Meelusha’s Golden Rules for a Responsible Sales Shopping

Dears,

The time has come for our reasonableness, cautiousness, common sense and…already challenged financials (due to playing Santa not so long ago :) ) to be put to a hard test, yes, the Winter Sales have started!!! Uuuuuh, it’s the time of the perfidiously decorated shop windows with the whimsical words “Sales, Rebajas, Saldi, Soldes…”, the carefully arranged shelves and hangers displaying those adorable clothes, that used to cost a lot more and are now emblazoned with magical price cut tags, while you are confronted with the ravishing reality of being able to make so many great deals and own lovely pieces for so much less of an investment…Yes, am getting goose bumps all over already and I just wanna say to myself: Ready, steady, GO! and run off to the mall instantly! Every second I am not in the shops, I kind of feel that amazing deals are slipping thru my fingers…and my heart is racing, am getting restless…

BUT, NO…this year I have set some new golden rules for myself, that I vow to obey and cherish and that will successfully guide me thru this winter’s sales shopping! So here is my credo:

1. Before running off to the mall, raid your closet and refresh your memory with ALL the pieces you own, the ones you actually wear at the moment and the ones that have fallen into anonymity for the past months, but might rise again to become your favorite items someday… You want to buy pieces that match your favorite items and you don’t want to end up buying stuff, that you already have in a more or less similar shape or color.

2. Try to make a list in your mind of what you are looking for, what specific pieces you would actually need to spice up your wardrobe and make new amazing combinations. You don’t want to run clueless thru the mall, with no plan whatsoever, because you’ll just end up buying a lot of stuff you will never really wear, just because the sales were so attractive.

3. Set a budget! Let’s be honest, we’ll go over it for sure, but an approximate limit will still keep things under control!

4. Don’t buy, just because it’s cheap and on sale! You should really like the piece, feel that you would have bought it even at full price and look good in it! If you buy it just for the sake of a great deal, you’ll never or very rarely wear it!

5. Try to get pieces that will either match the coming trends or items that are timeless. Watch out for the S/S 11 trends: 70s styling and patterns everywhere in clothing, shoes & accessories, biker style, maxi and mid calf lengths, earth tones& nudes stay, while rainbow colors come our way, flower & statement-mostly geometrical- prints, playsuits, sheer fabrics.

6. Take your time when you make a buying decision. Don’t rush into anything, if the piece is gone, while you walk around and think the decision thru, it wasn’t meant to be!

7. Make sure to have a nice make-up and hairdo, so that when looking in the mirror, you focus on the clothing on not your bad hair day! When I’m not happy with my hair and makeup, I dislike everything I try on, can’t be really objective and end up buying nothing!

8. Dress comfy and watch out for the shoes! I think dresses or tights and a sweater are ideal. Avoid turtlenecks, too many accessories, too tight pants that you get out of really difficult, you need to be fast and comfortable in the dressing room, or you’ll be stressed and pissed, while also loosing valuable time. In regards to shoes, I would go for UGGs or flat boots up to the knees, as they will look nice will almost everything you’ll try on or at least look neutral.

9. Don’t buy the item if you don’t have something to go with it already in your closet, at least one key piece! You don’t want to buy a piece on sale, that will then force you to buy 5 other items to go with it. You might end up never wearing it, cause it doesn’t go with anything you own or spending money you never meant to or not really needed to spend!

10. Break one of the above rules at most!

Happy Sales Shopping!

Hugs & Kisses,

Meelusha