My Guide to Sale Shopping

It's sale time and this is the time you'll either love or hate. Spurs boy doesn't like sale time at all, which surprises me, as everything is cheaper! :-P

Now I've never been one for having much patience when in a messy, busy, hot and short staffed shop. This from someone who has spent a few years of her life working in that very environment, but this does not make me a happy shopper. I don't mind having a stroll around the shops, but I need to have some kind of purpose for every shopping visit. If it is only for my Starbucks Vanilla Latte with Chocolate Velvet Cake, nom nom nom!

I do like writing lists and as I knew sale season was starting the last few weeks I had taken to writing a list of things I NEED. I highlight NEED as I'm not really a "buy on a whim" purchaser, I tend to think about how many times I'm likely to wear it and what else it will go with. This year my list consisted of;

New smart tops for work

Black smart trousers for work

Possibly a suit for work

Christmas gifts (Yes I have started buying gifts already!)

Earrings (I had a bit of a throw out recently and need to have a re-vamp of my ears lol)

Birthday gifts (August appears to be a busy month)

Tops and shorts for Little man (He seems to outgrow clothes at an alarming rate at the moment)

White shirts for Spurs boy (He has loads but always buys more and I've noticed some of them are going a bit grey)

The Next sale started this weekend and I know for a lot of people going in the store at this time is just too stressful, and I completely understand. I find Primark can be very testing it you happen to go through on a Saturday. Far too messy for my liking! If I'm going to go shopping alone then I ALWAYS listen to my iPod, I can drown out the rest of the world. Of course I always remember to pause it when I pay or speak to people, I know how much it annoyed me when I worked in shops. If I'm not shopping alone then on rely on whoever comes with me to help make this "sale trip" as non-stressful as possible. Shopping with my Mother is a no-no at sale time. 

Armed with my list I make sure I know where the exits are (in case of a quick exit) and where the tills are, I hate shops where they don't make it obvious where you pay. Do you want me to pay? Aargh. I also make sure I know where the nearest Starbucks or cafe alternative, just in case. I'm a great fan of the big stores that have a Starbucks inside them :-)

Now I always stick to my list, this weekend it was no different. I have in the past just gone in and bought apparent bargains and then brought them home and NEVER worn them. How many of us return things that we bought in a sale? I confess I'm not one of them and up until recently had quite a few things in my wardrobe that should have been returned.

This weekend I bought a couple tops for work and one pair of smart black trousers for work; I'm pretty fussy when it comes to work trousers. I need them to have pockets. I hate those sewn up pretend pockets, they try to fool me but I know they are mocking me! I bought two (yes two) suits for work, one in grey and the other brown. Both were £25 down from £90. I bought quite a few Christmas gifts that I obviously cannot go into on here but I was pretty pleased with myself. The earrings part of the list is where my list and I failed. The only earrings on sale were gold ones, I don't wear gold. Although weirdly gold really suits my skin tone I don't like it. So no earrings for me :-( 

I got some clothes for Little man all in the next size up, they are a little bit too big for him now but recently he seems to have decided this is when he's going to do a lot of his growing time. Do not even mention to me about his school trousers! Aargh! Thank goodness for the school holidays. I also bought some white shirts for Spurs boy; he seemed actually pleased to have me buy them! 

I might add I did this shop in two trips. One on Saturday and the other on Sunday. On the Saturday I was with Bestie and she provided me with witty banter to stop me from going insane at the huge crowds and mess. On Sunday I was alone with Eminem (in my iPod!) and I still came out of the shop unharmed and stress free. 

Of course with the house build project we are now on a tight (ish) budget and I admit that I haven't probably had my last fix of "sale shopping" for now but at long as I've got my list and right companion for the trip I will be just fine.

I could of course just shop online... but where's the fun in that? :-P