Not everyone can afford a weekly splurge at Bloomingdale’s, Harvey Nichols or Barneys. Sometimes, all you need is a little tweak to revitalize your old stuff. Here are three inexpensive ideas that can breathe new life into some of your everyday items.

SNEAKERS

Sneakers are very popular among teens and young adults because they are stylish, affordable and comfortable to wear. Some pairs last for years before becoming worn and disposable. A fun and inexpensive way to give your old pair of sneakers a new look is by simply altering its lacing style.

Don’t just leave your shoes the way they were when you bought them. Take a few minutes off and lace them up to suit your mood or personality. You can even combine your new laces with unusual knots, such as the Halloween, Turquoise Turtle, Better Bow or Freedom Shoelace Knot. Instead of buying a new pair of shoes, why not save a few dollars and get a new set of shoelaces instead?

The Trendy Slip-On

Checkerboard lacing is one of the most popular arrangements in shoe lacing today. The interwoven lacing style creates a distinct and attractive alternating pattern of two colors. This is ideal on wide sneakers and requires two sets of laces with different colors. This type of lacing allows you to easily slip into your shoes because the laces don’t form a knot. It basically adds nothing more than aesthetic value to your shoes and isn’t recommended on running shoes and boots.

A Web Of Laces

Although this style was derived from military boots, the spider web lacing has become a huge hit among sneaker lovers because of its impressively decorative look. The spider web style looks best when there is a considerable gap between the two eyelet rows. The only drawback is that the laces are hard to tighten, although they are already set up firmly to begin with. Use a pair of shoelaces that contrasts against the color of your shoes to maximize the spider web look.

Simple But Stylish

This dual-colored variation of straight bar lacing has two different-colored laces alternating on each eyelet row. Although it requires some extra attention, the end product is very stylish and neat at the same time. Since this design only uses half of each shoelace, you may need to cut off the excess underneath because it can cause some discomfort to your foot. Getting the exact measurements for each shoelace can be a bit tricky, but the main idea is to make the pattern symmetrical.

JEANS

Not all damaged products look awful and horrible. Ripping your old jeans will either make it look cool or disposable. This resurging look is a throwback to the fashion trend popularized by rockstars in the 1960s.

Wearing a pair of ripped jeans is the fashionable way to express your rebellious side. Ripped jeans give guys a ruggedly appealing look, while girls wear them to look sexy and defiant. To turn an ordinary pair of denim pants to rockstar jeans, you need a piece of rough sandpaper or cheese grater, sharp knife, bleach and scissors.

1. Soften. Rub the jeans hard in the knee and thigh area using very rough sandpaper or cheese grater to chafe the fabric.
2. Shred. For the next level, use the blade of the knife and grate the lines of the pants in a perpendicular manner until it shreds.
3. Strip. Use the tip of the knife and rub the frayed area until white strings appear.
4. Rub. Keep rubbing the edges to make the hole bigger, messier and funkier.
5. Repeat. Repeat steps one to four if you want to put more rips to your jeans.
6. Bleach. If you want to maximize the retro look, soak your jeans in water and bleach to age it a little.
7. Dry. After you spin dry your work, you can now hit the streets and sport your new look.

HALF AND HALF SHIRT

Are you tired of wearing the same old set of shirts each week? A creative way to give your shirts a shot in the arm is by combining two of them into one. This is done by attaching a half of one t-shirt to another half of another shirt.

This is an excellent way to celebrate famous rivalries in sports, such as Lakers and Celtics, Red Sox and Yankees or Bears and Packers. You can also create a shirt with contrasting colors or designs. For this project, you need two different shirts of the same size, scissors, pins, sewing needle and embroidery thread. The steps are short, simple and easy to understand.

1. Spread. Lay both shirts on a flat surface.
2. Measure. Mark the center of each shirt vertically and carefully measure each side of both shirts.
3. Split. Cut the center of each shirt vertically from bottom hem to neck through both layers to get four halves.
4. Match. Simply take the left side of one shirt and match it to the right side of the other shirt.
5. Attach. Overlap the fabric by half an inch along the edges and pin it in place.
6. Unite. Sew the two halves together along the pinned edges using an external cross stitch.
7. Wear. Remove the pins and you now have a brand new shirt from two oldies.

These are just three simple and cheap ways to give your everyday clothes a new look. Now you can look forward to wearing some of your old stuff again.