mfad•3y ago

finding sales and discounts. seems like I always get suckered into paying full price

What's your method or strategy for finding sales and discounts? Multiple people, including my dad, have told me I should never buy clothes at full price. However, many times when I go to buy something it's just not on sale. I don't really know what the best way to track price fluctuations are. I know Amazon can be tracked with a few services, but there are a lot of other sites/brands/stores out there. No telling how many Black Friday deals I missed because I just can't find them all.

chopper•11/28/23, 2:14 PM

Clothing is nearly always discounted at nearly every retailer in January/February and June/July. Most major retailers will run intermittent sales between these periods.

jarmul22•11/28/23, 2:39 PM

I think that fixating on the deals aspect is more consumerism than fun. My thought is that you should first find pieces you enjoy, and then purchase them at prices you find agreeable - rather than the reverse where you buy an item because it’s cheap and then try to extract enjoyment from it.

That said, my suggested methods are:
1) hyperfixate and check on your items with alarming frequency (my tried n true)

2) download honey / capital one and let it find discount codes for you - most stores have 1 or 2 going at any given time, unless they’re very small

3) wait for seasonal sales. End of winter (around Easter-memorial day) and end of summer (around Labor Day) are typically seasonal blowouts, but you have the usual boxing days, Independence Day, singles day, Black Friday, and new years sales to boot

okaylama•11/28/23, 3:19 PM

I don't think you should stress about not finding deals As Jarmul22 said, you'll find more satisfaction from buying a garment you like vs. one that was cheap and doesn't fit your taste. Wait for seasonal sales, especially if it is a staple item and something a store keeps around. If its a one off item, then you'll have to use some intuition to see if it's worth retail or not (let's say a pair of limited air force ones that will sell out after releasing, vs a black wool sweater that you can find plethora of around the winter time). Keep an eye out for FMF and sign up for email listings for brands you like; you'll be able to get some coupon codes to help drop the price.

If you're really keen on buying staple sort of pieces, they will always be a chance to get them discounted (by how much depends on the brand)