Okay, readers, who doesn't love opening your closet in the morning to get dressed, and having a lot of options to choose from? Everybody loves that! Duh! It's even MORE fun when you realized that you got a lot of your clothes for a real deal.
I have a ton of memories growing up of following my mom begrudgingly through department stores, where she'd dig through big piles and racks of clearance-priced clothes. I've seen her walk out of the house in the morning wearing super-cute outfits that cost her less than $10, and that includes the top, pants, and shoes. Crazy. I used to hate shopping like that, because it was SO time-consuming, and I would rather be at home reading a Nancy Drew book.
Lately, though, I've come to appreciate the shopping skills that I reluctantly picked up from her. I've tweaked her system a little, and thought I'd share some tips on how to get cute, trendy clothes, and pay WAY less!
Online shopping is your friend...
Some people aren't really big fans of online shopping, and until recently, I was one of them. "What if it doesn't fit?" "But it'll be a hassle to return if it's not right" "How will I know if it looks cute?".
Here's what I do:
- Head over to my favorite store (one of my favorites lately is Old Navy)
- Try on whatever strikes my fancy, taking note of fit, color, how it would go with other pieces in my wardrobe, etc.
- Pull up the store's website on my smartphone, and add items that I really like to my shopping cart (stores like Gap, Target, and Old Navy will actually save your shopping cart, even when you log out!)
- Now that I've saved a couple items in my online shopping cart, I can take a peek once a week or so, and check to see if any of my favorites are on sale, or even on clearance!
The benefit to this is that I actually try the clothes on, and see what works (and what doesn't!). A couple weeks ago I went into Old Navy and did this with some sweet retro-style capri pants. I wanted them in black and in bright pink, so I added them to my online shopping cart, and within a week and a half, they had gone from $30/pair down to $10/pair. Also, since I have shopped online before, I get emails with coupons. Suddenly I was also getting 20% off each pair, bringing my total to $16 for both pairs! How can you beat that!
Sign up for email newsletters...
Yes, these can be annoying, but they can also lead you to some really great sales! I recently walked out of a store with almost $160 worth in clothing, but I paid less than $40. This was as a result of an email I received about a sale, paired with an email coupon, paired with some great clearance sale shopping!
The clearance rack can be scary, just stay in the zone...
As I mentioned before, I used to hate the clearance rack. It's true, it can be really picked over sometimes, and there can be cute shirts with crazy makeup stains on them, but you can find some diamonds in there! A few months back I was eyeing an army-green silk skirt, but put it back when I realized it was $32. Fast forward a month, and that same skirt was on sale for $7! How can you beat that?
Pay attention to clearance priced items...
Clearance sections can be a mess! On a recent shopping trip, I found a super cute retro style Wonder Woman t-shirt in the clearance section. At $11, I wasn't dying to have it. Upon a little further digging in the HUGE pile of t-shirts in the section, I found the exact same shirt in a different size, but it was only $1.25! I brought both to the cashier, and he honored the lower price.
Do you have any great tips for getting a great deal while shopping? I'd love to hear about it!
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