I was raised by a wonderful woman who taught me more useful things than I could count, but there was one thing she hated and avoided at all costs–shopping. My mother shops like a man. She knows what she wants, walks straight to the rack, and buys it, sometimes without trying it on. Window shopping was unheard of (unless it was antiques or pets), and her idea of fun definitely was not going to the mall to try on all kinds of fun stuff. She likes efficiency. Can you blame her?
To the dismay of my mother, she still ended up raising a daughter who enjoys shopping. I mean, come on, one of the most fun parts of prom is trying on every cute (and ugly) dress you see, no matter the price. The problem, though, is that I never really learned how to shop for the best prices. Now that we have kids, this is becoming a problem.
Here are a few tricks I know: shop at consignment shops, buy clothes at the end of seasons, and the greatest bargains are the days after Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, that’s where my knowledge ends. Thankfully, we have never really had to buy clothes for Liam because of hand-me-downs from one of his cousins, but with the cooler weather yesterday, I panicked when I realized Ariana doesn’t have a single pair of pants or a jacket. Though we usually shop at Walmart for the kids, we ran to the mall to look. After seeing the prices, I couldn’t bring myself to buy more than three items.
Clothes shopping is an area I would really like to improve, both the amount I pay and being better prepared so I don’t have to make last minute trips. For all of you shopaholics, would you mind sharing some advice? Besides the sales times I mentioned above, are there other times in the year or season (or week) you typically find good sales? What are your favorite stores for the prices and sales? How can I find out about sales that are going on without going to the store? Also, I do love consignment shops but was wondering what your favorites were? Any additional advice is also welcome.
