Shopping secrets (shhhh…)
Being a savvy shopper is important! There are many great shopping secrets you can use to save money and shop like a personal shopper would. It’s actually pretty fun when you learn the tricks of the trade, and saving money becomes like a game. Call it “shopping intelligence?” Here we give you our best advice to help you bring down the cost of items in your wardrobe and other ways to organize your shopping!
use cashback sites
This is one of our favorite tips! There are great, easy-to-use cashback websites now that with the click of a button gets you money back from the online purchases you make. For fashion-related purchases, we love Rakuten (previously called Ebates), TopCashback, and swagbucks. They give you a percentage back on your purchase (percentages per store change almost daily). Whenever you’re making a purchase, just put your items in the store’s shopping bag online. Then, go to Rakuten, TopCashback, and swagbucks to check which has the higher percentage back for that particular brand that day. Click the link to shop at that brand, it’ll open a new tab through which you can go to your shopping bag where you’re items are ready. Just continue checking out through that same tab and your purchase will be logged in the cashback program!
After the initial (easy) set up on both Rakuten, TopCashback, and swagbucks, it really just takes an extra click or two each time you’re buying something online. Then you reap the rewards of money sent back to you weeks later! Some cashback percentages can be as high as 50% sometimes on certain items or services!!! Clothing brands usually range from 1% to 15% cashback.
Set up your Rakuten (previously called Ebates) account here.
2. Save items online
If you don’t need an item urgently, put it in the store’s online shopping bag. Most brands online save your item in your shopping bag ongoing unless you delete it or it’s sold out. Keeping it in the shopping bag allows you to check back every now and then to see if there’s a new site-wide sale or individually on that item. (Certain brands don’t store items in your shopping bag for more than one day, but most keep them there.) Many brands also allow you to click to “save for later” which is useful in the same way.
Nordstrom is a great site to put items in your shopping bag and then watch the prices change! If you love getting a great deal, put items you love in your shopping bag. Then wait for when the price is reduced to buy it!
Not only can you easily keep tabs on price changes but it allows you to store items while you think about them before buying. You can plan an outfit or a wardrobe capsule across multiple brands, then once settled on which items you like best, place your purchases.
3. Create a separate email
Most stores and brands run different sales constantly. It’s actually rare for a brand to never discount their products. Learn to take advantage of the times clothing, shoes, and accessories are on sale, instead of paying full price! Some stores even discount their items 50%-60% at times — it’s the exact same stuff so you might as well get a better deal on it. A great way to track all the sales is to create a free email account with a provider such as yahoo or gmail. Have this as a separate email you only use for stores — when you’re buying online or when you’re signing up for store promotions. That way, you aren’t bombarded daily with all the notifications of sales in your regular email. When you want to make a purchase, just open and check your shopping email account for any recent notifications you can use.
4. Learn the sale schedule at your favorite stores
Stores each have their own way of doing sales. Pay some attention to the way your fave stores do them, this will enable you to save a lot of money! Learn when stores do their sales, or if a store doesn’t do them at all. Try to only buy something full-price if you really can’t get a discount. And remember, certain stores regularly do 50% off (or more) on everything in the store—you want to know this so you don’t just pay full price!
5. End-of-season sales
End-of-season sales are a fantastic time to stock up on classic pieces for your wardrobe! Pieces that are not super-summery often have great discounts in at the end of the fall/winter season, such as a great leather motorcycle jacket. You can wear it most of the year, but you paid often 50% to 75% off! Check around in the sale sections (in store or online) of great brands at the turn of the seasons. You may be surprised what you can find!
For great fall/winter finds, look around February and March.
For spring/summer scores, it’ll be about August and September.
