It’s not easy being petite, vertically challenged, or, to call a spade a spade, short. You need help at the grocery store because you can’t reach the chopped spinach. The teasing about your height becomes less funny every year. And you can’t just go shopping the way your average-height friends take for granted. Discount stores don’t have your size. Department stores have your size, but not in enough selection (and usually sequestered in its own little area of the store). Specialty petite stores are expensive and, well, too specialized, lacking a broad range of styles.

It’s enough to drive the time-crunched, budget-conscious petite woman crazy- you don’t have hours to spend hunting for rare petite bargains in different stores, and you can’t afford to shop entirely at specialty stores. Fortunately, if you master some little tricks, you can maintain a petite-sized wardrobe without spending a fortune or wearing out your sneakers.

Keep Your Wardrobe Simple

Some people love to shop- they like wandering around the mall for hours, pawing through the racks and trying things on. These people can buy hard-to-match skirts, tops that will be out of fashion in three months, pants that only match one blouse in their closet.

If you are not one of those people, you like to get what you need and get back to more important things, but the limited selection available in petites makes doing so that much harder for petite women. That’s why it’s important to keep your wardrobe simple.

Keeping your wardrobe simple doesn’t have to mean wearing navy every day, but it does mean making sensible choices, sticking largely to basic colors and styles that are easy to mix and match. Buy pants and skirts, especially, in easily coordinated colors like black, navy, and khaki. This way, you can build the bulk of your wardrobe around one main color palette (for instance, black, red, and white) without being totally boxed in. For instance, if you find a colorful top that you just have to have, you can add it to your wardrobe as a breakout piece, and chances are it will match pants or a skirt that you already own. You will also find that choosing pants and skirts in basic colors means that you don’t need to own- or shop for- as many pairs of shoes.

If you don’t want to spend all your time and money shopping, most of your wardrobe should be classic items that will not go out of style quickly- if it goes out of style, you’ll have to replace it.

Shop Judiciously at Expensive Specialty Stores

The boutique stores aimed at petite women tend to be too expensive to shop at regularly, but by using them carefully you can save time and sometimes even money. If there’s a petite shop near you, find out when they have sales, and make sure to attend; clearances on expensive items can be very deep. These stores can also be a good place to find high-quality basic pieces that you can wear for years, like a classic navy interview suit. While it may be expensive initially, a good fit saves money on tailoring and good quality means it will last longer.

Use Internet Shopping Effectively

Internet shopping, like catalogue shopping, can be a great boon to the petite because it expands their options. But when you order an item that doesn’t look right or doesn’t fit, you have to waste time repackaging it and taking it to the post office, and waste money on both the initial and the return shipping (most retailers will not refund the shipping and handling charge when a garment is returned).

By being selective as to what you order online, you can save time and often money. Don’t shop online when you don’t know quite what you’re looking for; thumbnail sketches are not inspiring, and your eyes will glaze over long before you find the perfect outfit. But if you know you want a red crew-neck sweater, you can get online and find one. Likewise, don’t shop online for anything that you know will be difficult to fit- the chances are too high you’ll wind up sending it back. If you have a favorite brand that always fits, though, that you found in a bricks-and-mortar store, you may be able to find the same brand online and save a trip to the mall.

Shipping costs can make online shopping expensive. To reduce them, order multiple items at once when possible. Look for sites that offer free shipping or have free shipping specials.

Do Your Own Alterations

That you can save money by doing your own alterations is obvious, but you can also save time if the alternatives are going to a tailor or shopping until you find the right size. Sewing machines are less expensive and easier to use than ever before; if you haven’t sewn before, fabric stores sometimes offer free or low-cost lessons.

If you own a sewing machine and can do simple hems, you won’t miss out the next time you find a pair of jeans or a great skirt on clearance in your size but not in petite.

Special Tips for the Super-Petite: When “Petite” Sizes Are Too Big

Are you still waiting to break the five foot mark- and you’re twenty-nine? Do your feet dangle when you sit back in a chair? If so, you’ve already noticed that you are, to be blunt about it, shorter than regular short people. For you, even most petite clothing will be too long, especially in the legs or sleeves.

For the super-petite who can’t afford to keep a personal tailor on retainer, learning how to take a hem is not just a cute way to save money, it’s a matter of survival- unless you like the eighties look of rolled-up jeans. The good news is that once you’ve accepted that you will need to hem them anyway, there’s no need to spend time looking for petite-length pants or skirts; you can simply buy the regular length and cut off more fabric.

You can also learn to shorten the sleeves of jackets and blazers, although it’s not as easy as hemming a pair of chinos or a skirt. Where the short-armed super-petite will run into trouble is with blouses, sweaters, and other long-sleeved shirts that have cuffs, when it’s impractical or impossible to shorten the sleeves. If you need properly fitting dress shirts, you will need either to become a very good tailor yourself or find one to alter the sleeves. An alteration-free alternative, if you wear suits to work, is to choose nice short-sleeve sweater shells to wear under your jacket. When shopping for more casual clothes, look for tops that have sleeves you can easily roll up. Many sweaters, for instance, have cuffs that you can turn over if the sleeves are too long. You can even wear button-downs with too-long sleeves by treating the cuffs almost like the French cuffs on a man’s dress shirt. Simply unbutton the cuff and turn it back over your forearm, as if you were going to roll up your sleeves. You can now simply wear the cuff loose, or you can actually button it closed. You wouldn’t wear it like that to a job interview, but the time-conscious super-petite woman on a budget should be prepared to make some compromises.