5 Tips to Help You Survive the Sale Season

Back in my student loan days I used to be really eager to hit the shops after christmas for some sale shopping. Now I’m a little bit more cautious when it comes to sale shopping. Don’t get me wrong I love to pick up a bargain as much as the next person but having worked in retail for a good number of years I no longer feel inspired to rush out as I once did. However, you may have some christmas cash burning a hole in your pocket right now and want to take advantage of the discounts seem to be on almost everything. So I thought I’d put together a little post on helping you out during the sale season.

• Don’t rush, shopping can be addictive for some people because of the endorphins that are released when spending wads of cash. Don’t let the discounts blind you, just because it has 50% off does not mean you instantly need it or it will be a valued addition to your wardrobe.

• One of my readers prompted me to do this post as he believes it’s not worth shopping during the sale as it’s all old stock. He is right, retailers discount last season’s stock to make way for up and coming spring summer collections. But sales can still be a great time to shop. Men’s fashion is not as fast paced as women’s so trends tend to stick around a lot longer. Having said that you can never go wrong sticking to classic pieces, you get a huge chunk off the retail price and get an item that you’ll still be wearing in 5 years time.

• If you really want to stay ahead of the game and want to invest in something that is fashionable then you need to do a bit of prep work before hand. By this time of the year the spring summer fashion shows have already been and gone. However, it maybe worth seeing what’s on trend for the up coming spring summer, I’ll come to why in my next point. You will also start to find pre fall collections surfacing on the internet. Have a look what’s cropping in these collections and use this knowledge to get a discounted fashionable piece  a year in advance.

• Usually it’s the current winter stock that goes into the sale and you’ll probably find up to 70% off as it gets towards the end of January. However, I know in particular some designer department stores also bring back the previous spring summer stock. This will start from around 70% off and eventually go down to around 90%. Again, do your homework and look out for trends that have carried over and classic items. I used this very trick one year to bag my mum a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes for £30!

• Finally, set yourself a budget. I’ve seen people walking around with arms full of clothes before that they probably don’t need. Just because your credit card survived christmas doesn’t mean you should kill it at the beginning of the new year.

If you do choose to go sale shopping this year I hope you have fun and find some of these tips useful. Let me know how you get on or if you’ve already found some bargains by commenting below.

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