It takes a lot to be a woman! Girls, it ain't easy! I'm not trying to find a second job so that I can afford keeping up with brow waxing/shaping, tanning, manicure/pedicure, etc. Does anyone have some tips to share? I'm still trying to build a wardrobe and the courage to go out.

You could save a lot by learning how to do eyebrows etc, i use youtube to learn, so much on there. As for wardrobe, well thats a constant battle as you tend to be buying lots all the time. what i have done is to go for jeans and tops, reason is my body shape is changing and the weight is going, so i am in "buy pratical" mode until things settle.

Try it on unemployment.  I learned to do my own acrylic nails and brows.  Shop thrift stores for clothes, Payless for shoes.

You can always come live here in northern Europe. A lot of good secondhand shops and recycling centers where can find very nice things and SRT is payed for by the state

Take a look at the local girls your age and emulate them. I mean, you really are one of them, after all. You will probably find that they don't really have killer wardrobes, and are often pretty laid back in day to day life. Transition is only really expensive until it's over (I can't wait!), then it's all cost of living/ preference business.

You only need one outfit to go out.  Don't put the cart before the horse.

It's probably not my place to be posting here, but I did spent a few years of my life pretending to be female, so I have some advice. As said before, you can learn to do your eyebrows yourself with tweezers. If you pay once to have someone shape them, then you already have a template to work with, and you can just pluck the stray hairs as they appear. I would suggest that, instead of just going straight into it, as accidents can happen! I have managed to put a bald stripe into my eyebrow numerous times.

Regarding waxing, it's obscenely expensive if you pay for someone else to do it. I'm not sure where in the world you are from, but in the UK, it's about £25 - £30 for a full leg and bikini. I also found that it was never really done up to my obsessive standards. Depending on how hairy you are (I have thick hair, and a lot of it), you can get a couple of packs of cold wax from a shop and do it yourself. It generally cost me about £10 to do it myself. If you get an epilator (and can cope with the horrific pain!) then it's a one off purchase. I would still suggest waxing yourself at least once, so you're just epilating the regrowth. Don't try and epilate long hairs!!! And be aware that waxing is rolling around in feathers compared to epilation, in both my opinion, and most other people I've spoken to. Some people are squeamish about waxing themselves, but I personally am more squeamish about paying someone a lot of money to do a job I can do better myself.

For nails and the such... You really don't need to pay someone to do it for you. Natural nails are really nice - grow them long if you want - and if you want a bit of zing, there's plenty of cheaper nail polishes, and you can get stick on nail gems and the like for less than £5. If you really want fake nails, you can still get them pretty cheap in shops, just make sure you get some with a good quality glue! They're still going to be less than £10. You can file them yourself, and paint them and whatnot, all without paying over the odds. Use good hand cream, and you won't need to worry about softening them. It makes a big difference. I can give no advice, really, on pedicures. I don't understand them! (I am still a guy =p) I guess you can just clip your nails and paint them, and use the same cream you use on your hands before bed.

Tanning? Really, do you want to go through transition and all this effort, just to fire cancer causing rays at yourself, and pay for the pleasure? Pale is beautiful, and sensible. If you live in a sunny climate... Well, the rays there are free! Just use suncream. And please don't use fake tan! It's very obvious that it's fake. Girls look so much better without it.

Regarding the wardrobe... Just build slowly, get good deals, don't go mad whenever you go shopping. Limit yourself to a budget, leave your card at home and only take cash.

Wow, I feel effemanate now. =P Hope it helped!

As someone else said, natural nails are pretty easy to do yourself. I got some UV topcoat and a lamp on ebay for about what one manicure costs and it lasts longer now then when I paid to have them done. Same with eyebrows. Thrift store is where I do lots of shopping or check out the online sales at like Belks and other retailers. I got some great tops at lands end for $4 a pop. Yes being a woman isn;t cheap but you can do it on a budget.

Doing my nails is the best part of my day.  Undoing them at night is the worst.  That said, given the opportunity, I'd have 'em UV-Gel-whatevered 24/7.  I'd spend my every waking moment in the salon.  I'm almost always broke, and it might be a good thing.  I'd run up the debt of a small country on nice things I have to skip now.

This rant brought to you by: frustration

I still splurge and have pedicures done. It's SOOOOOO relaxing

Thankfully, I have a friend who owns a salon and he now waxes my brows and fills them for free. As for my nails, I'm actually growing them out so I can start doing my nails. I'm hoping to get a second job in the very near future so that I can begin building my wardrobe. The Goodwill here is amazing and I've already found hot deals!

Thanks, ladies!

Yay!! I am thinking about maybe doing a write up on "doing nails" with the products I found that work and ones that don't.. The hardest part for me was finding a base coat that actually sticks to me nails without pealing. There is a LOT of junk ones on the market..