually more expensive than the matching suit pants. So snap up those clearance suit coats–they're a super bonus for your ever-growing wardrobe.

  Two last words on bargain hunting. CONSIGNMENT STORES. There are probably several of these great little bargain shops near your house–just do a category search for your city on yellowpages.com. You'll need to exercise some patience when consignment shopping. You might go every weekend for a month and not find anything, or you'll spy a perfect pair of pants on the rack that are just too small in the dressing room. But there are also those days when you'll hit the jackpot. Exercise diligence and remember, bring cash and your checkbook just in case. Many thrift and consignment stores don't accept plastic.

• Find a great dry cleaner. You'd be surprised how professional even a simple pair of khakis can look when they're perfectly pressed. Likewise, that one cheap suit might last a wee bit longer if you take extra good care of it. Dry cleaning can make your clothes fade over time, so take both pieces (even if only one is dirty) to keep your suit perfectly matched.
• Accessorize. It's a snap to change up an outfit just by alternating the kind of accessories and shoes you wear with it.

I have a particular fondness for funky silver jewelry so I alternate different pieces throughout the week. I also discovered that work was the perfect place to wear the vintage turquoise jewelry I'd inherited from my grandmother, which I'd felt was too dressy to wear to school or on the weekends.

It is this humble writer's opinion that shoes can make or break your outfit, but give Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik the boot. Not only are there plenty of sexy heels and other fun and trendy shoes available everywhere at decent prices, but when a less expensive pair wears out the sooner you get to go shoe shopping again! Speaking of which, don't be afraid to retire those old, used up shoes. Scuffed sides, a ragged toe, or worn down heels can make your whole outfit look shabby.

There are two final pieces of information to keep in mind while you paw through the sale racks:

• Think basic: Choose basic colors and styles that are easy to mix and match. This doesn't mean you have to steer clear of trendy clothes, just don't spend a lot on them. Remember, the less you pay for something that you'll only wear five times, the less you care that you only wore it five times.
• Work with what you have: I had a lot of leftover trendy shirts that worked really well under some of my suits. Some were too low-cut for work so I just saved those for the weekend. Be creative but also be mindful that unfortunately you're not on campus anymore!

So, are you ready to hit the stores yet? Well then, get to it. In the meantime, this chick is signing off and slipping into a pair of pajama pants.

Best of luck!