This is another of my anti-shopping rants. Yes, I know this may be considered unpatriotic. Afterall, what did the President tell us to do after 9/11? I think it was, "Go to the mall." What are we supposed to be doing with our economic stimulus check (if it ever arrives)? We're supposed to buy something.

One of the most wonderful nights of my life was a college prom I attended with what was then called a "BMOC" (Big Man on Campus). I'd loved him from afar for a year before we started to date. That prom was a night when I thought that all I had ever dreamed was coming true.

Like any college student - a New Yorker, no less - I began shopping for a gown ten minutes after the invitation had been received. I went to Bloomingdales and Sak's and - dating myself horribly - Orbach's and Bonwit Teller. If I tried on one dress, I tried on twenty. In the end, I narrowed it down to two. The first was a short black chiffon dress that my beautiful mother had worn on New Year's Eve (accompanied by little silver stars sprayed in her lustrous black hair). The second gown, the one I wore, was white and slim with spaghetti straps. It belonged to my best friend.

Maybe I'd have felt differently if I hadn't been able to choose, if I'd been told that I had to borrow a gown. Does borrowing a dress - a suit or a coat - for a special event even occur to us anymore?

It should.

Read more budget fashion tips

Save money on hair salon visits

Trimming the prom budget

I didn't become a salon junkie until two years ago, just after I published my first book. I would schedule an appointment to get my hair colored pretty much every time I had a book signing. Since I didn't want to be photographed wearing the same outfit at every event, buying new clothes also became a necessity. After this became a pattern, my husband pointed out that I was spending more money on my hair and clothes than I made selling books.

To commemorate National Hairstylists' Day, I'll share the many ways I've tried to save money on my salon bill since then--something I suspect many other women have done to cut back on spending in recent months. First let me share a brief haircutting history:

Two decades ago, I moved to California and worked as a counselor in a homeless shelter as part of a full-time volunteer program for recent college grads. My $65 stipend couldn't cover my monthly salon bills now. Anyway, I got my hair cut at the Vidal Sassoon Salon in Santa Monica, where student hairstylists gave free cuts.

When I moved to New York City, I worked at a magazine called American Health. Most of the young staffers went to the salon at Barney's New York, where once a week after work student hairstylists cut hair, again at little or no cost (it's been so long I can't remember, but I think it might have been $10, plus tip). A senior stylist supervised and fixed any mistakes, and by the time it was done, it could take up to two hours but it was worth the wait. I spent the next chunk of time in Washington, DC, where I could get a haircut at a nice Georgetown salon for $50 or so. That was a decade ago and I understand that prices there have skyrocketed as they have elsewhere. My neighbor, a British hairstylist, also occasionally cut my hair after work. For $20, I got a haircut and a beer in her backyard.

If luxury car dealers check out your watch and shoes to determine if you're a serious buyer or not, it stands to reason that they'd check out your bag, too. Bags, after all, have become the signature accessory for the well-dressed gal who wants to show off the thickness of her wallet.

Or the thickness of her head: It's possible to spend six-digits for certain designer bags. We know they're cute and all, but spending the equivalent of a year's salary for a purse strikes us as, well, profligate. But then we suppose that's the point.

We here at WalletPop prefer to find our "signature" accessories on the cheap. And nobody has to know you've bagged a Fendi bag for more than 1/2 off, do they? We promise we won't tell.

Here's a sweet deal: This lovely leather hobo bag in camel is normally nearly $900 - selling here today for the affordable (for designer bags that is) $375. Not only does it come to you via free shipping, you get the dust bag, too. Check it out at SnazzyBuys.com.